Someone mentioned the stuff in the orange bottle. Does this work very effectively and is it very hard to use?:
http://www.minntrapprod.com/mobile/Trappers-Hide-Tanning-Formula/productinfo/HTF-001/

Thank you, seems to be ok now. A few coming out but not bad any more. Whew

I've used the orang bottle on muskrat ,weasel and this time fox. So far so good. All intructios are on the bottle, very easy to use. I would do it again. But then again I havent used anything else yet. Good luck

I'm guessing that orange stuff works better than leather oil mixed with warm water and dawn dish soap?

Half the directions are there, some steps that would save your hides are not there.

What directions are missing? I am going to try to do a couple small beavers.

The pickle and neutralizing steps. Without that you are risking loosing parts or all of the hide.

Some good info on this site. Been dabbling with fur tanning, and using the orange bottle stuff. The orange bottle stuff will work, but I don't think it's the best or easiest way to achieve a nicely tanned fur. Tanning isn't gonna be easy regardless of which product you use. It's pretty labor intensive if a quality result is wanted. It's shown me where proper skinning and put-up are impoetant to the finished tanned fur. I love the idea of being able to catch the animal, and then processing it into a ready to use fur. I appreciate you guys sharing your knowledge and experience. Sure beats fumbling around in the dark. Tanning fur is a pretty exciting process to me. I am ordering a few supplies soon to try some other products. Thanks again for all the useful info posted on this site.

I was`nt saying that the orange bottle is the best thing since sliced bread, this was my first attempt on tanning. and it seemed to have worked out for me. I am well aware there is other items and solutions out there that are far superior. Just thought i would pass along my findings on this product and if it could help someone out, that`s great.

My first attempt included salt and vinegar for pickling, then rinsing and adding baking soda to neutralize. After that, I used some oil for leather mixed with dish soap and water. It didn't come out that well when I did it with half a fox, but I'm not sure if it was the recipe or one of the things I messed up on. (I forgot to heat the water/oil mix before applying it and the baking soda was expired.) No big deal since the fox had been run over numerous times before I peeled it off the road.
What recipe does everyone else use? I'm hoping to try my hand at a coon sometime, since those aren't worth much. Coyotes are too valuable to experiment on.

Straight vinegar isn't that strong of a pH for tanning, distilled white at best is 2.4-2.5. Wine and cider vinegars are even weaker.

These days I use citric acid. Used a formic acid pickle(krowtann) a few years ago...that stuff is nasty to work with and you better have safety gear with it.

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These days I use citric acid. Used a formic acid pickle(krowtann) a few years ago...that stuff is nasty to work with and you better have safety gear with it.[/quote]

I wonder how safe the orange bottle stuff is to work with, or that Rittel's EZ tan-100 stuff. Those are the 2 main home tanning kits I'm aware of.

I agree with you on the formic ..have used oxalic acid with good results but now use citric as it also helps with degreasing

I think I was using the white vinegar, but I hadn't known there was a difference, so thanks for the tip!

The OBC is a tanning oil, usually these are sulfenated oils and generally safe just use gloves. But never use their directions.

Another thing people need to watch for, especially if you dont have the pH strips(never try tanning without these) is that a lot of tap water in the US is hard water and has a higher pH than the rainwater that most tannning kits recommend. That and if you use something to weigh down the hide so it stays in the pickle, it needs to be something inert(like a jug of water) as somethings like masonry(concrete, bricks, etc) can really screw up your pH's.

Thanks for the info, Sniper. I know our water's PH is really high, so if I tan another hide, I'll have to make sure to use rainwater with my white vinegar. What effect does high PH have when one is neutralizing the hide?

If you meant pickle, a weaker pH will not be able to prepare your hides well enough to absorb the tanning solution and could allow bacteria growth(cause slippage)

This tanning thing seems to have become an extention of my trapping addiction. It's pretty fascinating. Not only to do, but to see and read about the experiences of others. I'm just getting into it and learning, but it is fun. LOT of work involved in the fun, but still fun.

Sniper, that web site you made is pretty cool. Valuable tool for finding info quick. Thank you!

Thanks for the info