A Complete Guide To Working With Pelts, Fur, And Leather
By Monte Burch
Soft Cover 245 Pages
Available From Rowman And Littlefield
1-800-462-6920
$24.95 + $5 Shipping
As a former trapper I am appalled to see valuable deer and other hides wildly slashed off and thrown away by hunters.
Men who don’t even know how to cape a deer head will often send the whole neck with the head to the taxidermist to let him deal with it. The old frontier adage “Make do or do without.” falls on deaf ears these days. For those wishing to learn the ins and outs of dealing with hides The Ultimate Guide to Skinning and Tanning is an excellent book.
The terms, methods, tools, chemicals, and their use are laid out in concise easy to understand terms so that anyone can understand and follow them. Easy to follow instructions and drawings enable one to make the specialized equipment needed such as fleshing beams, hide stretchers, and breaking stakes. Formulas for making the various tanning solutions as well as store bought ones are covered in detail.
Skinning must always be done carefully and correctly so the book gives explicit details on how to skin beaver, raccoon, deer, bear, and other game animals along with special instructions for particular species as needed. Farm livestock is well covered as well because most commercial leather comes from them. These sometimes present their own special problems, so the proper solutions are given for them.
Since you can’t always go straight from skinning to tanning the methods of preserving and storing hides are detailed.
Tanning hides with the fur on must be done right if the fur is to stay and the various methods are shown clearly as well as how to tan with the hair off.
One of the most important methods is how to make buckskin for clothes. Buckskin makes an ideal material for a hunter’s clothes and commercially available buckskin garments are horrifyingly expensive as well as not necessarily being in the exact form desired. It is far more practical and economical to make your own. When I see a hunter throw away a deer hide after ruining it while slashing it off haphazardly my thoughts are unprintable.
There are good instructions for making rawhide, latigo, and sole leather as well as instructions for tanning bird and reptile hides. A diamondback rattlesnake hide is always sure to impress. Finally there is a list of supply sources. Skinning and tanning is one of man’s oldest and most basic skills that has proved quite necessary for his survival throughout history. This is the best book on the subject that I have seen.—Jim Dickson
