In the event you catch a prey item such as a rabbit or deer. You can harvest the skin to make clothing, pouches and cordage. In the
SAS Survival Handbook by John Wiseman it explains how. There are many ways to tan a hide, most call for salting the skins, scraping off any excess skin and blood and leaving it to dry for a day or so. "Stretch the skin as tight as possible and leave it in the sun to dry it out. All the moister must be drawn from it so that it will not rot. Rubbing salt or wood ash into the skin will aid the process." (Wiseman 317). I found I had more luck with salting the skins as opposed to using wood ash because it dried the skins much faster. But during the process of scraping off the excess skin I cut a hole in the skin. The more effective way of cleaning the hide is scraping it around a tree, this ensures that the skin does not get punctured. I used carpet nails on a piece of plywood to stretch the hide. After that I spread salt all over the the hide and let them dry for a day. In the end the hides turned out good but they were paper like and would probably not make good clothing. What should I have done differently to avoid this low quality tan.
Work Sited
John Wiseman (Author). “SAS Survival Handbook, Third Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Anywhere Paperback – November 11, 2014.” SAS Survival Handbook, Third Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Anywhere: John Wiseman: 8601411364013: Amazon.com: Books, Collins, www.amazon.com/SAS-Survival Handbook-Third-Surviving/dp/0062378074.
Hello I've found you post well written and very informative. I would say that you could try soaking the pelts in water and cleaning them with mild soap before the salting process could help. Also using a mixture of salt and borax could also improve the overall quality of the hide and make an all around better pelt. Though it appears that the pelt turned out ok is great for a first try considering the simplistic method you used.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your recommendation I found that though Borax dries the pelt out quicker and easier, it makes the hides paper-like and not quite as strong. I was trying to go the slow and steady route to make the pelts as strong as possible.
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