![]() ![]() Note that oils should only be applied to the smooth side of a hide, and never to the fur side. The oils condition the leather by softening the collagen fibers in the hide, making it more malleable. Conditioning is usually done through oil application, and neatsfoot oil or Mink oil are the most frequently used oils. Hides need conditioning to keep it supple and in a good condition. Apply softening oil, such as neatsfoot oil about 18 hours after the tanning process. If you are tanning at home, you can involve a couple of easy steps at the end of the tanning process to help soften the hide (Source: HideTanning). No matter what tanning process you or your taxidermist uses, the chemicals will inevitably harden the hide. It will however take a lot of time and patience, so let’s see how you can make this task a bit easier. Softening a tanned hide is not difficult, and you don’t even have to buy a specialized breaking tool unless you are doing this often. Repeat until the desired softness is achieved. Now place the hide on the breaking tool and drag back and forth to soften. Once you are ready, take the dry hide and rub with a damp cloth, then rub with some oil. A breaking tool can be bought or simply made at home by finding a smooth, non-splintering surface to rub the hide over. ![]() This is usually done with the use of a breaking tool and some neatsfoot or mink oil. Softening a tanned hide is known as breaking the hide. Luckily, there are ways to soften a tanned hide at home, and if you have the time and patience to work through these steps, you will end up with a soft malleable hide that you can rework to your hearts delight. The unfortunate drawback of this whole process is that it leaves the hide quite hard and unmanageable, making it difficult to shape and process into finer products. The process is thus very important if you want to use the animals hide for decoration, clothing or shelter. This whole process serves the purpose of restructuring the collagen protein particles in the hide, thereby preserving the hide and protecting it from bacterial and fungal decomposition. It involves the curing of the hide in salt, soaking, washing and de-hairing if necessary and the final tanning, usually with Chromium III. To preserve the skin of an animal requires several preservation steps known collectively as tanning.
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