Soft tanning a bear hide

Looking for elk this past weekend, for my friend Keith (I was lucky and took one already this fall), and came across a beautiful strawberry blond black bear. Bear came in to 10 yards and Keith got him.
I've sent bears to the tanners before, but it is over $300.00 to have one soft tanned. Pretty pricey. Anyone know where you can find step by step instructions on how to soft tan a bear hide? Keith has another bear in the freezer, taken previously, and now this one and would really like to tan them up himself. Any advice is welcome.

Instructions

Preparation and Cleaning
1

Scrape the flesh from the hide using a sharp knife. Be careful not to puncture the skin as you remove the first layer of flesh. Sharpen the knife every 30 minutes to maintain a strong blade that will slice through the flesh.
2

Pour several pounds of non-iodized salt onto the skin-side of the hide. Put on rubber gloves and aggressively rub the salt into the skin. Drape the hide over two saw horses and leave it to dry for two days. The salt will expose more flesh as it dries the hide.

3

Continue working the hide with the knife to remove all of the flesh and tissue. Look for white patches and scrape with the knife blade until the hide appears to be void of flesh and tissue. This process requires one full day of scraping.
4

Fill a plastic trash can with cold water. Place the hide in the water for 30 minutes to remove the salt and rehydrate the skin. Fill another plastic trash can with warm water and add 1/2 cup of dish soap to the water. Place the hide in the water and work the skin with a soft brush for one hour. This will remove the grease from the hide.
5

Remove the hide from the water and rinse with cold water until the hide is clean. Use the knife to remove any last bits of flesh and tissue from the skin. Repeat the washing process two times to remove all of the grease from the hide.


Tanning
6

Pour 10 gallons of water into a plastic trash can. Add 3 pounds of potassium-aluminum sulfate to the water. Separately mix 1 gallon of water with 8 ounces of washing soda. Combine the washing-soda mixture with the mixture in the trash can.
7

Place the skin into the solution and use a stick to ensure it is completely submerged. Leave the skin in the solution for six days to ensure the hide is properly treated. Remove the hide from the solution and rinse with cold water.
8

Mix 1 gallon of water with 1 ounce of borax and use a soft brush to scrub the hide with the solution. Rinse the hide with cold water and hang it on two saw horses overnight. This allows the water to drain from the hide.
9

Stretch the bear skin on a large piece of plywood or wooden wall. Attach the skin with finishing nails and use your hands to stretch the corners and sides of the skin.
10

Warm hide-tanning oil in a pot over the stove. Apply the oil to the skin with a soft brush. Continue applying warm oil until the skin stops absorbing the oil. Allow the oil to dry until the skin is supple.

I have tanned a few bear hides a couple of different ways. It is time consuming and the end result, in my experience, wasn't as nice as a tannery job. I enjoyed doing it, though.

If he wants to preserve the hide and pursue tanning later, he can salt it and store it dry. I have 2 bear hides that are over 10 years old that I just salted.

Either way, the important thing is to make sure the salt can penetrate to the hair follicles to pull all the moisture out. Splitting the ears, lips, tail, paws, etc. and fleshing the hide is where all the work is

In Idaho, bear hides can be sold. I traded a hide that I had frozen for another hide to be tanned. Just a thought!

I've tanned a half dozen deer hides (hair off) and a few coon hides (hair on) over the years. Breaking the hide to soften it is very time-consuming, frustrating, and tiring. If he wants a hide to display, my advice is to spend the money and have a tannery do it. However, if he wants to go through the experience and doesn't care how it turns out, it is a fun experience, as Sam pointed out. As Sam experienced, I have not been able to break a hide anywhere near as well as a tannery can. They always end up stiffer than I'd like.

Regards,
Scott

I wouldn't personally recommend "self" tanning a bear. Bears are difficult at best and an outright pitb at worse. Very greasy, which complicates the tanning portion of the process. Unless you really just want to experience the process, leave the bears to the professionals.

I have tanned two bear hides that I made into rugs but softened them so that they would be pliable enough to hang over furniture if I choose.
I purchased tanning supplies from Van Dykes. There are different tanning methods and chemicals so read through the options and select what will work best for you.

