The husband of one of the girls in the office here in Maine is a trapper. He's been catching plenty of beavers. I told him to save some of the tails for me (he usually throws them away) and stick them in the freezer for when I return in summer.
Jose, I've never tanned anything before. From what I understand it's a pretty labor intensive project that also can involve some pretty toxic chemicals.
There is a website called Braintan.com that you could look around on for some ideas.
I have two different bows that have beaver tail grips and I really like them. I bought them at Friendship for $8.00 each. I picked out the two biggest that they had and they were enough to do a self bow with not much to spare.
I think now they get $20 or $30 bucks for one. Check with Mike Yancy of Pine Hollow.
Anyway in my humble opinion, measure the circumference of the bows you would like to skin. That way you will know if the ones you can get will work. Then if it was me I would look into getting them professionally tanned.
As a side note I have found a type of skin that I want to try for grips. Shark. I caught several last year in Fl. and they felt like they would make an incredible grip. I came home and looked up shark skin on E-bay and changed my mind about buying any
I will save up and buy some soon. Perhaps we could do some trading
i did a coyote with some stuff called "indian tan" from gander mountain, was about $15 i think. it made 5gal of solution and said it could be used over and over till it became to dirty ? i think it would do alot of tails ? as far as size i would think you could stretch them as they dried and make them a bit larger ?
We did Borax tanning when I was a kid, but it was really labor intensive. If you didn't work the hide until you had a sweat-hemmorhage, it would dry stiff. I have heard you can use dish soap
Just dug through the pile... it's in the Oct/Nov 2010 issue of Traditional Bowhunter on page 56... Krista Holbrook did write it...
I skimmed through the article again, but cannot find where she used anything to tan it, but fleshed it out very thin and then dried it... I would think that would get to stinking after a while...
John F, I know of guys that use borax for turkey tails... never used it though... poppa T. always used a little embalming fluid I have 3 in the freezer that need done... need to get off my butt on a day off and finish them and the deer skull I'm doing...
I have several feelers out with guys that trap beavers, but most of them are selling them to the mountain man rendevous people...
I really like the look and feel of beaver tail... gonna have to break down and buy one I guess... hate to spend 20.00 for a handle wrap though...
Hope to see you guys Saturday... still up in the air... I have funeral on Friday morning and another on Saturday morning that I have to go to...
I used to use this recipe back in the old days to tan coyote and deer hides(and coon and possum). I found it in an old book and over the years lost the book. But I found it on the Internet. It's a very good and easy one. I always skipped the first part with the wood ashes and just scraped the hide well and went directly into the acid mixture. A good cheap recipe. http://www.ehow.com/how_2276403_tan-small-hides.html
__________________
I do not seek the good of others as a sanction for my right to exist, nor do I recognize the good of others as a justification for their seizure of my property or their destruction of my life.- Hank Rearden
