Having a new recurve built and am looking to buy a beavertail for the grip. Found a seller with what I am looking for but as I am not familiar with the different tanning methods is there something I should look for or avoid in the method of tanning. As I understand it he tans with citric acid, and from his on-line videos it looks like he neutralizes with a salt/water solution and uses glycerin to oil the tail up when finished.
I guess my concern is the rinse with a salt/water solution, will this cause issues in the long term?
I would be concerned with the salt water solution also in that the remaining salt would attract moisture that could rot the beaver tail. I have 2 untanned beaver tails so I'm interested in a good tanning method. Another concern is I think it takes an alkali to neutralize an acid and I don't know if salt water will do that.
I have thought about using glycerin and alcohol like we used to use antifreeze(glycerin/alcohol) to tan snake skins but if anyone has a better method I'd like to hear it.
Pat, I'm curious about your antifreeze system. It might be workable for some fish skins.
Antifreeze worked fine for snake skins but the dye they put in it affected the color of the skins. Making your own, alcohol and glycerin wouldn't have that affect. I think the alcohol is merely a carrier to get the glycerin into the skin then evaporate.