Custom Hide Tanning

Have you been looking into getting back the hides from your lambs but don't have time to tan them yourself? I am now offering custom hide tanning on small batch hides. 

All my hides are tanned & worked on using traditional tanning methods using egg yolk and smoke. The eggs are sourced from my flock of hens, or local farms. As each hide is tanned with smoke and by myself, please expect a slight smoky smell to your hide, as well as some small imperfections. 

Each hide takes me 1-2 months to finish, but time may vary depending on the hide itself or personal life. 

Prepping Your Hides To Bring For Tanning 

When you pickup your hides from the butcher the day of processing, you will want to salt or freeze the same day within hours of the sheep being processed. This is done to preserve your hide so it does not decompose. The hides you bring to me will either need to be salted or frozen prior to their arrival of tanning. If your hide is not salted, the cost will be an extra $10/hide. Once your hide has been salted or frozen, please place them into a garbage bag or bin before sending my way.

Salting Your Hide

You can purchase the salt for your hide from UFA - (https://ufa.com/myUFA/Animals/Animal-Nutrition/Minerals-%26-Supplements/Livestock-Salt/Hi-Grade-Salt---20-kg/p/121031)

Please note that you ONLY want to use white salt on your hide, any other type of salt will damage your skin. 

You will salt your hides using white salt, which can be purchased at UFA. You will lay your hide out wool down, skin up, and evenly spread the salt over the hide and into all the edges and folds. I don’t measure/weigh my salt, just estimate. You will want enough salt on it that the moisture is not coming through the salt. About 1/4 inch layer.

If you do not have access to salt, the less desirable option is to freeze your hides. Special care must be taken when freezing the hide so the skin does not touch itself because it makes the risk of skin tearing greater when the hide thaws. There are a few options you have when following through with freezing.

Option 1- Roll your hide “jelly roll” style, this is achieved by laying it on a clean surface skin side down, wool side up, and rolling the hide into itself.

Option 2- The other option when freezing is to lay the hide skin side down, wool side up, and folding the wool side over itself in half. 

Once your hide is rolled or folded, you can place into a garbage bag and place into the freezer.

It all started when I got my first batch of Navajo Churro lambs processed in 2022. We wanted to find a way to honour the life of the lamb even after death, and we stumbled across sheepskins! That year, we sent off 3 hides to the tannery, and I decided to keep back 2 and my journey started there. I purchased a guidebook, tanning supplies, and set out on this new adventure. Fast forward almost 2 years, I have tanned many more hides from my flock, hides from commercial flocks that would otherwise end up in the trash, and custom orders. 

Custom tanning is $275 per hide. You will pay a deposit fee of $100 per hide at drop off, and the remaining $175 when you pickup your hide. 

I accept both long and short skins, with low amounts of VM. At this time I only accept wool sheepskins, I currently don't do hair sheepskins or other animal skins although it's next on my list to learn.