I've skinned a squirrel and I've got a pelt what do I do with it? ?

Is there anything I can make out of it? Right now it's just kind of lying around (in a safe place)I've skinned a squirrel and I've got a pelt what do I do with it? ?
Before the pelt goes sour, you have two basic options. One is to preserve it with salt or what-have-you while you gather the facilities to tan it, or go ahead and tan it improvising what you need from commonly available supplies. The easiest and some say best tanning agent commonly available is diluted sulfuric acid from a junk car battery, diluted 1:10 with tap water or so. Tanning times vary considerably, depending largely upon whether you first washed the grease out of the hide with strong detergent such as for dishwashing, so the tanning chemical would penetrate better. Also, how worn out was the battery, as that somewhat consumes acid content in the electrolyte. Make sure no traces of meat remain on the hide. If the hide won't become flexible with aggressive working (after neutralizing in a baking soda bath and drying), it wasn't tanned enough, and back in it goes! If the hide goes to pieces, it was over-tanned. Only experience and caution can guide you to reliable success, and you should expect to screw up your first attempts. Regards, Larry.I've skinned a squirrel and I've got a pelt what do I do with it? ?
A squirrel pelt isn't much. People who tie flies can often use the tail hair. Mepps lures, will buy squirrel tails but they are not interested in a single tail. They are looking for several tails in good condition. I don't know what you can do with just one pelt. I duppose you could try tanning it just for practice. Then when you get a larger pelt that is worth tanning, you will know how to do it. If you want to cure it, put a heavy layer of a mixture of salt and alum on the flesh side and let it set for a couple of days. Remove all of the salt and alum mixture and replace it with a fresh coat. Let this set for a week or so and then remmove it. At this point, the hide will be cured but stiff as a board. Now the work begins. Get a baseball bat that has a smooth end and place it upright in a secure way so that you can work your hide over it. Apply a couple coat of Neatsfoot Oil (on ther shoepolish isle in Wal-Mart or your local grocery store) to the hide and work it in real good. Not take you hide and start to work it ove the end of the bat just as if you were polishing the end of the bat. Sort of like polishing shoes. Keep working the hide and adding Neatsfoot Oil until the hide is soft. What you are doing is working in the oil tohelp soften it and breaking down the collogin that is making it hard. it is a long ans slow job so keep at it until you have a nice soft hide.
You need to make the hide bone dry or bacteria will begin to make it go bad. Dry the fur best as possible, then attach it with pins to a board in a cool dry place. Reverse the hide every 24 hrs until totally dry and stiff as a board. If you detect any smell of decay, use NON-iodized salt to kill the bacteria.





Even as highly salted hide will eventually go rotten due to mold and fungus. You need to ship it off to a tannery.





Hope this helps