Can I salt a pelt pre-tan without stretching it or will that be a problem?

You can do either or. The more you can draw excess liquids out of the hides the better. salting does a better job at that

I've sent unflesh, raw, salted otter to Moyles with no complaints from them.
I salt them for about four days, hang and air dry for a couple more days, then fold up and ship off.

Most tanners prefer salted over dried I believe. First thing they do with a dry pelt is throw it in water

Thank you folks!

Air dry skins is the preferred method for longer term storage of fur pelts.
Salting skins is a method of holding skins for a shorter period before tanning.
Salt dried skins will draw moisture from the air since salt is hygroscopic,and so is not the best for longer term storage before tanning.
large skin tannerys are geared to trade standards which is air dried.
There is no difference in the finished tanned product between a properly handled skin either salted,salt dried,or air dried

Perhaps for you but all tanners are not equal.

There is no difference in the end product regardless of process method beforehand.as long as each was done correctly.
More work for tannery to tan salted skins because more fleshing is required.
Why the industry standard is dried skins.
You will be hard pressed to find any salted skins at the auction house,lol.
Not sure if gfw takes them,
Large leather tannerys are geared to handle salted hides since that is the standard for that industry.

Taxidermists who handle relatively small volume compared to commercial trade often want whole frozen anials to prep themselves or salted skins.
Tannerys that cant tan properly are usually not in buisness very long.

I just needed to know if I can salt them without stretching them. They are dry now, I will hydrate them then salt them dry again. I will then spray them damp before they go in the pickle. I understand a professional such as yourself has no need for this process but it works for me. What I tan is for my personal use and will have zero affect on anyone other than me. Thanks for the info though.

Why rehydrate just to salt them..just to rehydrate them again? With dried hides, I'd go straight to the pickle.

I don’t know, because “it works for me”. Could be my imagination but the little bit of extra light work at the start seems to make the hard part at the end a little less difficult.

If your pelts are dry now all you have to do is rehydrate them degrease,rinse and put in pickle.
Rehydrating dry pelts is crucial to a good tan,Your re hydration soak should be slightly alkali to get full rehydration prior to pickling.
When you re hydrate a dried skin it needs to be the same condition as when it was first skinned off the animal with the same stretch and pliability before pickling.
Might sound complicated on paper but it is really very simple and straightforward.
You can toss a clean and degreased fresh pelt directly into a pickle bucket without any other steps.There is salt in the pickle and a skin can remain in the pickle for a long time before continuing the rest of the tanning process.
I often do that with fresh skinned weasels until there are enough of them in the pickle bucket to tan together.
Saves a lot of un necessary steps.

If the pelt is dry already, I would not rehydrate to salt and dry again. Leave it dry.

You’ll run a higher chance of the pelt slipping by rehydrating twice.

When you’re ready to start the pickling process, rehydrate the pelt first, then add to the pickle.