When you remove all the flesh there's supposed to be a membrane? How do you tell the difference? Is there a color to it?


Also how do you get the fur to be soft and malleable? i.e. something you can make a coat out of.

It's the white skin you need to get down to. If it looks like meat or fat it needs fleshed off.

ok. I guess that's the part that you keep salting for a week before scraping off? Also how do you keep the leather from hardening and keep it soft for use in cloth making?

Kill it, skin it, flesh it, dry it on a board or wire, ship it to Moyles for tanning.

lol well that is an option but I was kind of wanting to do it myself.

ETA: Ok intact fur dressing is what I wanted to do with the hide to make clothing out of. Finally found out what the proper term is.

There is no salt used in this process. The fat and meat is scraped off immediately after skinning.

Is there like a "For Idiots" guide on how to do it?

If you have never done it I would suggest buying a premade kit. They aren't all that expensive and will come with instructions and all the supply's. A quick google search for tanning kits will give you some options.

When it is hard it is rawhide. When it is tanned it becomes leather and is technically a chemical transformation of rawhide to leather. That's when it can be made to be soft for clothing and jackets and such.

You can leave it in rawhide form for wall hangers or some projects but for long term use tanning it into leather will be your best bet.

It took me about half a dozen hides practice before I got a decent result. And even that one was only about good enough for a coon skin cap. Of course I was about 14 then so about 29 years ago.

Good luck.