Let’s Ruminate

Steps to tanning your own goat hide

By Joshua Crise

Kidding season has been in full swing over the last month or so and with just a couple weeks left, Winter 2022 will be in our rearview mirror! I can hear my wife whooping from here. Kathy is not much of a Winter fan these days. However, Winter offers an opportunity for me to breathe (for just a bit), before it warms up, and take a little time to work on a few inside projects that have been seriously neglected and a chance to hone my tanning skills before the upcoming season. Our daughter, Amelia, previously touched on the reasons we tan goat pelts in the March 2021 issue of Goat Rancher. My aim today is to offer a little more technical approach to tanning, specifically goat pelts, for those that might have an interest in the process. By no means am I a professional so my recommendation would not be to start with your prized hide for your first hair-on goat pelt tanning expedition but a pelt you can practice with as you hone and practice a new skill.

I’ve found that there are numerous directions on the Internet and in books that review the process of tanning but they always seem to leave out one step (never the same one) so you are left mining various pieces of information to fill in the gaps. Unfortunately, it is always a different step that is missing so over time I’ve tried to nail down a simplified process to help guide me. Us? There are a lot of commercial solutions on the market for the tanning process as well as more natural approaches, like brain or egg yolk tanning, for those that want to take that route. I am going to focus on the commercial process of using a tanning agent but keep in mind that the natural approach is very similar. I am also going to focus on the hair-on tanning process rather than hair-off, rawhide, or leather making processes.

You can break the pelt tanning process down into seven main steps; fleshing, salting, pickling, neutralizing, degreasing, tanning, and softening. Many of these main steps are pretty simple and straight-forward and do not require any additional sub-steps. However, there are lots of tips, do’s and don’ts, and gotchas for each of the steps. Van Dyke’s, https://bit.ly/VanDykesTanning, or TruBond, https://bit.ly/TruBondTanning, offer a pretty detailed process on their websites that can help fill in gaps between the lines. When working with any hair-on pelt, it is important to remember that the hide will begin to decay immediately so it is critical to keep the hide cool or cold (not frozen) and to get to step 2, salting, as quickly as possible. The salting step will stop the process of decay and allows you to come back to the pelt when you are ready to continue.

Step #1 | Fleshing - Remove meat, fat, and membrane from flesh side of hide. For the fleshing step, your focus is to scrape the hide by removing all meat, fat, and membrane. The cleaner the hide the more readily the salt will penetrate the hide, begin to dry out, and set the hair (so it won’t fall out). If you are in a hurry and don’t have time to actually flesh the hide immediately, you can remove the large pieces of meat and fat with a knife and move to step 2 so that you can prevent the hair from falling out. And then you can return to it when you can properly finish fleshing it. Fleshing can be done a number of ways but typically you place the hide, hair-down on a fleshing beam (with rounded edges) and use a downward scraping motion to remove the meat, fat, and membrane with a two sided fleshing knife. It isn’t really a knife. It is fairly blunt and when using it, you should scrape down and not side to side. If the hide is fleshed immediately this is referred to as wet-scraping as the hide has not been dried out. If you return to the hide after you have salted it (not rock hard dry but doesn’t have fluid still coming off of it), first shaking out the salt and then fleshing it, this is referred to as dry-scraping. Both approaches work, it comes down to your personal preference. I use both wet and dry-scraping depending on the time I have when I receive the hide.

Step #2 | Salting - Apply salt to flesh side of hide (repeat applications until no fluid drains from hide). Likely the most important step in the entire process as salting stops the decaying process, salting is actually one of the easiest steps. In this step, you apply salt (preferably non-iodized and NOT rock salt) to the flesh side of the hide by rubbing the salt into every crevice and fold. Roll the hide and then lay it on an incline so that it can drain fluid as the salt draws out the moisture from the hide. Shake off the wet salt and then reapply fresh salt every 12 hours until no more fluid drains from the hide. At this point the hide is stable. You can let it completely dry out by draping it or place it in a sealed 5 gallon bucket for storage until you are ready to continue the tanning process.

Step #3 | Pickling (24-48 hrs) - Submerge hide in 3 gallons of water, 2 lbs of salt, and ½ cup Citric Acid (pH between 1-2). This step involves using a mixture of approximately 3 gallons of water (room temperature), 2 lbs of salt, and ½ cup of citric acid (to maintain the pH between 1-2) to pickle the hide. Completely submerge the hide in the pickle, stirring regularly, for at least 24-48 hours. Pickling allows the hide to absorb the mixture and become plump. This allows additional fleshing or shaving to remove any leftover membrane. The thinner the hide the less shrinking in the final tanning process and the more supple your final product.

Step #4 | Neutralizing (20 mins) - Submerge hide in 3 gallons of water, and 2 Tbsp of Baking Soda (pH between 4-5). In this step, our goal is to change the pH of the pelt from 1-2 (from our pickling solution) to a pH of 4-5. This is accomplished by adding Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate) to the pickle (remove the hide first). You may want to leave your pickle as is, if you plan to pickle another hide, and create a separate batch of neutralizing solution in another bucket. Neutralize the pelt for no longer than about 20-30 minutes in 2-4 gallons of room temperature water or colder. Add enough baking soda to achieve a pH of 4-5.

