Does anyone have any experience with tanning furs/pelts?

I've recently become interested in doing this after receiving a coon that my neighbor killed while it was trying to get into her chicken pen. I'd like to tan the fur so that I end up with a nice, soft pelt that I could maybe make a coonskin cap out of or just to have as a conversation piece to go on my gun case with the rest of my "trophies."
Plus, after doing a little research, it seems like you can tan a pelt of practically any animal that has fur, which I think is cool. Now, next time I hit a possum on the road, instead of just leaving it or picking it up to take to the river and feed to the alligators, I think I might also try to get myself a nice pelt out of it. ;)

I know there are a lot of sites that tell you how to tan a pelt, but I wanted to see if any Totseans happened to be familiar with the whole process and could give me some advice, tips, et cetera.
I've already got the coon skinned, fleshed, stretched and dried, leather side out. Now I need to just start the tanning process, I think.

I think a coonskin cap without the fur would lose all appeal.

I think a coonskin cap without the fur would lose all appeal.Where did you get that I was going to remove the hair?

Do you mean curing/w.e it's called?

You tan leather to make it tan coloured and last longer. I think they used to use tannin, which is found in tea.

Where did you get that I was going to remove the hair?

You want to cure the skin rather than tanning. One of the first steps to tanning is removing the hair and subcutaneous tissues with a lye bath. Curing dries out the skin with the hair intact.

From what I understand, curing is just the
drying of a pelt and the end result is a stiff pelt. You then tan and work the pelt to preserve it and make it soft & pliable. You tan both leather and pelts, but the process for tanning a pelt is slightly different than the process for tanning leather.
Is that not correct?

umm.

i saw an eppisode of 'dirty jobs' mike rowe on discovery.

seems like hard work.

you need to get all the fat, gunk, muscle off the skin.

put it in some sekret chemical mix,
put it in another chemical mix,

dry it,

then use some mixture to loosen the skin/leather (it becomes very stiff after drying)

then use some mixture to loosen the skin/leather (it becomes very stiff after drying)

You can just work it over the back of a chair until it softens. Cave men used to chew on it, which I wouldn't advise, because its a bit hard on the teeth.

You can just work it over the back of a chair until it softens. Cave men used to chew on it, which I wouldn't advise, because its a bit hard on the teeth.


oh woops, i ment 'fixture'

but yeah, could work like that

You need to learn how to skin it first. There are various guides online. You will need a sharp knife, some salt and possibly Borax, the animal (preferably dead), a workspace, and an area to spread it out and string it up.

The process basically involves you skinning the animal, scraping any excess meat of the fur, and then liberally rubbing salt and/or Borax onto it. After all that is done you spread it out and and string it down.

Yeah, what he said ^^. It can't be THAT hard. I mean people have been doing it for how many tens of thousands of years? This is nearly 2009. WE have the internets. Use that power!