Why didn’t I think of this before? My friend is a taxidermist. I asked him if I could tan a rawhide. He said I should be able to do it and advised hydrating it in a non iodized salt bath. He told me to let it dry out a bit until just damp then apply tanning solution to both sides of the hide and wrap in plastic wrap for 24 hours to soak in, then let it dry. I used Deer Hunters Tanning Oil from a local sporting goods store and I also tried my hand at egg yolk tanning,
I purchased a known rawhide and successfully tanned it! It looks like a light tan piece of suede. It really is quite pretty. Next I bought an Earth Animal cough cough “No Hide” chew. I hydrated that and then tanned it. It tanned up beautifully! Main thing when tanning is that as the hide is drying you have to continually pull the hide. This is so it stays supple. I showed the results to the taxidermist he was amazed how well it came out!
For the egg yolk tanning I found videos on how to do this on you tube. I tanned a piece of the Earth Animal chew this way as well. It took longer to dry but again came out pretty well. No reason anyone couldn’t do this. I’d recommend using one of the thinner thickness chews for tanning.
