Good morning! I bought a book by Monte Burche called "the ultimate guide to skinning and tanning." I am going to be following his instructions for alum tanning. In this book he suggests using Naphtha as a degreaser for coons. I got 2 cans of Naphtha at Lowes and a 5 gallon bucket with a lid. My plan is to soak the freshly fleshed coon hide in the Naphtha in the bucket for 24 hours. Does anyone have any experience using Naphtha to degrease coon? Any tips or concerns? Thanks!

Use in an area with NO chance of ignition of the solvent/fumes. Think outdoors.

Good safety tip. Thank you!

Yes Naphtha is a good degreaser,but only use outdoors and dont smoke.
make sure you let the skin hang so the Naphtha completely evaporates before proceeding with washing.

Thanks! I want to make sure I am understanding things correctly. Flesh, degrease with naphtha, let it dry completely (I assume the fur, not the flesh side), wash (with cold water I assume, no soap) then start the alum soak?

And how on earth do you have internet from James Bay? Do they even have electricity?

We are civilized,lol.There are towns in the James bay frontier,lol.A lot of the electricity produced by the big rivers running into James bay powers the N eastern USA,especially from the Quebec.side.
Naphtha evaporates quickly enough that the skin should not dry out(leave fur out in the wind or fan)A quick wash and rinse after the naphtha evaporates wont hurt it.Then pickle.
A solvent degreaser is really only necessary for really oily skins.

Thank you very much! After I get 2 more deer I the freezer (and fleshed and begin tanning) I am going to get that first coon. Should be this coming week. I am so excited!!

Usually degreasing is done after the pickling step. This reduces the chances of having the hides slip.

Ok. I think I am starting to get this. Even for fresh pelts I have to pickle before my alum soak. If I am tanning greasy critters, I have to degrease after pickling and before tanning.

Oh we can go down some rabbit trails now. Alum cam be used as a pickle, its one of the first used till better solutions came out,(oxalix, citric, etc.,).