#Tanning hides hair on skin#

An added bonus is that rabbit is small, delicious, and easy to cook, which is perfect since I do not want anyone to butcher an animal solely for craft materials! Second, the hide is small, making the project less intimidating. First, if you are butchering your own animal, rabbit hide is extremely easy to remove. Two things make rabbit hide a good place to start when learning this craft. Start the tanning process when you have at least a week of relatively low humidity and you will want to be able to dedicate the necessary time to complete all of the steps once you get started. Time and humidity seem to be the factors that most impact the results. The end product is well worth your investment of resources and time. Follow each step carefully to ensure the very best results. Tanning hides is a relatively simple, but time-intensive, process. Alum can be found in most pharmacies or ordered online and neatsfoot oil can be purchased online, as well, or in some hardware stores. The techniques I outline in this article are more modern, using alum and neatsfoot oil. Our ancestors used the animal’s own brain matter and wood ash. There are many techniques for tanning animal hides. Once completely dry, remove tacks, and brush off any excess salt. Make sure the entire fleshly side is covered in salt for the best results.

#Tanning hides hair on skin#

Sprinkle a liberal amount of table salt onto the skin and rub it in. Stretch it out and tack it, outer skin down, to a sturdy piece of cardboard.

Peel the skin back while pulling the snake out of it. If you are processing a rattlesnake, do not cut all the way to the tip of the tail this will enable you to keep the rattle intact. You can use any non-serrated blade that feels comfortable in your hand. Wear gloves when removing the skin, taking care to keep the fangs from scraping your skin.įirst, you need to cut a line through the skin down the length of the snake. The most important thing to remember is that a venomous snake still poses some danger after death. Snakeskins are the easiest to process so we will begin there. Most of the hides were found piled up in ditches during hunting season. The snakeskins I have made were from snakes found on our rural roads, already dead. We do not kill snakes or hunt enough to provide a significant amount of hides. Just because we live in a throw-away society does not mean we have to participate in that bad behavior. Although individuals will readily agree reducing waste is important, collectively our society is not set up to function well when we do that. One of my goals as a homesteader is to reduce the amount of waste around me. Yes, it really is art-from inception to completion. Until I explain the reason I do it and they see a beautiful snakeskin or touch a super-supple hide, they can’t imagine why anyone would attempt this art form. When I tell people I tan snakeskins and animal hides, they politely try to make the disgust on their face look like surprise and interest.