Product Review

          This is a frequently asked question – I need more softness in my finished capes and skins! And when someone asks it, it usually involves examining how they process their skins and making some changes. 

Keep in mind as you strive for softness in your finished product, you also must be aware that every time you have to handle a skin individually, it requires labor! One of your biggest costs in tanning is labor – whether it’s you or an employee, so obviously you want to keep labor at its lowest cost! Sometimes it can’t be avoided, like when you receive skins, shave or oil them, then later comb them out, but things like "double oiling", staking or arm staking can sometimes be simply replaced by buying a good tanning oil and making one application. Otherwise, you’re losing profit!

I like to focus on 5 areas where you can improve the over-all softness of finished skins. Although I’ve also included to what percentage they each contribute to softness, keep in mind that some of the "other" areas, I’ve listed, will help to also contribute to how soft the skins or capes become.

5 Main Factors Contributing to softness!

Oiling (35%)

Shaving (30%)

Drumming (20%)

Tannage (10%)

Acid Bate (2-4%)

Other Contributing Factors to softness!

Full Rehydration 

Washing after Tanning

Over-Drying!

Too much solvent – Too long!

Framing or toggling too tight!

Oiling (35%) – More than the others, oiling plays an important part in the softening process! For that reason, many Tanneries constantly experiment using oils, looking for that one oil that lends softness to their finished products. Once you find an oil that works well with your system, then its time to concentrate on the other areas to produce an even softer piece.

Every oiled skin or cape should have 25% moisture trapped in the fibers. This moisture, along with the oil, provides the necessary softness and lubrication. Have you ever had a "parchment" feeling skin or cape, that’s thin and feels like paper? That’s usually a sign that the fibers may not have enough moisture locked into their bonds. Usually it’s the result of over drying or drying it too fast using heat, like in a clothes dryer! The Dryer drives out the oil and water. To correct a "parchment" feeling skin, you need to rewet it completely, reoil it, and
then let it dry slowly, and rework it soft.

Some Taxidermists "Double Oil" their skins and capes. After the tan, they drain and apply the 1st coat of oil. After 3-4 hours of sweating in the 1st coat, they apply another coat and sweat it in. This is what is referred to as "Double Oiling". It’s also a lot of extra labor, and extra oil. I think it’s a waste of time and money simply to make up for using a poor oil! If you use a good oil – one coat should be sufficient for softness!

Then there are the guys that use oils either in their Pickle or Tanning solution to add to softness! Again, I simply think it’s an attempt to make up for using a poor oil! I’ve personally never perceived a marked difference using such oils! It’s a waste of your time and oil!

I frequently get requests from guys wanting Staking machines. These machines are supposed to mechanically stretch the fibers and promote extra softness – but here again, I advise people to buy a good oil instead, even if it costs extra, it will promote more softness than using a staking machine! A Staking machine requires extra handling (your labor) and investing in the cost of the machine. A good oil, even at a higher cost, is a more economical solution.

Stay away from anything but "Tanning Oils". Trying to use untreated oils like Neatsfoot or Mink oils, will not promote softness. Untreated oils are meant to only enhance the surface of leather, like for shoes, but have no value in tanning, where you want deep penetration. These untreated oils are not charged, and therefore do not bond to the leather or fibers, like treated oils do. Consequently they can easily be removed, or driven out by heat or alkalines. It may cost more – but charged tanning oils are your best investment for softness! 

Shaving (30%) – Let’s face it – thinner skins or capes are softer! And this is where shaving plays a role in contributing to the softness of your finished pieces.

Unless you remove the over burden of excess flesh by shaving, you have to expect less than a commercially tanned skin in softness and flexibility. This is especially true of skins the thickness of Whitetail Deer or thicker! Shaving will contribute almost 30% to the softness of your finished piece –that’s considerable!

