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Pull the skin out of the pickling solution and
neutralize the acid by soaking it for 15 minutes in a solution
of 1 TBS baking soda per each gallon of fresh water. (If you
didn't pickle the hide, pull it out of the salt solution and
let it drain for a couple of minutes.) Now flesh the skin
using a beam or fleshing machine. It isn't nearly as important
what method you use to flesh the skin as it is to end up with
flesh that is thin and evenly shaved.
Pickling is an optional but highly recommended process,
especially for carnivores and any skin that is not fresh.
For pickling with Saftee-Acid use: 1/2 fluid ounces of Saftee-Acid
and 1 pound of salt per each gallon of water.
Leave the capes or skins completely submerged in this solution
for 2 to 3 days depending on skin thickness. The pickling
solution should have a pH level of about 1.1 to 1.5 when skins
are placed in the pickle. An average deer cape will require
about 3 gallons of pickling solution.
After all the fleshing is complete, take the skin to a sink
and rinse it thoroughly in cold water. It is important that
you do this in order to rinse all of the salt out of the skin.
After it has been rinsed, it should be dried with towels or
drummed until the majority of the moisture is gone (the Liqua-Tan
will penetrate faster with the moisture out). Lay the skin out
flat and apply the Liqua-Tan with a brush or work it in by
hand over the entire flesh side of the skin.
After applying the Liqua-Tan, roll up the skin and allow the
tan to penetrate for at least 5 hours.
You now have 3 choices:
-
Mount the skin immediately
-
Freeze it and mount it when you wish because it
will keep indefinitely in the freezer
-
Allow it to dry out and re-soak it for mounting
later
NOTE: If you are not ready to immediately mount
the skin, we find that Choice 2, Freezing the skin, works
best. A Liqua-Tanned hide will that quickly compared to an
untanned frozen hide.
Recap:
-
Skinning... Use salt as soon as you can
-
Allow the salted skin to drain overnight,
re-salt and let it drain a second night
-
Soak in a salt solution
-
Pickling the hide is recommended
-
Neutralize the hide
-
Flesh the hide, then rinse well
-
Apply Liqua-Tan to the entire flesh surface
-
Roll up the hide and allow the tan to penetrate
well for 6 hours
-
Either process to mounting or freeze hide
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