Making Dexter Blush
Bear Hide Tanning Part II
One thing I was surely not prepared for when I decided to tan my own bear hide was the difficulty of boning out the hands. This task was something that is usually reserved for a professional taxidermist but one that I boldly undertook last year...
If you are a bit nutty (like me) you may want to give this complicated and time consuming task a go. So, to bone out the paws of your bear you will need a few things:
A very sharp knife (I use a havalon);
A waist level table to work on;
A meat hook, and;
A whole lot of time.
To get started, lay your hide out on the table and use a gambrel or chain to hang your meat hook from. The meat hook itself should go through the bones of the wrist and position the paw near chest level.
Start by butterflying the large portion of the pad back from the meat... I like my pad to open to the outside of the hide — so for the front right paw (if you are looking at the flesh side of the hide) you would start your cut in the bottom right of the pad. Then take that cut along the fur line in a half-circle fashion until you reach the fur again on the upper right side of the pad. This should allow you to fold the fat-laden paw out of the way leaving just the individual pads attached to each of the toes/claws...
Now for the time consuming part... Lift the gambrel or chain that your meat hook is attached to in order for the weight of the hide to start pulling the skin down with gravities help.
Start with any digit and slowly run your sharp knife around the knuckle. As you do this, the bits of cartilage holding the paw to the bone should easily peel away. Do this until you reach the last knuckle that is directly connected to the nail and cut through it.
All that is left from here is to rinse and repeat for all of the digits and each following paw — also make sure no neighbors walk in on you as they may become a bit concerned about the hobbies you do in the privacy of your garage :-)
