Butchered my first wether; time to tan!

[Childwanderer]

I have a sheepskin salt-curing in the garage, hoping to tan it into a rug/couchspread with oxalic acid according to these instructions:

Tanning Sheepskin Rugs at Home – Mother Earth News

Roberta Kirberger's instructional guide for tanning sheepkin to create house-warming rugs, including skinning, tanning, preparation and dyeing information. Originally published as "How We Tan Sheepskins into Beautiful Rugs" November/December 1975 MOTHER EARTH NEWS.

www.motherearthnews.com

My problems are figuring out the best place to buy the acid, and most of all what kind of container can handle the acid soaking for long periods. Any ideas?

 

[Kusanar]

I have a sheepskin salt-curing in the garage, hoping to tan it into a rug/couchspread with oxalic acid according to these instructions:

Tanning Sheepskin Rugs at Home – Mother Earth News

Roberta Kirberger's instructional guide for tanning sheepkin to create house-warming rugs, including skinning, tanning, preparation and dyeing information. Originally published as "How We Tan Sheepskins into Beautiful Rugs" November/December 1975 MOTHER EARTH NEWS.

www.motherearthnews.com

My problems are figuring out the best place to buy the acid, and most of all what kind of container can handle the acid soaking for long periods. Any ideas?

Plastic is your friend with any acid.

As for where to buy the acid I dont have an answer for that... I would google it...

I am very interested in the process and results though

 

[Field Bee]

Oxalic acid is cheap and popular with beekeepers as a miticide. Its for sale and available all over the internet. Florida Labs is a trusted brand. I'm not Mr. safety bug but in the article you posted it says its safe to inhale OA. I would avoid inhaling OA and like any common chemicals we all use just a little common sense is needed when handling OA. Baking soda neutralizes OA mixed with water quickly if you did run into a problem. Plastic is a safe container for OA. Most hardware stores carry it as "wood bleach" if you don't want to order it online.

 

[Alasgun]

Many years ago Van Dykes supply was a good resource for taxidermy, tanning AND restoration supplies. I just looked, they’re still in business.

Realize, that’s a huge undertaking!

 

[Childwanderer]

Thank you!

 

[Childwanderer]

Results!

 

[Longhornbreeder101]

Results!View attachment 82602View attachment 82603

Was he a small sheep or is that what sheep wool looks like after cut I don’t get the wool from our sheep I just send em to slaughter with the goats and cows etc.

 

[Childwanderer]

By the end, I had to trim off some damaged hide from the edges, had two holes, a tear at the edge, and some lost wool, but I’d still consider this a success for a beginner.

 

[Childwanderer]

He was a fairly small sheep, but the hide is smaller than it would be if I hadn’t damaged/wasted so much by inexperience.

 

[Childwanderer]

To avoid the difficulty of disposing of a large volume of acid solution, I used the brush-on method described in the article I posted instead of the soaking method. I got my acid and washing soda from Van Dykes. All the solution needed, a half batch of the given recipe, fit in this manageable container: