Hi folks, i'm here to ask for a bit of advice if there's any to be found!
I am tanning a hide for the first time so i'm not certain on a lot of things here but i'll give the context before the question.
Its a red fox that has been skinned, frozen for a few days until i had the time to flesh it, fleshed to a standard that, to the best of my knowledge, seemed okay? but i also don't know just how much i was supposed to take off so that may be impacting things as well.
salted for 3 days, rather than 2 because it was just so wet still after the second day, soaked in saltwater bath for about 15 minutes. this was all per the instructions on the back of the orange bottle tanning solution i have- i found out later after i bought it that there is some debate over the effectiveness of this solution, but as i don't know if this will become a long term hobby i'm reluctant to invest in the real expensive stuff yet.
I scrubbed the flesh side by hand with dish soap to degrease it, but again i run into the issue of not knowing to what standard it is meant to be degreased to- i have no other frame of reference for what its meant to 'feel' like, so i wasn't sure what the deal was.
I then let it hang dry for a while before applying the tanning solution, and here is where my first issue appeared- the skins were outside(dry, no worries there) during a hot night/morning folded flesh side, and in a shed, laid out open, for a very hot day. i think they may have dried a bit too fast as when i returned to them in the evening they were quite stiff- not totally solid but definetly stiffer than they were meant to be. i wet them with water, then reapplied the solution, and now they are drying much slower which is probably ideal.
i have heard that you must "break" a hide by bending and rubbing it with rope while it is semi dry, so i will be making an attempt at that later today, but for now, my questions are these:
1- does the "orange bottle" tanning solution actually tan a hide? i've heard confliciting reports, but essentially what i want to know is whether or not the hide will rot using it.
2- does it look as though i sufficiently fleshed the hide? i genuinly have no clue at this point.
3- do i need to use leather oil to make it softer or is that something i should primarily be trying to acheive with breaking?
4- generally, does it look like i'm on the right track, or have i gone wildly wrong somewhere lol
any advice or thoughts, comments, questions, anything at all would be insanely appreciated!!
(note: the damp/whiter patches on the legs and just above are because i had them folded over to perserve their dampness and they are just a lot wetter still)
![[Linked Image]](https://trapperman.com/forum/attachments/usergals/2024/05/full-58679-217820-20240512_094151.jpg)
![[Linked Image]](https://trapperman.com/forum/attachments/usergals/2024/05/full-58679-217821-20240512_094159.jpg)
(Hopefully I've uploaded the images correctly!)