Does anyone know of anyone else who tans beaver tails for a reasonable price? Talked to Specialty Leather today and they are shutting their doors unfortunately.

Had not heard this, this is not good news for me, I had a difficult time years ago to find them

Don't know of any one else that does half the job they do on them !

I emailed Speciality Leather about sending them some hides. They replied that “at this time they are not accepting pelts”. No explanation.

Hope it is just temporary.

Yeah, that is really bad news. I wonder if that is only temporary?

According to their website it is temporary. Says they are at their production capacity. Might be a shortage of supplies and employees.

https://specialtyleather.com/

I talked to someone on the phone and I mentioned seeing the temporary closure. He told me “ya unfortunately we are closing our doors, we cant find anyone who wants to work”. Sounded pretty permanent from what i heard. I got an email this morning saying Yost my be a good option as they do small batch orders. I dont think anyone will ever compare to the quality though. Which is a bummer because i need them for my archery equipment as well as supplying another bowyer

Received an e-mail back from them this morning, they are closing after 25 years of business, recommend Yost for doing them,

I will give them a try, as I need some one who can do large orders.

I asked if they had any tails to clear out as I was interested in more inventory, they said they had none.

Nothing was said about workers, looks like they just are done they only had a few people running their business anyway
might have decided it was time to close.

Just got an email from Yost. They dont do tails

Like I said I talked to the guy for a good 5 minutes wondering why they were shutting down and his overall reason is they couldnt get enough employees. Said he loved what he did, but help was hard to find.

Sounds like a few of us need a good tail tanner. If anyone finds a good lead could you post it here. Thanks!

Also found that USA fox does them for 29$ a tail, 14.50 a side. The only thing though, ive always heard to avoid USA Fox at all costs……

I'd not use Fox if some one else was paying for it !!

At that price and as much trouble as they have sending fur out to other tanners to do and getting them back able to use is not worth the effort, they do not do their own tanning, which is their major problem in getting product out to customers !

When they have tanned fur sent to them to work with, everything is hunk dory, but shipping out customers fur to then wait for it is not working well for them !

Might want to see if Hector will take on your tails Grit. He does business as Furs For Fun in Idaho. I see him and his wife at the K.Falls OTC sale every year.

I have some muskrat pelts with extensive moth damage on the fur. I was thinking about having them made into soft leather as an experiment. I was going to have Speciality Leather do them but since they are closing, I contacted Yost.

Their prices are a tad bit high!! $17.95 for tanning them open. $19.95 if I want them done cased. Guess those pelts will go in the trash.

Be sure to contact Yost for pricing BEFORE you plan on shipping them anything. Their prices are NUTS!!!

Thanks Beaver, I will do that, as he did do them for Moyles
Appreciate knowing he is still doing tanning !

I should mention that Hector does nice work but communication is not one of his strengths. I know some folks have been a little put off by that...

Care to share info of this Hector…

Bummed to just learn of this today. Glad I had a bunch tanned up back in January.

Randy Shuff in Idaho is another beaver tail tanner. Not sure what his capabilities are with doing other folks tails, but you can see his work in the craft forum.

Dang, what a bummer! I delivered a bunch of tails to them a couple of years ago. Great people. I was given a tour of the shop and they did some pretty cool stuff. They were working on a hide that was about 2" thick - might have been an elephant - I can't remember for sure. They had lots of alligator hides that they had tanned and dyed - beautiful!! My tails turned out great.

Man, I hope something turns up, I have a bunch of skined tails in the freezer I was gonna have done.

Since no one seems to be tanning beaver tails any longer, it sure would be cool if one of them came off the secret to tanning them so we can do it ourselves or for someone else to go into business to fill the gap.

I am wondering the same thing, what is the difference between a beaver tail, and regular leather? What would one have to do to preserve them on top of what normally is done?