Breaking hides?

Has anyone used a cement mixer for breaking hides?

I am figuring on tanning some beaver hides and was thinking of tumbling them in a cement mixer with either rounded blocks of wood or some round river rock. I've used my wife's rock polisher with a marten hide and it seemed to work good. Any reason a cement mixer wouldn't?

Thanks.

Might do a bit of work, but a dryer with tennis balls probably would work better unless you got a cement truck to use.

Lol. No cement truck. Wife would boot me right in the taint if she caught me using her dryer for anything but laundry lol. Sometimes I see at princess auto 3.5 cu ft mixers for sale.

Dont think it will work you need the hide to fall a distance the tanneries use big drums with 6 foot of fall. Blocks of wood will tear up the fur and hide at best.

You need a larger diameter to break larger hides, I used a four foot diameter commercial dryer and made some solid hard wood eggs I threw in with about five to ten reds or five or six coyotes at a time and it took about four to six hours to break them soft.

More than anything you need to know when the moisture content is just right so they break and stay that way. other wise if you leave moisture in them thinking they are done you will find them hard again in a few hours as the last of the moisture dry's out.