First: Scrape all the flesh off and split the lips and turn the ears, Then salt the hide and rub it in. Roll the hide up hair side out and set it over a grate or in a position that the moisture that the salt draws out will run off and not sit on the hide. Let sit for a day or two and then flesh and salt again. When you are satisfied that you have all the meat, fat and membrane removed you can either salt it and store it or freeze it or begin tanning.

Follow the directions for degreasing and tanning for whatever method you chose.

For softening I recommend using a frame made of 2x4's. Use 2x4's that will be long enough to give the hide room to stretch, for a six foot bear, 8 foot 2x4 will give you 1 foot of room around the skin. Lay the hide out flat, skin side up (easier to see the holes that you will poke around the edges). Poke holes every 3-4 inches around the hide and run small diameter nylon cord through the hole and around the frame to the next hole. The more holes you get through with a single piece of cord the better for saving time later while stretching( I try to get one length of cord for each of the four sides of the hide). Since I was doing a rug I also put the head form in place at this point so that as the hide dried it would fit the form and I would not have to do any stretching on the head. Once all the cord is wrapped through the holes and around the frame stretch it tight length wise and then width wise. As the hide dries, use a blunt narrow object such as the end of a shovel handle and push hard into the skin side of the hide and scrape in every direction. (I use a 1x2 board with rounded edges) At first while the hide is still pretty wet it won't do much but as it dries you will begin to see the stretching and feel the hide getting softer, pay close attention to the edges as they will harden the fasted if not worked enough and be careful around bullet holes and other weak spots so you don't puncture the hide. If you do puncture the hide, the good news is it is a bear and once you sew it back together the thick fur will hide the damage. If you are careful though you won't break through, raw and tanned skins are very strong, I never have and I've done 2 bear 3 deer and two elk this way. After each stretching session tighten the cords. I usually stretch twice a day, morning and night. After each stretch I use a spray bottle to spray oil on to the hide.

Depending on how good you did when you fleshed the hide there may still be some membrane attached, when the skin is dry enough you can sand it off by using the foam sanding pads that are made for drywall. THis will help bring it to a soft suede-like texture.

SHTF said:

Instructions

Preparation and Cleaning
1

Scrape the flesh from the hide using a sharp knife. Be careful not to puncture the skin as you remove the first layer of flesh. Sharpen the knife every 30 minutes to maintain a strong blade that will slice through the flesh.
2

Pour several pounds of non-iodized salt onto the skin-side of the hide. Put on rubber gloves and aggressively rub the salt into the skin. Drape the hide over two saw horses and leave it to dry for two days. The salt will expose more flesh as it dries the hide.

3

Continue working the hide with the knife to remove all of the flesh and tissue. Look for white patches and scrape with the knife blade until the hide appears to be void of flesh and tissue. This process requires one full day of scraping.
4

Fill a plastic trash can with cold water. Place the hide in the water for 30 minutes to remove the salt and rehydrate the skin. Fill another plastic trash can with warm water and add 1/2 cup of dish soap to the water. Place the hide in the water and work the skin with a soft brush for one hour. This will remove the grease from the hide.
5

Remove the hide from the water and rinse with cold water until the hide is clean. Use the knife to remove any last bits of flesh and tissue from the skin. Repeat the washing process two times to remove all of the grease from the hide.


Tanning
6

Pour 10 gallons of water into a plastic trash can. Add 3 pounds of potassium-aluminum sulfate to the water. Separately mix 1 gallon of water with 8 ounces of washing soda. Combine the washing-soda mixture with the mixture in the trash can.
7

Place the skin into the solution and use a stick to ensure it is completely submerged. Leave the skin in the solution for six days to ensure the hide is properly treated. Remove the hide from the solution and rinse with cold water.
8

Mix 1 gallon of water with 1 ounce of borax and use a soft brush to scrub the hide with the solution. Rinse the hide with cold water and hang it on two saw horses overnight. This allows the water to drain from the hide.
9

Stretch the bear skin on a large piece of plywood or wooden wall. Attach the skin with finishing nails and use your hands to stretch the corners and sides of the skin.
10

Warm hide-tanning oil in a pot over the stove. Apply the oil to the skin with a soft brush. Continue applying warm oil until the skin stops absorbing the oil. Allow the oil to dry until the skin is supple.

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Where can I find Potassium Aluminum Sulfate?