I've been a sporadic trapper my whole life. Trapping when I needed meat, or a little money or personal ADC work, or just for my own entertainment.
But I've never home tanned anything.
I haven't trapped beaver since I was a kid, and when we were 13 my trapping partner got both arms caught in a 330 on our second season together, and our parents kinda put an end to our dreams of living our mountain man lifestyle.

I wore out my bear fur mittens a few years ago and have decided to dust off some trapping gear and make myself another pair out of beaver to replace them.
Since I like to make my projects as expensive and labor intensive as possible, I'm considering tanning my own furs too.

I'm confused by all the concoctions and recipes I read though, everything from brains to battery acid are used, apparently.
Is there a decent book that breaks it down by which concoction is best suited for which use?
Or am I better off just ordering a kit from TASCO/Rittle and be done with it?

Is tanned tanned regardless of the magic potion used, and the final use determined by breaking down and oiling?

My bear mits were made years ago from a hide that I sent out to be tanned, but they kept getting progressively stiffer as the years went by, and even oiling them didn't help much. By the time I was wearing holes in the thumb and palm they were stiff enough that I tossed them instead of repairing them.
I'd like to avoid that problem again if I could.

There is just so much conflicting or vague information out there.
"My recipe X or product Blah Blah works perfect every time." But is it a garment, a wall hanging or decor, how long ago did you do it?

Any good resources of info that you recommend?

Am I making this out to be more complicated than it is?
Should I just keep it simple and brain tan and smoke them?
Send them out instead?

What are the advantages of the different processes and recipes, if any?

Any info or recommendations are welcome.

Thanks man!

For beaver mitts you want the beaver garment tanned and the leather left fairly thick(thicker than you would use for a hat)but still supple and pliable with minimum stretch to the leather.
The very best leather for palms and thumb would be native smoke tanned moose hide.When done properly native smoke tanned moosehide is as soft as flannel,and stronger than any commercial tan,It is oil free so it breathes.(does not trap moisture like oiled leather).
Native smoke tanned hide is difficult to get so if you dont take on the considerably labour intensive job of perfecting that skill,you are better off to use a commercial leather..

Thanks for the info Boco!

Moosehide would be great, my bear mitts I used pig skin, I never was all that thrilled by it. But it's what was available to me at the time.
We have moose here, but no season. So there is a zero percent chance of me getting a local hide.
Although I did find a small dead bull years ago, it was pretty chewed up. And it was July, so it was rotten already when I came across it.

You think I'm better off just sending in beaver hides to get them tanned?

After home tanning some stuff with Ez100 tanning kit and then getting some professionally garment tanned, Pro is the way to go unless youre just looking for wall hangers in my experience.

Thanks sevensixtwo!

Maybe the thing to do is send out what I need or any nice ones, and fool around home tanning a couple small ones just to put an end to my curiosity.

The problem is there there really isnt a clear definition of what "tanning" is. For the most part, if the hides can survive uncontrolled conditions for decades, its tanned

As long as the hair falls out when it's supposed to and stays in when it should, and it isn't rotten......it's tanned!

I guess when I think about it you are right.
"Tanned" covers a lot of a lot of territory.

"Maybe the thing to do is send out what I need or any nice ones, and fool around home tanning a couple small ones just to put an end to my curiosity."

This is the smart way to do it. Maybe you find out you don't like the tanning process.... Then again maybe you find out that you do

The more I look into it the more I think it is the way to go.
Realistically by the time I buy all the ingredients I wouldn't be saving a ton of money anyway.
And I am curious about the tanning process, but it doesn't sound particularly fun or entertaining.

Chemical tans are better resistant to adverse weather conditions. Brain or egg tans require smoking to weather proof.

Those are the easy things. It is work to get soft leather for garment making.

Can be a creative way to hurt yourself sometimes.

By the time you figure labor into home tanning, it really isnt cheaper to do it yourself. I'm going to do some again here soon because of the turnaround time. I need these back faster than what the backlog is looking like right now.

Have you tried Boco’s method? Much less labor intense, depending on what you are going to with them.

Thanks!



That's kind of a character flaw that I have. I'm very good at investing a ton of money, effort and time into something that really should have been quick, cheap and simple!




I haven't done anything yet. I don't have any pelts at the moment. I was looking at this as a project for next year.

I just did bocos on some muskrats (my first year trapping) and they turned out great. Decent white leather, super pliable and clean. Could be very soft and supple leather if you need it ir can be left kinda stiff if you like.

Some people have natural knack for it, some dont. We're all different

The only tan to use on leather that will repeatedly get wet and then dried-out is to chrome tan the skin. Chrome tanning with give the leather a green color but if that bothers you you can dye it brown with leather dye. You will have to tan it yourself, you won't find any commercial tannery that will do it.
If you home tan beaver you will need to thin the leather considerably, especially near the neck and center of the back. You can do this with a belt sander and 80 grit.

My best advice is to get a basic "tanning understand" and then just do it, experiment ask questions later. The reason I say that is because some of the characteristics may be different than what you want vs what I understand you want. For instance, one of my racoon skins that I tanned using the orange bottle stuff I have been using over and over and it has gotten pretty soft. I haven't gotten them wet, but I know from a few other sources the smoke at the last part of the tanning process completes the chemical transition and seals the skin making it impermeable to water. For how long? They say basically forever, but I use my stuff really hard, so it's tough for me to see it lasting forever. Just my .02 cents as somebody who also started home tanning stuff recently.

You know you can just use brains and butter to tan your hides, you’ll also get a better quality tan than any bs chemical tan

graywolf can you elaborate further on how to use brains and butter sir or point me in the direction of some literature i could read about how its done? thanks