If anyone can help with a remedy, I would appreciate it.

A number of years ago I bagged a wild boar in Austria. My father-in-law had the rug tanned for me in a very rustic, yet Austrian manner (this is no backing of any kind).

The was shipped to me folded up.

When I unraveled it, it would not lay flat. To this day, it will still not lay flat.

The hide/skin is thick and not very "bendable".

Does anyone have a remedy of how I can get this thing to flatten out?

Thanks in advance.

olive oil and books... IN THE GARAGE

its easier to re-oil than to remove, so go slow

rug some oil into the hide.. just a LITTLE on the inside...

stack books on it to lay it flat

inspect in a week

more oil, if required

The skin has probably developed a "memory" of all the folds and creases. If the tan is good and has held up over the years, it could possibly be re-soaked, re-stretched and dried so it will lay flat. It may also need to be shaved down some if it is really thick. If this is done it could then be sewn to a suitable backing material that should help prevent future wrinkles. Most "unbacked" tanned skins will wrinkle over time.

However, you do not want to soak a skin without testing a small area first. It may not have been properly tanned or it could have aged to the point where it may fall apart. Perhaps our own AR rugging authority Mary will respond with more help.

I would avoid any "food" oil such as olive oil as you may be asking for future bug problems.

Olive oil is for cooking not for tanning,

Ditto what Grafton said.

Agreed on the olive oil. Over time, it will turn rancid.

Wouldn't neatsfoot oil, which is used to soften baseball glove leather, work? -TONY

Mink oil and sandbags.

I have a similar wildboar skin from my time in Turkey. It's a really a great old pig and I like it laying on the floor. When most folks first see it they think it is a bear.

Thanks for the recommendations, guys. I'm at my dad's for the holiday weekend (and where the skin is) so we are going to give it a try this weekend.

Tony, actually Neat's Foot oil is a leather FINISH and not used for softening gloves. I played pro ball some years eons ago and we use 10W30 motor oil on our ball gloves. For dress gloves we always used regular hand lotion. On a rug like that one, I'd suggest the hand lotion as well as it's water soluble.

George,

The last thing I would suggest is any petroleum-based product for leather, especially baseball gloves.

I've used neatsfoot oil to SOFTEN baseball gloves, chaps and horse tack for more than 50 years, and it's done its job. Mink oil or lanolin also works well, but it costs a lot more.

But to each his own. Have a good weekend. -TONY

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Neatsfoot Oils

Neatsfoot oils are specialty oils primarily used in the treatments of leather to replace the natural oil removed from hides during the tanning process. Neatsfoot oils can be used either raw, sulfonated or bi-sulfited.

Neatsfoot oils - used raw, sulfonated or compounded with other materials – are used in water emulsions to replace the natural oil.

Soap emulsions have been used, but because of their coarseness, they do not completely penetrate the leather and are subject to breakdown caused by the chrome leather acids or by stripped vegetable tanning.

To overcome the problems inherent with soaps, Neatsfoot oils, when sulfonated, produce emulsions which are finer in particle size and produce a greater degree of softness to leather. The use of Neatsfoot oil in this operation is less subject to breakdown from tanning chemicals. Since Neatsfoot oil is non-drying, it will not cause embrittlement or hardening of the leather on aging. Neatsfoot oil is also used in the manufacture of lubricants and textile oils.


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'Neat' in the oil's name comes from an old term for cattle, and even today the best quality neatsfoot oil still comes from the legs of calves and with no mineral oil added. "Prime neatsfoot oil" or "neatsfoot oil compound" are terms used for a blend of pure neatsfoot oil and non-organic oils, generally mineral oil. Although the "Prime" is marketed as "the saddlemaker's choice", many saddle makers actually recommend pure neatsfoot oil for leather goods, particularly saddles. Pure neatsfoot oil has superior softening and preservative properties.
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Breaking in A Baseball Glove

Softening the Leather: There are a number of different oils and lotions that can be used to soften the leather on your baseball glove.

Foam Shaving Cream
Saddle Soap
Manufacturer's Solutions - Most of the major glove makers offer their own oils.
Mink Oil or Neatsfoot Oil
Tanners Glove Oil
"Hot Glove" Treatment. This treatment consists of putting a special foam on your glove and then baking it in your oven for 4 minutes. This method is very controversial among baseball glove owners - some swear by it, others call it harmful to the glove.


One of the few things people will generally agree upon when it comes to breaking in a baseball glove, is that in order to soften the leather - more oil, soap, cream is not better! Use cream and oil in small amounts and wipe it around your glove, don't slop it on and allow it to soak it - this will make the leather deteriorate faster.

