making use of roakill -"tanning" hides

[christa]

this is good information thanks alot, important to have survival skills and to use all "waste"

 

[Arapala]

Here is a good zine about this kind of stuff. Have not read it in a year id say, but im pretty sure the first section has this same process in it, but with more explanation for first timers. As well as a bunch of vegans salvaging and cooking roadkill meat. Interesting read.

http://zinelibrary.info/files/feralforager.pdf

 

[Gudj]

I really really really love vegans who eat meat.
(Not to be confused with vegans who sneak meat!)

 

[Arapala]

Been thinking about trying this for a bit. One of my cats went on a killing spree and killed three baby rabbits. I decided to skin them instead of just letting them rot completely.

This was the first time i did this, and am a complete beginner at this. I don't even eat or cook meat so it was a big step for me to be cutting up dead animals. Anyways i just used the methods i read about in the zine i posted above. The one all alone on the board was the first one i did which was really bad hahaha, and the second one i did was the one on top there, and the third is the biggest one. You can see the progression, i was getting a little better each time. These were very tiny rabbits so it was pretty hard to control the cuts, ad the longest legs were only two inches long at most. Pretty interesting stuff! I am letting them dry right now and tanning it tomorrow. Heres a picture:

 

[acrata4ever]

i need a tanned shaved coonskin for a breadpan banjo

 

[uncivilize]

I'd have to agree with maggot, learn this from a more experienced source, not this thread. Boiling a hide, especially from a smaller animal is probably not the best idea, especially if you don't know what you're doing/what to look for. You might just end up making a nice big batch of hide glue mixed with hair. Also, you use the yolks instead of brains, not the whites, as was stated earlier.

 

[Piniyoq Mana]

I did this with a roadkill skunk once but it lost the brain so it didn't turn out so good next time I'll try the egg white method thanks Gudj

 

[crazy john]

ive used the brains method to cure a couple pelts and it has worked pretty good, plus you can usually keep the fur on, but nexttime i find some poor critter, ill have to try this one out. also i like oyur idea of a burial to pay repect and thanks to the animal. thanks for the instructions and if i get to try it out ill let you know how it works

 

[crazy john]

Spent today skinning a roadkill raccoon with my friend. Surprisingly was mostly salvageable. Collected tons of bones, four paws, tail, skull, and a full hide.

do you have any tips on cureing the paws? ive tried with some rabbits ive skinned, but since i dont remove the flesh so there still furry they just ended up rotting.

 

[Monterey]

If you just want the leather:

I know this is long, but it is made for printing out and reading as you go in the woods.

Carefully trim all flesh and fat from the hide, and then soak the skin in water for several days. This may be all that is necessary to loosen the hair. However, if the hair does not come off easily, sprinkle some wood ashes upon the wet hair, roll it up, and keep the skin in a cool place for a few days more. The lye action of the ashes will do the job.
A smooth log with bark removed makes a good scraping block, or "Beamer". The log should be tilted, so that it reaches the waist of the worker. A good scraper can me made from the ulna, the inner bone of the deer's foreleg. It's curve is just right, and the hind edge of it is thin and sharp enough to be used as a scraper. Place the skin upon the log, flesh side down, and scrape off the hair by pushing down and away from you. When this has been carefully done, turn the skin over; scrape the flesh side and clean it of all grease, fat and fiber in the same way.
Next make a mash of the brains by squeezing them through your fingers into warm water. Every animal has the exact amount of brains to tan it's own hide. Sometimes the liver is boiled and mashed up with the brains. Some Indians mix the brains with moss, shaping it like a cake of soap and drying it before the fire. The brains in this form can be kept in good condition for years. When needed for tanning, the cake is dissolved in hot water and the moss removed.
In the meantime, lace and stretch the skin upon a frame in a cool, shady spot and rub the brain paste thoroughly into it. This job completed, roll up the skin and keep it in a cool place for two days. Then wash and rinse it carefully several times in fresh water and then squeeze it nearly dry. Drive a sharp-edged stake so that instead of being a round stake driven into the ground, the appearance of the stake from the top resembles a triangle, not a circle. Have the stake sticking up out of the ground about two to three feet. Pull the skin over the edge in every direction, vigorously back and forth like the way you shine your shoes with a t-shirt. This requires a lot of elbow grease. If the job is done right way, a soft, velvety skin will be the result.
The hide is now ready for smoking, which closes the pores, makes the skin more durable, and prevents the pelts from drying hard when wet. The Indians usually make a cone shape, resembling a tepee, of the hide, pegging it to the ground and holding it up on a tripod made of three sticks. Make only a smoky smudge, for flames or heat will ruin the skin. A good smoking fuel is the dry-rot wood that is dry and makes a bluish smoke. The type of fuel often governs the color of the skin. A yellow color can be secured from a dry willow smudge; green willow makes a brownish tone. Hardwood, like black birch, is excellent for smoking. Smoke tanned skin will not harden when wet and can be washed like a piece of cloth.

