Anyone have any experience using Johnny Thorpe? I only have experience with the orange bottle and with beaver pelts it leaves them pretty stiff. Looking for something that’s more playable for making mittens.

Key on getting beaver soft is shaving and breaking the hides. Even with breaking outside of kit beaver, the thickness of the hide works against you trying to get them soft and harder to sew.

Trubond produces a nice easy tan. As above anything larger than a large beaver needs to be shaved and broken properly, smalls,mediums and some larges don't need to be and will turn out nice and soft if done right.

Thin the neck and middle like the belly edges and use this.

Boco’s Home Tanning

X2^^^
I’ve had good results with Bocos instruction with mink but haven’t tried it with beaver. Keep in mind that Bocos is for wall hangers. He said that if you intend to use it for garments that’ll probably get wet. Someone emailed out a PDF of his instructions to those who wanted it, in there he mentioned using the true bond or tanning solution to finish it off……IIRC.

Thin the leather enough and the product using his method can be made into wearable items.