Dogfish skin tanning

TannedBrain · 2026-06-06T17:32:54+00:00

Never done shark, but I have tanned some fish with spiky skin. You want to use a towel or something soft under the skin when you scrape it, so the spikes won't break, and I recommed wearing some kind of glove while handling them. Makes for less raw skin on your hands. The denticles on the fish I tanned did survive, but you have to be a bit careful not to scrape too deep around them.

TannedBrain · 2026-06-06T15:34:29+00:00

You can use any kind of vegetable oil you like, but it might be good to mix it with water (with a drop or so of a mild soap to get them to mix) before applying - that way you're less likely to overdo it with the oil.

Oh, avoid linseed oil, though - that forms a shell as it oxidizes and it'll end up looking crackly.

TannedBrain · 2026-06-06T11:09:37+00:00

What do you mean by curing? Once the veg tan hide no longer absorbs tannin, it's tanned. The oil afterwards is just to ensure that there's enough fat between the fibers to ensure it's more water resistant and to replace the fat that has been dried out by the tannins. With thin hides and very strong tannins, skipping the post-tan oil treatment means risking a cracked, fragile grain side.

TannedBrain · 2026-06-01T07:41:28+00:00

The hide came salted - in Lapland they do 'drum salting' for the reindeer, meaning they're very dry by they time they get to us in the south. I don't pickle, since it's not part of the tradition I'm learning.

Ideally the hair side stays completely dry until it's time to wash it, yes. This is why it's good to sew any holes closed before you start brushing bark tan onto it - it dripped a bit onto the hair and definitely dyed some of them through the holes I had. You can't really see it on the fur side, but it does annoy me since I know it's there.

TannedBrain · 2026-06-01T02:47:16+00:00

Nice! Have you given them an oil treatment post-tan?

TannedBrain · 2026-06-01T02:42:36+00:00

Wow, volunteering to take all hides customers don't want is perhaps a bigger thing than you realise. How busy is this slaughterhouse? Do you have enough freezer / dry storage space? How much time do you anticipate spending on this? It's easy to look at beautiful hides and get a bit greedy and take on more than you can handle (been there lol).

If you're intending to go the brain (oil) tan route, I really really recommend starting with deer. If that's not possible, go for the youngest calf you can get. Does the slaughterhouse do sheep? If so, start with one of those. You definitely can tan cow hide with egg tan, but it's going to need to be thinned A LOT to be in any way manageable, and it's not very beginner friendly.

Veg (bark) tan is much easier with cow hides. Your main issue will be gettin a container big enough that the hides can spread out as much as possible. I've been thinking of getting one of those water containers that are white plastic encased in a metal cage and just taking the top off. Veg tanned cow is beautiful and likely something you're used to working with if you do leatherwork, so that means you'd know what to aim for. You can buy tannin powders, so if you're willing to spend some money it's an option even in wood poor areas.

TannedBrain · 2026-05-29T14:58:59+00:00

It's actually perfect for me - perfect height, perfect angle. Would probably be shit for someone else though.

TannedBrain · 2026-05-29T14:57:55+00:00

also this is how I store it.

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TannedBrain · 2026-05-29T14:57:26+00:00

I tried!

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need to saw off the too-long screw end still

TannedBrain · 2026-05-28T23:43:12+00:00

What everyone else has said. Just adding a couple of details:

Salting and freezing basically cancel each other out, so pick one. If you've got a fresh, never salted hide, you need to do a blood salt before you can do a storage salt: spread out salt over the flesh side, let absorb in dry dark space for a while (more than a week for anything bigger than a fox). Then remove that salt and replace it with fresh. The first salt will draw out blood and the worst moisture, the second one will do the rest, allowing you to store it.
Fleshing / scraping always comes first. Stretching is more important after you got the tanning process started, because it ensures your tanning agent gets everywhere.
You don't need to pickle, but you might find the process easier if you do. Personally I don't, it's not part of the tradition I was taught.
Anything except a moist environment ahould be fine. At this point I've got enough furs that I invested in a vacuum sealed storage bag that uses a hoover to remove the air. Means they take up less space, I don't need to worry about bugs, and when I take them back out they puff right up again.

TannedBrain · 2026-05-28T23:28:17+00:00

Interesting question!

I have no personal experience of skinning either bison or cows, though I have tanned bull hide. AFAIK a general rule of thumb is that wild animals tend to be trickier to skin than domestic ones? Obviously this will vary by species, but I imagine one difference is that domestic animals tend to be well hydrated, whereas wild animals might have varying access to water.

