Tanning Hides - Learn How To 

Thank you so so so much for posting this video. In my opinion it's the best one on the internet! Tomorrow morning I will be helping my grandpa butcher his rabbits and begin tanning them out using this method. With time comes good hides. Thank you so much again.

Yes, the hides are doing fine. The finished hides in the video are a year old (2 years old now) and no issues. I can do an update when it cools off a little. Heat index is over 100 degrees almost daily. I have used this same process for bobcat, coyote and deer. Larger hides like deer need a frame to stretch them. Search for videos on tanning deer hide and you will see examples. Good Luck

This is the best Video I have seen so far on how to Tan the hide on a Rabbit. Very good explanation.

thanx for the video, I've got 60 hides in my freezer, and was trying to figure out the best way to work'em up, I'll sure give this a try. thanx and best wishes to you and yours.

Thanks - I wasn't sure how much I should be taking off in the defleshing because it was tearing the skin a bit, but this video reassured me that that can happen with wild rabbits! Probably just because it's the end of winter and they're a bit undernourished.

i have looked at quite a few of these and in my mind this one is the best one, for my needs anyway. thank you sir fir your time in making this video, mick

Pretty close to my mix. I'm using 2.5 cups aluminum sulfate (Hi-Yield from garden center), 1 cup non-iodized salt, and 2/3 cup Arm & Hammer super washing soda, plus 3 gallons of water. Great video, one of the best I've seen for showing the entire process! :)

Thank you so much!! This video was super helpful, and your kitten was adorable!! 😁👍

Awesome video! You were to the point and made it easy to watch and learn. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!!

I wouldn't recommend using an ulu (the knife he is using) a paint scraper works great especially on thin skin animals like fox musk rat I trap in alaska and we have smaller but more prime furs than a lot of places

You can buy food grade Alum where canning supplies are sold I recommend Aluminum Sulphate, which can be found at local garden centers and big box stores like lowes, home depot, walmart.

Glad I could help. I will be tanning more hides in a few weeks, hopefully I can do a video on sewing the arm holes to make that a useful piece of hide

Thanks for posting. I'll be getting some wild rabbits soon. Hopefully it goes well!

We did 2 rabbit hides they turned out good. Your recipe worked good. we are planning on doing a lot of hides. I made a fleshing beam and fleshing knife, guess Ill make a frame next

Great job them hides look great. Thanks for the post. Thinking about doing some otter.

This is an incredibly helpful video. Thanks so much for making this.

awesome!..can't wait to start mine. thank you so much for your video

Doris and Jess are ignorant. These animals were raised for meat production. This man is responsible for using the hides and not tossing them in the garbage. Thank you for the very comprehensive video.

I have 3 skins soaking . Going to give this a try. This will be my first time. Hope it works out well.I will have about 25 pelts a year to tan, so I need something easy. Thanks

thank you im trying this now and I hope it works I have about 140 rabbit furs to tan. I think its funny how no one would tell me how to tan a hide so thanks a lot and I hope it works and the fur stays on the hide. im doing it with two rabbits to start to text your idea.

Excellent video, very well explained. I feel like even as a total beginner I could skin and tan a rabbit while walking through this video. Do you have any videos on the method you use for skinning it to preserve the largest amount of fur and hide?

Thank you so much for making this video. It's extremely informative and very helpful! :)

You are about the only dude on here that is not talking out his ass man thanks.

Do you need to keep the solution cold/refrigerated while they're soaking for the two days?

Would you get the same results if you fleshed them first, then soak them only once?

Thank you. I found this very helpful in tanning a Mink hide.

The only place I can find it is a small Pharmacy where I live. You might find some in Larger grocery stores that have food canning supplies. I have switched to using Aluminum Sulphate and found it works just as good. I can get a 4lb bag of Aluminum Sulphate from Gardening Stores for about $6

How well did this solution work long term? Did you have any hair loss?

Excellent video. I work leather and am more familiar with oak tanning. Fur tanning is easier than I thought. Definitely give it a try. Thanks for the heads up on Aluminum Sulphate. I had wondered about that. It's less than half the price of Alum in bulk. The shipping is what hurts on the food grade so it'd be a big savings when you factor that in. I can't see there being a big difference unless you were making chew toys. I might stick to Alum if I was selling hides but for personal use it should be fine.