Step #5 | Degreasing (20 mins) - Submerge hide in 3 gallons of water, and dish soap (final rinsing to cut grease, odor, dirt, and grime). Typically this step is reserved for extra greasy skins like bear, beaver, racoons, etc. However, it doesn’t take much time, removes the animal odor from the pelt, and you can use something like Dawn dish soap for your degreasing bath. Again, using 2-4 gallons of room temperature water or colder make a decreasing bath with Dawn dish soap or even a commercial degreaser like TruBond Lipa-Solve 77. You would be amazed at how much grease will float to the top of the bucket when you use a commercial degreaser.

Step #6 | Tanning - Apply warmed tanning solution liberally to flesh side of hide. For this step, I prefer a commercial tanning solution. I’ve used a few different solutions including the famous “orange bottle”, Deer Hunter’s & Trapper’s Hide Tanning Formula, but my personal preference is TruBond 1000B. This is a paint-on tanning solution that I typically throw on a pair of cheap vinyl gloves and wipe into every crevice and fold with my hands. The first step in this process is to thoroughly rinse the hide after degreasing, which can be done in a number of ways but the easiest is to rinse it a few times in a five gallon bucket by submerging and removing a handful of times. Change your water a few times and when you are satisfied that you have all the degreaser out, then roll up the pelt hair side in and squeegee to remove as much water as you can. The next step is intended to make the hide thirsty for the tanning solution. I lay the pelt out on a big towel and then lay another towel on top of the hide, then roll them all together and then squeeze out as much water as you can. The process is similar to how you might dry out a wet bathing suit when you are on vacation and need to pack it in the suitcase before you leave. Repeat this step with a fresh set of towels if needed. Again, this step is intended to make the hide thirsty and at this point you are ready to apply the tanning solution. Just prior to applying the solution, I warm the tanning agent up by placing the solution in a cup and the cup in hot water. This helps the oils penetrate the hide even better. Let the tan soak for 2 hours and reapply a second coat if needed. At this point, you can fold the hide in half if you need to slow the tanning (drying process) for any reason. Otherwise, at this point processes vary but it’s time to allow the hide to start curing.

Step #7 - Softening - Break hide when approximately 80% dry and apply softening oil when 80% dry (repeat 2-3 times), as needed. The softening step, often referred to as breaking the hide, breaks down the fibers in the hide to make it more pliable and soft. This step can be started when the hide is about 80% dry. At this point, the hair is dry and the skin is still pliable. There are a few ways to break the hide including using a “see-saw” motion over the edge of a fleshing beam or 2 x 4, or you can rack the hide and use hand held tools to work the flesh side of the hide. This is my preferred method, as it isn’t quite so cumbersome. Takes a little more time to rack the hide but well worth it. I use little bungee cords to tie back the hide in all directions in the rack. And then I use the rounded handle side of a putty or spackle knife to work the hide. By working the hide in the rack the fibers in the flesh will begin to break down providing a softer hide. The edges of the hide will begin to dry faster than the interior of the hide so as soon as you see the edges begin to dry start tugging or pulling in all directions around the edge. This will help the edges of the hide to remain somewhat soft. When the hide is about 80% dry, you can also apply a softening agent or oil which will help loosen the hide further. This may be repeated each time the hide is about 80% dry, 2-3 times depending on how soft you would like the final product. While the hide is drying continue to work the hide by tugging, stretching and working the fibers with the rounded handle side of the putty knife. When the hide is completely dry remove it from the rack. You can also sand the hide with an orbital sander to give the hide a more dressed or suede finished feel once dry.

The advantage to using goat hides to make hair-on pelts is they are fairly easy to work with compared to thicker hides like cow hide which require extra breaking or softening, goat pelts are not nearly as big as cow hides either so require less space to work, they don’t stink as bad as moose or deer, aren’t as greasy as bear or beaver, and come in a variety of hair lengths and colors, are unique, and add warmth to any room as a rug or throw. And of course as Amelia mentioned in her March 2021 Goat Rancher article, enables us to use more of our goats after USDA meat processing. If you are interested in one of our pelts or would like to see more images of finished goat pelts, please visit our Etsy shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/HandcraftedGoatPelts, and remember every expert was a beginner at some point, so take the plunge and try tanning for yourself!

(Josh and Kathy Crise, and Amelia (daughter and goat ranching partner) operate Marble

Creek Acres in Lee, Maine. For interest in a future year’s Kiko waitlist, questions, or if you have topics you might like to read about, in our column, Let’s Ruminate, in a future Goat Rancher, we can be reached at 207-619-3758, email mainekikos@gmail.com or marblecreekacres.com)

By Joshua Crise

A fleshed and salted pelt curing

A pelt being degreased

A pelt, flesh side up, racked and in the breaking or softening stage