I took my coyote hide out of the pickle (white vinegar, salt, and water) and got the fur dried then I tried to make my own tanning oil with Neatsfoot oil mixed with dawn dish soap, then mixed with boiling water. It didn't mix properly since I got blue water in the bottom, but I put the stuff on the hide anyway, and now it's a rather oily mess at the moment. (It's still drying) Is this okay, or am I doing something wrong?

ive never heard of tanning with only neatsfoot oil, but if I was trying it I would have just rubbed it on the flesh side.

Don't worry, I'm only putting it on the flesh side. I've still got the hide as a case so I can avoid getting too much on the fur side. It just seems excessively oily, but maybe it takes a bit longer for it to soak in.
Now to figure out how to break the hide.

I don't think oil and water will mix.

They didn't mix. (I'd thought the instructions said they would if you mixed soap, but I guess not.)
It does seem much less oily after I've been trying to break it, so I think it's working, though so far, it's not as soft as I'd like, but it's still drying in places.

to get any tanned pelt soft you have to work the whole pelt until every spot is FULLY dry, not just dry to the touch. when you think its dry, keep working it!

White vinegar is not going to lower the ph enough to properly pickle hides. Neatsfoot oil is generally used to soften hides for breaking after tanning. Invest in a bottle of brush on tan next time. Only about 12 bucks and will do many hides.

Thanks for the tips. I got the hide done so hopefully it will be good enough to keep. It's not that soft, but I'll probably just be putting it on a wall or something.
How do you tell if hides are properly pickled?

When you press your fingernail into it the dent should stay. If it disappears it's not pickled enough. Pickling doesn't make it soft though. You have to break it and it takes a lot of working it back and forth over something.

for the pickle add aluminum sulfate, found in fertilizer section, that will lower your pickle ph. for wall hangers ive only done the alum pickle before and have not had any issues. I dry mine right on the board and don't worry about getting them soft since I like my wall hangers to retain some shape

I think for the next one, I'll try real tanning oil and aluminum sulfate. I have a really pale one that the neighbor shot in the freezer now. It's rather green, but the fur doesn't seem to be slipping. Since it's so late in the year, I'm pretty sure it's not worth selling.

If you are going to spend money on aluminium sulfate just get a bottle of acid from McKenzie. Not sure what the price difference would be.

Thanks, it looks like the acid there is likely a bit less per gallon when you figure out the water/acid ratio.
What's the best tanning oil?

Only thing about McKenzie is shipping costs. Any kind of leather oil including neatsfoot will work but I just stick with McKenzie products.