Thank you very much for this video, it was super educational and just what I was looking for, you should make more videos as you make the whole process very easy to understand.

I was always told to use a "pure cotton shirt to flesh them, that's all you need". Never tried it myself that's why I'm here but maybe that interests you. I think it has to be done before the alum/salt bath

Is aluminum sulfate the same thing as alum? I showed my wife this video and this is how we are going to tan ours. Very easily understood, thanks.

not yet, I have mad bomber hats next on the list to make for upcoming hunting season. I'll post a video

this video helped me a lot. you should make some more of other animals

Is the measurements the same with the aluminum sulfate

You want non-iodised/kosher/ice cream salt, it is in the canning section. The iodine may react with the alum and stain the fur.

I do use a stretching frame for larger animals like coyote and deer. and then use a rounded stick to break the hide. Rabbit are small and easy enough that i just use my hands.

GREAT VIDEO! If, during the stretching process, you find that you let the hide dry out too much, can you simply re-soak it and start again with the drying and then re-stretch it again when it dries again? or will I be screwed?

10/09/2013 I have been soaking 8 white rabbit furs in a salt solution for 3 days and I am going to flesh them today using your technique on this video. I like the way you did this video, you are very detailed and easy to understand, Thank you. I am also processing the rabbits feet in rubbing alcohol to make into keychains. You may want to make a How To video on it, I think it will be helpful. I will let you know how the furs turn out in a couple of weaks, thanks. Jimmy

Does heat affect the process of soaking the hides, would I have to keep it in a cooler area?

Yes, it is a powder. Rabbits are New Zealand whites and yes wild rabbit skin is way to thin to be used for anything i can think of at the moment

Tthe first hide i ever did i used mink oil (The kind you put on your boots) to help seal it. I had read it on the internet that this would help to make it weather proof. It made it tacky feeling, so i never used it again. The article was posted on Mother Earth News . com about tanning hides

Large garden centers or big box stores like lowes or home depot will have aluminum sulfate in 4lb bags for about 5 or 6 dollars

What happens if this hide get wet again, from rain or something? Does it ruin it?

marsh prepper, i am trying to tan some hide for mounting/taxidermy.. You were straight to the point in your video .. would these steps work for what im wanting to do? I order some stuff from a taxidermy shop for wet tanning is this the same process ?

I use a dull axe in a vice, that I pull the hides over to stretch and break the fibers. Skin side against the axe.

Cute kitten and Great information!

Hello, thanks for your video. Would this work on a moose or elk hide?

That is really a great job. Thanks for sharing your work, Are they washable afterwards? What have you made with the hides?

An EXCELLENT video. I have been looking for a good one to help me tan rabbit pelts and this is the one. Thanks for the help. Question: can you keep the ears on the pelt as well?

Thanks for the help. Did you ever make that bead spread? if you did I would love to see how it turned out.

awesome video got a couple questions for you are you just using a stick to stretch the hide when you're pulling off all the flushing meet? second question is when you're finished please show a video of you making your trapper hat Thanks

I have always sold to a local broker. I thinking about NAFA too this year if I can get more money. Do your hides have to be stretched and dried to sell to NAFA?

I am in BC Canada, and I am following your guide to tan a few of my rabbit hides. Your video is awesome! I have had a bit of a problem with the fleshing...is it possible to take too much off? It feels like leather underneath, but it was a lot harder to do than in your video. I will let you know how they turn out :)

You can work that bobcat really soft with a mixture of water and tanning oil. Just takes a little time.

Thank you for the great video! I have a question for you. I saw in the comments that you said that they aren't washable. Is there anyway to clean them?

I just used the salt and it worked

So you don't salt them when you put them in the frezzer? I to live in south Louisiana fixing to get rid of some coyotes so trying to see what I need to tan them with hair on.

thank you I so needed this video. I have been to scared to waste my furs I Havent tried but this video gave me a lot of confidence. I noticed the gloves is alum dangerous? I want my kids to learn with me but if its that bad I'll hold off until they are older.

