Questions about tanning a sheepskin

[bluefish]

I've got a couple of sheep out in the pasture that are due for butchering and I'd like to tan the hides. I have done small animal hides before, but I'm sure that sheepskin is a little different. For one thing, do I try to wash the sheep before butchering? (Please don't say yes) This is mostly for fun, so if I don't get professional quality hides, I'm ok with that. Anybody have any pointers?

[Oldcountryboy]

Only if the sheep is extremely muddy for some reason then you would need to wash it before processing. Other then that you can wash the hide after you have scraped the fat and meat off of it. Just wash it in a borax water solution. The borax removes blood, fatty oils and any mud from the hide. Give it a good wash then rinse it well. Hang up to dry some and the proceed with your tanning.

[longshot38]

you might want to check with the folks over at braintan.com look in the hideout section for their site that is their forum.


hope this helps and let us know how your sheep skin turns out.

dean