Most Taxidermists fail to get a good shave because they become impatient with their rehydration bath or pickle! Let the skin fully rehydrate first, then put it in your pickle. Don’t simply allow it to become flexible. Once pickled, it doesn’t usually get any softer, and may impede the fluids from fully pumping it up. Once in the pickle, let the skin fully pickle before attempting to shave it. I always leave the skin in the pickle for at least 3 days before shaving. I want it pumped up and firm, so my blade takes a nice "bite" as I shave. When a skin is not fully pickled, it simply isn’t worth trying to shave. 

Drumming (20%) – A Drum can save you a lot of hand work, and free you to do other things in your shop! But – don’t waste your time and money on a Drum smaller than 4’ Wide X 6’ High! Or go larger! The main point is, you need the 6’ drop to make it worthwhile! Anything less simply doesn’t do a good job!

When you have a 6’ or higher drop and you add 2 Bags of sawdust at 50 Lbs. per Bag, you have a lot of weight gently pounding your skins soft! Combined with the weight of the skins themselves, they actually soften themselves without any help! Sawdust is better than cob simply because sawdust weighs more and takes up less space. It also doesn’t tend to mush up when wet like cob. 

The 4’ or wider width is important too! Any less width and you will find yourself having problems, particularly with Bears, folding in on themselves and rolling in the drum! Stay with the 4’ X 6’ or larger Drum, and save yourself
some frustration!

Maybe you already have a Drum 6’ X 4’ or larger – but it isn’t doing the job! So why isn’t it saving you your time and softening the skins? Maybe you’re not using 100 Lbs. of sawdust! Less wont do it! Is it cycling properly at approximately 16-18 rpm? Have you timed it for a nice "drop"! Do you run a full load or only 1 or 2 skins at a time? Remember, the weight of the skins also contribute to kneading the skins soft! Do you use a Timer? Timing it allows you to run it while you concentrate on other things in your shop!

Tannage (10%) – Some tans require more work than others, to make them soft as they dry. Alum is one of those tans that produces a very soft tanned skin, but requires a lot of mechanical effort to "work" it soft.

Obviously, a spotty or incomplete tan also produces a very difficult skin to work with. This may be the result of maintaining too cold a tanning area, slowing down the normal tanning time, not adjusting the Ph before placing the skins in the tan, not stirring them 2-3 times during the process or not degreasing them prior to tanning. Grease can obstruct the penetration of the chemicals. While most Whitetail skins do not require degreasing, Bears, Boar and other fatty animals should be degreased after they are shaven, and while fully pickled.

No matter how good an oil you may use on an incomplete tanned skin, it won’t help. Always check your skins when you pull them from the tan and rinse them prior to oiling. Cut a small sliver from the edge and examine the cross-section of the newly exposed edge. It should be white all the way through it. If there is a tan or amber streak in the middle – its not fully tanned!

Acid Bate (2-4%) – Acid Bate is particularly effective when processing fatty skins! It is a powdered enzyme that once dissolved in an acid solution (the pickle) and in the presence of fatty protein (like your skins), it will attack the protein and eat the insoluable fats from between the fibers! You should still use your degreasers, but these are fats that ordinary degreasers do not remove! When these fats are gone, the result is a much looser fiber structure, and a much softer skin. I find Acid Bate is particularly helpful when processing the larger skins like Buffalo and cowhides! They also are helpful in processing furs where the face areas are typically hard.

How do you use them? Simply mix your pickling solution as usual, but add 1 Oz. of Acid Bate to each 4 Gallons of your solution. Then pickle as usual! It doesn’t involve any extra labor, and your skins will softer!

Beware – there are some Bates which are not intended for fur and hair-on tanning. These bates must be used while the skin is in an alkaline (high PH) state, and are designed to be used on leather. They require being used before pickling, and require a few extra steps in your process. 

Other Factors contributing to softness!

