Bluffgruff
Well-known member
After being generally disappointed with my recent hide tanning experiences, I decided to try prepping a flat skin on my own. My test piece is this ewe from my hunt with @mulecreek last September.
I bought a relatively inexpensive two-handed, double-edged fleshing knife from Weibe, bought a two foot long piece of 6" PVC, and screwed that to a 2x4 long enough to create the angle I wanted to work at from a seated position, and thawed my sheep skin.
A 300 win mag puts a big hole in a 150lb critter at 40 yards, so I worked around that. I may have accidentally made a couple more holes to add to the ones I made skinning her on the side of the mountain.
After fleshing, I salted with about 4lbs of table salt, because its $0.65/lb, and more is better.
The drip is complicated in warm weather, but in the cool of the Colorado spring, no bugs found the situation to their liking.
I let it drip overnight, shook the loose salt off, resalted, and let it drip until it didn't drip anymore.
After that. I hung it flesh side out over a sawhorse in my garage until it was almost dried hard, and folded it up to dry the rest of the way in the 15% humidity we were having at the time.
I bagged it in a clear plastic bag, stuffed it into a box, and took it to the PO to ship to Moyle.
The USPS counter worker said it smelled like oil, and I had to explain exactly what it was, that it wouldn't rot, and that sheep just smell like that, and she really gave me a stare while she measured my box and completed the transaction.
A couple months later, in record time compared to the other services I have used, I have my tanned sheep hide, and it looks great, is very soft, and I'm excited to do more hides myself in the future!
I also did a euro mount of the head, after popping the horns off after 2 days in the sun following a time in the freezer.
I'll get pictures of the euro in here at some point.
I bought a relatively inexpensive two-handed, double-edged fleshing knife from Weibe, bought a two foot long piece of 6" PVC, and screwed that to a 2x4 long enough to create the angle I wanted to work at from a seated position, and thawed my sheep skin.
A 300 win mag puts a big hole in a 150lb critter at 40 yards, so I worked around that. I may have accidentally made a couple more holes to add to the ones I made skinning her on the side of the mountain.
After fleshing, I salted with about 4lbs of table salt, because its $0.65/lb, and more is better.
The drip is complicated in warm weather, but in the cool of the Colorado spring, no bugs found the situation to their liking.
I let it drip overnight, shook the loose salt off, resalted, and let it drip until it didn't drip anymore.
After that. I hung it flesh side out over a sawhorse in my garage until it was almost dried hard, and folded it up to dry the rest of the way in the 15% humidity we were having at the time.
I bagged it in a clear plastic bag, stuffed it into a box, and took it to the PO to ship to Moyle.
The USPS counter worker said it smelled like oil, and I had to explain exactly what it was, that it wouldn't rot, and that sheep just smell like that, and she really gave me a stare while she measured my box and completed the transaction.
A couple months later, in record time compared to the other services I have used, I have my tanned sheep hide, and it looks great, is very soft, and I'm excited to do more hides myself in the future!
I also did a euro mount of the head, after popping the horns off after 2 days in the sun following a time in the freezer.
I'll get pictures of the euro in here at some point.
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