Here are 4 rats that were from last season 2022/2023 Season. I followed BOCO's process, except for the final dryer treatment.

You will notice that the second from the right has some damage on the left hind leg. This rat was caught in a coil 1.5 in a coon set by the hind leg and was able to crawl up on some floating weeds and tore his leg up pretty good.



Garry-

Those look good Gary. Wish we had more rats around here.

wws

Thank you... we don't have many left around here either.

Garry-

Nice job, those look great.

Looks good! How’s the hide look? Gonna try it this spring on some stuff.

Nice job, Garry. How pliable are they?

Looks great! What commercial tanning oil did you use?

I would say they are 85 to 90% as pliable as a professional tannery. I am keep them separated from others, because I may try and find some sawdust and run them through the dryer steps. I don't know for sure where I can buy sawdust.

As far as the oil I used... TruBond 1000B and in my spray bottle for the 50/50 oil water mix, I used TruBond Lubri-Stretch 2000. It is used in taxidermy on old previously tanned skins that have stiffened, to rejuvenate them.

Garry-

Tractor supply has 2 grades of bedding, regular sized wood chips and a finer grade more like sawdust. Any school woodshops still in your area?,We don't, but I'm sure they will give you as much as you need free.

Nice job on them.

they look good, thanks for sharing,

Thanks guys... I will try Tractor Supply... I buy all of my salt for tanning and other things throughout the year.

We used to have 5 or 6 lumber yards, but don't know of any close by. As far as school shops... HA! they don't have anything like that any more. I ask a school principal about it a couple years ago ... he told me the liability was to high... phhhhhhttttttt! We had foundry where we worked melting aluminum, and lead, planners, routers, jointers, table saws, both metal and wood lathes. You name it we had it. That was Jr. High and high school.

Wimps!

Garry-

If you used Trubond 1000B as the tanning oil, why did you follow Boco’s method?

BOCO's process has to do with the neutralizing of the pelt first (Aluminum Sulfate), TruBond 1000B is the oil with other additives. The Lubri-Stretch is also an oil, but finer.

The whole idea is to break down the fibers in the pelt so they can be easily stretched and retain that stretch once they are dry. Also the breaking down of the fiber is what gives the softness to the pelt. I, like most people don't have a fleshing machine or a ten feet high sawdust tumbler... so we have to improvise, and look for alternative methods of accomplishing the end results I want.

Thanks for asking...

Garry-

Cool!

Do you have any pics of leather side Garry?

Here is a photo taken after second day of breaking. Still need more work at this point...



This is the first one I worked on after day 3 of breaking... still some more work before turning. Day 4 I turned them and cleaned the fur.



Garry-

They turned out great. My son and I used Boco's method on his first muskrat and we just finished up two raccoons. Very pleased with the results from the Boco tanning process.

That's great, Thanks!