Full Rehydration – Don’t let yourself rush your dried skins or capes through the rehydration process. Make sure they are open and soft before rinsing and placing them in the pickle! Maybe you need a Commercial relaxing agent to accomplish this – but don’t pull them too soon! A salt brine (2 Lbs. of Salt/1 Gl. Of Water) is a good relaxing bath, but commercial relaxing agents, like our Rittel’s Ultra-Soft (US-609) are much faster and gentle on the epidermis. Normally, in a US-609 bath most skins relax within 8-10 hours.

If you don’t allow your skins to fully relax before pickling, they may not pump up with the pickling solution and allow you to shave them easily. Since most skins contain fat in the fibers, it has a tendency to sometimes glue
the fibers together, particularly if they exposed to heat, or stored over the summer months. They also may have lost a lot of moisture and upon collapsing, the fibers are difficult to again open up.

Washing after Tanning – This is a very common problem! Taxidermists should be washing their skins and capes while they are pickled – not after tanning! If you wash them after tanning, until the tan has dried and chemically bonded to the fibers, you may wash them out! So you may end up with a spotty or untanned skin!

The time to wash a skin is after its been in the pickle 3 days, removed, drained for 30 minutes, then shaved, degreased, and then washed, rinsed and returned to the pickle at least for overnight! Don’t worry if the pickle appears dirty. The dirt you see is soluable and can be rinsed away before neutralizing! Also salt is not needed in your degreasing and washing solutions, since these baths are considerably brief and adding salt will decrease their effectiveness!

There are all kinds of problems to contend with if you wash after tanning. Besides the obvious, washing out the tanning agent, if not rinsed properly after washing, or if it is a persistent detergent (not easily rinsed away clean) the detergent, left in the cape, can slowly migrate into the throat, and especially the brisket area, and cause loose hair or slippage!

Over Drying – Tanned skins and capes must retain trapped water to be soft! Normally they should contain 25% water to be soft. If you over dry them, or dry them too rapidly, you may lose this water retention and find the skin hard and crackly! Even arm staking will not correct this condition, and you are faced with rewetting them, and allowing them to go through the drying process again – but this time slowly!

When a skin is 95% dry – that is the time to either work the skin soft by hand or put it in your sawdust Drum and tumble it soft! Don’t let it hang! Don’t try to dry it in a clothes dryer with heat! The dryer will drive out the oil and
the moisture and create a difficult skin to work with!

Too much Solvent – Too long! – After oiling and sweating in the oil, it’s a good time to briefly tumble your skins or capes to remove any excess oil in the hair or fur, and to damp dry them, particularly if you want to freeze them or mount them wet. Using a solvent in the sawdust when they are tumbled will remove the excess oil and moisture, as well as remove any natural oils in the fur or hair and provide good seperation later. However, a common mistake is to Drum them too long and draw out the Oil and moisture needed to produce a soft skin!

When damp drying your skins or capes and using solvent, keep the tumbling time to 5 minutes, then remove and blow them off! NO LONGER! If you do go longer you will be disappointed with your results.

Framing or Toggling too tight! – This is a mistake usually made when handling large hides that require being laced or toggled, using toggles, into a frame. Don’t pull the skin tight! If you do – as it slowly dries it will literally squeeze out the oil and moisture! When you lace or toggle it into the frame, pull it to its natural limits and do not pull it taut! I find it best to lace or toggle as it is in a horizontal position and you are not fighting the natural weight of the skin downward.

As the skin dries, it will slowly dry to its original shape, allowing the oil and moisture to remain trapped in the fibers, and to contribute to its softness! 

                                                 Summary

A lot of factors influence the outcome of the tanning process, and softness. I’ve tried to cover the most obvious, but there are others. I still however, consider choosing a good Tanning Oil, no matter what the expense, your first step in producing a truly soft skin, with a minimum of labor involved! Always keep in mind that Labor is the highest expense when it comes to tanning. Too much labor – means too little profit for the Tanner! Keep labor to a minimum! 

Thank you

Bruce Rittel