A fur tumbler to break tanned fur in. I’m in the process of building a 6x3 foot one and would love to see some pictures of what other people are using. Have got the mounting base pretty much done. Getting ready to start on the drum next. Any do’s or dont’s are appreciated.

Shoot for 15-18 RPM with a 6 footer. Put some 2x2 pegs on your baffles so they stick up 6-8" above the baffle, a couple per baffle on a 3' wide drum.

Keith are the baffles your talking about the same thing as what I call the paddel’s inside the drum. What purpose do these pegs serve?

Probably,. most people build drums with baffles, basically 2xX's stood on edge running cross ways, just like it a clothes dryer. They cause a lift and drop instead of everything just sliding along inside the drum. Pegs sticking up are just much more aggressive in the breaking process since all the force is being concentrated into a small area.

I’ve got 2x8’s on edge for the baffle’s or paddle’s. Your saying get some round stock and counter sink a couple holes on the edge of the 2x8’s and glue the pegs in? Would that make it too aggressive on cats and fox?

Just cut some sections of 2x2, and lag them to the sides of your baffles so they stick up 6-8", it won't be too aggressive, I promise!

Keith - I have almost built a tumbler several summers... this coming summer may be the one it gets built. If markets stay down. I'll be keeping a lot more of my fur. Do you happen to have any photos of your current set up? Inside and outside? What HP motor and such you have on it? I know its kinda a big ask.

I can move some stuff and get pictures of the old drum, the ones we run now are way more than you would need. It will probably be easier for me to just take new pictures instead of trying to find old photo's.

Thanks Keith. Gonna add the stickup’s on to the baffles as you suggested. Left couple floor section’s out for now to have access to inside to get stub shafts mounted.

I'm going to try and figure this one out, I'll just do one picture per post to hopefully keep it simple. Drive set up on a 6 foot drum we haven't used in several years, but was a workhorse back when we did.

Another option for belting and gear reduction both. You
can cut belt grooves in short section of 2xs that are screwed to the drum head since your drum is flat sided and you can't go around the whole drum.

A couple examples of pegs. The ones lagged to the baffles used to be a lot taller but wore down over the years. The big drums don't even have baffles, just the tall pegs.

Keith is that median in the picture a mixture of sawdust and borax? The picture’s are definitely helping me get a better idea of what you are doing with obvious success. My project when done is gonna look pretty crude compared to yours, but hopefully work. I have the pegs ready to go in but waiting to do last thing before mounting the drum. How much fur did you run through that thing to wear those pegs down like that. Amazing

That's sawdust, it's just bad lighting. That drum was in use 2-3 times a week for over 20 years, I couldn't begin to tell how many skins. We do everything on a weight basis, about 350 lbs. per tan. The big drums are 8'x8', those are 15 hp gear motors, we can push the batches with them to around 500 lb. skins, plus a couple hundred lb. sawdust. Your drum will work just fine. The one with the flat sides was the second one I built years ago. The only problem with the flat sides is cleaning the media out of the corners!

How many pounds of sawdust would you recommend in my drum with let’s say 10-15 coon hides?? Does the corn cob bedding work as well as sawdust? Not gonna due any commercial tanning. Building it to use on some of the fur I catch each year. Probably talking 10-15 coyotes, 4 or 5 fox, 4-5 cats, some beaver, few mink and rats some coons.

Don't be afraid to use about 50 lb. the more dust in the drum covering the fur the better. Corn cob does not do near as good of a job as sawdust on skins that you are going to dry out. If you are just damp drying, like for a cape for a mount, corn cob is the way to go.

How long do you run a load of tanned furs to break them? Ball park...

2-3 hours first drumming, they'll dampen up. Stretch, hang to dry, then 4-6 hours second drumming (after they have completely dried) This is about the minumum.

Any special type of sawdust? Or just anything you can get your hands on?

There are different grades of dust/wood flour it there. You want kiln dried if you could find it, preferably maple because of its light color. Oak will work as will ash, if they aren't all dead in your area. Just avoid anything with pitch in it or dark color, i.e. no walnut or cherry. You want fairly fine stuff if you are using it for tumbling during tanning, you can use more coarse dust if you are just tumbling to clean before fleshing ad stretching. If you have a cabinet shop the dust from a table saw is close, maybe just a touch on the fine side. f you are looking to buy a bag or two let me know.