There are many recipes for pickling solutions, and they work great as long as the pH is very acidic. The perfect pickling solution would be a salt-acid bath with 2pH. The pickling process turns all the missed layers yellow making it easier to spot them. During that time, take out the hide of the solution after the first 24h to thin it down and return it to the pickling solution for few more days. It’s good to pickle a thick beaver hide for a few days. A thorough wash in any dish soap would do the trick. The pickling draws the moisture out of the hide and helps to chemically break down the non-structural proteins (like fat tissue) of the hide and allow the tanning agents to work into the hide’s fibers.īecause of the amount of fat on the beaver, the flesh side of the pelt needs to be degreased well before pickling. Some people believe that pickling is unnecessary, but professional tanneries often use it in the tanning process. It’s rather sharp, and you have to be careful not to damage the hide by accident by putting too much pressure during scraping. The tool you want to use is a special dry scraper. The drying process will take between 1 – 3 days, and shrink the beaver hide a little and stretch it a bit more on the frame. The stretch has to be tight enough that the hide is not folding in on itself but not too tight that the string will tear the edges of the leather under pressure.Īfter the beaver hide is mounted to the wooden frame, it needs to dry. The beaver hide needs to be stretched on the wooden frame. The dry scraping method is a rather time-consuming process, and it is not generally recommended for beginners because it’s difficult to gauge how thin the leather is getting. The fat comes off easier when it’s really cold. To flesh hide from frozen, you have to let the skin taw a little. Make sure you don’t squee the hide, allowing it to expand and freeze completely. Some people fold the hide in half, flesh to flesh, some people roll it fur out, and others freeze it flat. There are mixed opinions about how to store the skins in the freezer, but overall, none of them are incorrect. The fat freezes over, making it easier to flesh the hide. You will remove them in the following steps.įreeze scraping is another method commonly used to flesh the beaver hide. The movements can’t be too long, or the skin will fold and cause the hide to break under the knife.Ĭontinue to the sides, and when the beaver skin is fleshed up to the front legs, pull it up and do the next part, and so on until the hide is fully fleshed.ĭon’t worry about any stringy leftovers. If you are using a fleshing knife, the best is to start from the tip of the pelt at the ears, work through the middle of the pelt and then continue to the sides. Other methods may include a pressure washer or sharp knife. Using a fleshing knife and board is probably the most popular one.

There is a lot of methods of fleshing the beaver skin. Flip the beaver on its belly and work the skin of the back, cutting through the ear cartilage and around the eyes and nose.įleshing is an essential part of preparing the beaver hide.Pull the skin tight with one hand and work the knife between the skin and the flesh, trying to leave as much fat and flesh on the animal’s body.Remember to be careful about the castor glands.Make a cut in the middle of the skin, from the base of the tail around the anus and to the chin.Cut the skin around the tail base and turn the beaver on its back.Make sure you have a good knife for skinning, I recommend the Buck 192.

If you are not planning on mounting the animal, the skinning is a little bit less technical. There are a few ways of skinning the beaver, depending on your intentions for the pelt. When you get your beaver, the first thing is to get the pelt of as soon as possible to prevent natural fats from going rancid and burning the hide. This also cools down the meat and leaves the beaver ready for butchering The whole process can take up a few days between skinning, fleshing, soaking, and tanning. Nowadays, there are alternative solutions, like chromium salts. The tanning process initially involved acidic chemical compounds, called tannins, derived from the bark of specific trees. Tanning permanently changes the protein structure of the skin, preventing decomposition and ultimately making the hide more durable.

Beaver has excellent quality fur, and when properly tanned, it is one of the most durable furs out of fur-bearing animals.

Tanning rabbit pelts