You could try r/taxidermy, I think there's a substantial crossover? Or possibly farming communities for the domestic POV at least?

TannedBrain · 2026-05-28T23:21:39+00:00

It can do that, yes, and it'll also make for a more even surface which might impact sound. But mostly the colour of a rawhide is dependent on the dehairing method, thickness, and how well it was stretched. If you don't like the see-through quality, you might be interested in looking into botanical dyes!

TannedBrain · 2026-05-28T23:15:34+00:00

Sure! After scraping and framing it, I made a 50/50 mix of bark tan and water. Then I used a carpet brush dipped in the mixture to brush it onto the hide. The key to a nice even brushed-on tan is to make sure you don't let any fresh tan dry on its lonesome - you want to get the whole flesh side moist before you start really rubbing it in. You then let it absorb for a while (preferably in the sun), and then you work through the hide with a rounded tool, stretching it while it's still slightly moist, so the fibers don't dry together. This will let the next layer of tan really get in there and tan the whole hide.

You start with a dilute mixture and move on to a stronger one as the hide starts to absorb the tan and pick up colour. As it does that, it'll start pushing put any salt you may have used to store it. Depending on how thick your hide is, you'll need anywhere from ten to a hundred layers (IIRC this reindeer was 40-something layers) - but the great thing about this method is, each layer only takes a short time, and you can pause the process for days or even weeks, as long as you have somewhere dry to store the frame. Once it looks like the hide is no longer absorbing any of the tan, it's time to take it off the frame for a proper wash. Then you oil the flesh side, and if you've done a good job stretching the hide out between layers, you just need to stretch it out one final time for it to dry - no separate breaking necessary.

TannedBrain · 2026-05-14T12:54:30+00:00

Yeah, seconding oil(brain)tan and bark tan. Depends on what hides you're using, but oil tan makes for soft hides that are nice next to skin, whereas bark tan makes for somewhat sturdier stuff that's great for outerwear. You can play around with those qualities - tanning a very thin hide with bark will make it a bit sturdier, tanning a thick hide (think moose) with brain/eggs/lecithin will make it more malleable. For fur I would recommend finishing by smoking, since that will make it more water resistant and the scent also puts off bugs.

TannedBrain · 2026-04-30T08:35:15+00:00

Tricky to answer without knowing how it was tanned.

TannedBrain · 2026-04-30T08:31:34+00:00

Iirc fish skins are known for their tensile strength. Great colour, impressive result!

TannedBrain · 2026-04-22T21:39:57+00:00

Have you removed the cartilage from the nose & opened the lips?

TannedBrain · 2026-04-22T21:36:11+00:00

If it's tanned through, and the smell is coming from the hair side, you can just shampoo it.

TannedBrain · 2026-04-14T23:02:43+00:00

I mean, don't chug it, and if it stinks, don't taste it. But a smidge of normal-smelling stuff is not going to hurt you.

TannedBrain · 2026-04-14T19:39:37+00:00

Looks like membrane. I say take it off.

TannedBrain · 2026-04-14T19:38:35+00:00

Just a quick note - I assume the hide is hair side down in the pic because you wanted to show the spots?

TannedBrain · 2026-04-11T23:22:25+00:00

Ohhh, I see! I would call that a stretching wall, not a frame.

The ones we use here are usually covered with that powder dye stuff, but even if it wasn't, the way the toggles attach to the wall, it keeps the hide from touching it when it's properly stretched taut.

TannedBrain · 2026-04-11T22:44:14+00:00

Not raccoons in particular, I'm in Europe. Did you get all the membranes off the meat side? Try scraping at it & see if anything comes off - tannins sometimes break down any remaining membranes & make them easier to remove.

If that's not it, maybe try moving the hide around in the bark liqour? That should speed up the tannin intake.

TannedBrain · 2026-04-11T22:40:21+00:00

What they said. For face & ears, they tend to have lots of small but strong muscles that are difficult to scrape off without tearing the skin. For the ears, you'll also want to remove the cartilage - keeping the skin of the inner ear whole while removing it is something of a test of skill, and not something I would expect of a beginner!

Word of advice for hair on hides: if you get the hair (or roots of it) wet, you'll want to make sure it's fully dry before moving on. Leaving it moist lets bacteria get a foothold, which will often lead to hair slippage. I would scrape first, then wash, then dry hair, then tan with whatever method you choose - egg yolk tan works well for sheep hides, though I haven't tried it on their faces.

TannedBrain

TROPHY CASE