Alternately, a sort of Indian chemical tan was made by soaking the skin in a liquor made by boiling hemlock or balsam bark until a brown fluid resulted.

-Monterey
What economic depression? This river is full of fish!

 

[Monterey]

If you want a pelt:

Fur animals are skinned either "open" or "cased". To skin an animal "open" means that the hide is cut from the chin, down to the belly to the vent, and along the undersides of the legs. When the skin is "cased", the cut is made along the inside of the hind legs and across the rump at the vent.
When taking off the skin of a "cased" animal, skin the hind legs out. If the furred feet are to be saved, work them out and cut off at the claws, which remain attached to the skin. If the feet are not wanted, run the skinning knife around the ankles.
Pull out the bones of the tail, for the skin would rot if they were left inside. Make a small opening at the tip of the tail and run a stick through to open it and allow the air to enter and dry. If the tail skin were to stick together inside, it would not dry properly and the hair would fall out. Muskrat, beaver and opossum tails are not wanted and are simply cut off.
Then pull the skin down inside out over the animal as you would remove a sock. Work out the front legs, the feet being cut off or skinned out as were those of the hind legs.
Then peel the pelt down over the head, and cut the ears close to the flesh to prevent cutting the skin. Great care should be taken in skinning out the eyes and lips, so that the head skin comes off intact without damage or stretching. Scrape all bits of flesh and fat from the flesh side, but take care not to scrape the pelt thin at any spot. Raccoon, skunk, and opossum pelts are very fatty. If the fur is bloody or dirty, clean it with soap and water. Always dry a wet pelt before stretching. A little gasoline cleans stubborn dirt and may be used to deodorize pelts of the skunk family. Animals should be skinned as soon as possible after killing. The pelts will have a much better appearance if this is done.
If the skin is not properly stretched, the fur will lose in value, no matter how perfect it's condition. "Open" skins should be laced tightly upon a frame or tacked flesh side up on a board. Beaver should be stretched on a hoop frame.
For "cased" pelts, wedge shaped wooden boards 3/8 to 3/4 inch thick are made of soft wood, like pine. The edges and the point of the stretcher, as it is called, is rounded and smoothed, resembling the pointed end of an ironing board. Stretcher boards with wedges are often used, since skins may be stretched more tightly with this type.
Of course, the size and shape of the stretcher varies with the type of animal. For weasel skins a very narrow board about 16 inches long is used. A mink's stretcher is about 30 inches long and about twice as wide as the weasel's.
Approximate sizes of stretchers for various animal skins are suggested as follows... The format is <Animal> <Length of stretcher> <Width at shoulders> <Width at base> All numbers are in inches:
Weasel 16, 1 1/2, 2 1/2
Mink 30, 3, 4
Marten 25, 3 1/4, 4 1/4
Muskrat 20, 5, 7
Skunk 30, 4, 7 1/2
Raccoon 30, 6, 9
Fisher 50, 5 1/2, 8
Fox 45, 5 1/2, 8
Otter 60, 6, 8
Lynx 60, 6, 9
Wood is highly advised due to the fact of it's absorbing moisture, and it does not allow the flesh side of the skins to come into contact. Any hardware store will have pine planks in the dimensions allowing you to carve and sand out the shape.
The pelt is pulled over the stretcher fur side in. The nose and lips are tacked into position, and the skin is puled down to it's full length and tacked at the end. Sticks are placed in the forelegs to stretch them, and the edges of the hind legs and tail are tacked full length so that they may dry properly. In drying, never allow the skins to be in the sun or near a fire. They should dry slowly in cool shade.

- - - - Indian Tanning of Pelts - - - -​

Pelts freshly skinned need not be soaked before tanning, but dried skins should be moistened until pliable. Do not soak too long lest the fur come out. Next flesh the skin. Scrape away the glazed inside surface so the tanning may reach every part.
Stretch the skin inside out and rub brain mash ( the same used in tanning leather ) thoroughly into the flesh side. Do this several times, and then soften the skin by gently pulling, kneading, and manipulating with the hands.

This is a lot of information, but this is the method used by Indians and the trappers from the old Davy Crockett days. Using this method not only works, but creates pelts fine enough to be used, or sold in the most ritzy manufacturers.

- Monterey
Meat is not murder... it's "slaughter", animals are not humans.