Good video. Would love to see one on tanning deer hides as well.

Great video. Do you ever use any type of oil on your hides? What are your thoughts on using oil?

Clear simple direction that in itself is an artform. 1 question - can you take the softening of the skin side a step further by using some kind of conditioner? Is that done? Is that not done? Ive come across some really supple tanned hides and always wondered how they got the skin so supple. Thx enjoyed the video.

Just heads up i find buying the fine salt cheaper at feed stores get 50lbs around 10 bucks

such beautiful hides!!! I really appreciate your video and was wondering if this could be applied to raccoon hides?

With a wild hog . How do you save the hair? What is the tanning process?

nice video. What do you do with the hides when finished? Idea video for use? appreciate your videos.

lol that's not a scraper that's an Ulu knife. They're supposed to be razor sharp and work great for skinning and butchering, though yours seems to be working out for ya. I was just thinking the tool used was probably why your wild rabbit fur tore so easily.

How come you don't flesh then first? And when freezing them why not keep the hide side in so it won't freezer burn? I flesh after I skin them .

so this process preserves the hide with the hair still on it no need for any other treatment?

Nice video, my favourite part was your kitten making an appearance!

really want to do this for my Bunnicula that died recently. can you shrink the mix down for just one guy? what would be a good amount while still being fully submerged?

Great job. Thanks for sharing. Do you oil them to preserve them?

Hello Marsh Prepper, where do you get the large bottles of Alum?

Can I do the same process but with a wild boar skin?

Is there a microbial process going on here? Do the lipids in the rabbit skin slime up the works? Does it turn anaerobic? Eventually you must toss out the solution... Is there a way to incorporate it into an organic garden without unbalancing it? Alum comes in many types, NH4 being one of them. And NH4 is right along the pathway of plant uptake of Nitrogen... But the salts, and the Sulphur... Not sure how to render that useful to the food web... Any ideas?

Can you do one at a time?

i washed my mink coat by my hands very carefully but the pelts become so brittle....what should i do now? need your help

Thank you for this this helped me so much

what do you do for a living? your life sounds pretty cool

I followed your plan so why did my hides turn out dry and crunchy? They tore apart when I tried to soften them

First thank you very much for sharing this video this will be my first attempt at tanning. The one question I have is will it hurt the hides if they have to stay longer than 48hrs I have a Hugh tendency to end up with to many irons in the fire at once? Thanks again

Dear Marsh, is it okey if i beat it with rubber hammer instead of streching

Could you do a deer like this?

Can i use baking soda in the solution instead of alum?

fantastic job thanks for the tutorial and good luck with the trapper hats

would you be able to use a stretching frame as opposed to stretching it by hand? And how much aluminum sulfate would you use for 2 gallons of water?

When I was stretching the hide the hide ripped, do you know why?

isn't aluminum solfate used to reduce the ph in soil?

nice guns! how strong are the hides, can they tear easily when you stretch them?

Hi Marsh, I was wondering if it possible to wash alum-tanned hides afterwards? Or do stey go stiff? I use the same method but the first bath the hides go into is one with water, formic acid and salt. But never washed one afterwards....

i was wondering since you dont you iodized salt is sea salt ok or is there a specific kind

I recently used your method to do some rabbit hides up but I had a problem with the stretching one completely dried and once it was dry it was near impossible to stretch even tried two people another I tried to stretch before it was completely dry and it ripped clean in half any hints or tips to make this part go more smoothly

What breed of rabbit is this - it looks great. Thanks for this video

I've found that if you let the skin dry a bit. You can pull that silver skin off the leather skin

Can you use this for deer hides too?

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Dear Marsh, excellent video. I just shot my first rabbit and I am trying to remove the pink fleece after it has been in the alum bad for a few days. however im having a very difficult time removing it. It just doesnt want to let go and I already made some holes in the leather because of the strenght I have to use removing it. have you got any tips? also should the fleece be removed when the hide is wet or do I first have to let it dry up to flesh it? thanks.

what would the mixture be for three deer hides?

would you recommend this process for a bobcat? thxs in advance for your advice