Forming the Pocket: Besides actually playing catch or spending your afternoons throwing a ball into your glove, there are a number of ways to form a pocket in your baseball glove. Another great method (especially if you don't have a partner to play catch with) is to visit a batting cage and instead of batting, use the machine to simply catch balls and help break in the glove.

The most popular method for forming the pocket of your baseball glove (other than playing catch) is to place a baseball (or softball) in the pocket and tie the glove shut with shoelaces, string or even a belt. There are also several products that

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The Spring Baseball season is upon us. As with everything else, over the years many philosophies, myths, wives tales, tricks, and legends about breaking in a “stiff†new baseball glove or softball glove to get it ready for use as soon as possible have evolved.

If you've done exhaustive research on the Net or from friends about baseball glove break ins, you’ve heard practices rangeing from microwaving the baseball glove to soaking it in a bucket of water. Numerous "oils" are sold to apply, even Vaseline has been recommended. Some camps say to oil the whole glove and others say only the pocket. Some players rub the glove down with a shaving cream that contains lanolin; others say just use shaving cream on the pocket . Then tie it up with a ball to form the pocket (no change here). Finally, put it under the mattress and sleep on it a day or so. All of this helps, but it still takes a long time to "pound it" with a ball to break it in

Even many professional baseball players, after years of trial and error, have not been able to shorten the break in period by too much.

After several seasons of trial and error, we’d like to recommend a way that is used by professional baseball players, and debunk some of the old myths.

The first issue to remember is that leather was once a living, breathing material and will respond best if you treat it as well as you treat your own skin. With this knowledge in our minds, think about what happens when we soak in the tub too long. Our skin becomes pruney and shrivels, so why would we want to soak an expensive baseball glove or catchers mitt in water? It gets enough moisture from use. Also because leather is a natural, porous material, the use of vaselines, petroleum distillates and mineral oils are all detrimental to leather. They clog the leather’s pores, forces the fibers apart with the heavy oils, and increases deterioration of the glove.

Nitro,

Been away from the site for quite a while so I haven't seen this post. Here's my take on it (if you still need help) and I have been refurbishing old rugs for 20+ years.

There are so many variables on older skins. How it was tanned plays a big role. Dry tanned, wet tanned, home tanned or chrome tanned. Dry tanned skins once stretched would be softer and more pliable but would indeed start to break down over a period of time and element exposure. They will become brittle and dry rotted (fall apart when rehydrated). A wet tan 'usually' is not broken, tumbled or oiled which would render a stretched skin almost like rawhide. A home tanned skin left unbroken (leather fibers) and unoiled after being stretched would also be stiff and crinkly. Chrome tanned skins will have a grayish blue leather appearance, be a bit thicker than any other tanned skin and have unbudging memory.(Although it would rehydrate well, it would never lose the memory of the shape it was in prior, even after stretching and drying).

Being that it would be difficult to to determine what type of tanning was done on the skin (except of course if it was chrome tanned, as it would have the blue gray color) the best way to test the durabily of the skin before working on it is as follows:
Cut a 1" by 2" piece of leather off in an area where it won't be much missed (armpit, abdomen, flank, etc). Soak it in a margarine tub of lukewarm water for about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. Take it out of the water and pull on the piece as hard as you can in every direction. If it is old ,dry rotted leather, it will pull apart or turn mushy. Now you know you cannot rehydrate it to reshape or flatten it.

Hogs are notoriously thick skinned hides and sometimes a bit oily or grease burned (like bears can get), because they are so fatty near the skin.

Grafton is correct about the 'memory' and the fact that unbacked hides will curl and wrinkle as there is nothing to help them hold their shape.

The only recommendation I would have(if it fails the rehydration test) is to 'vulcanize' the skin, and have a small border/or go borderless and have a backing attached. Vulcanizing is a process of adhering a latex/adhesive product and cheesecloth onto the back of the skins leather. The formula slightly penetrates into the leather fibers, softening the hide and creating a psuedo skin, rendering the hide a bit more pliable. The process does not render the skin wrinkleless or perfectly flat like a fresh tanned stretched skin, but it will greatly improve it's appearance and add great longevity to the skin.

Below are pictures of a 60+ year old tiger skin brought in for refurbishing. Lovely head mount.....hey it was 60+ years ago and probably done overseas.

This tiger was never backed. Can you see the skin wrinkles, untrimmed and slightly curled borders?


This is the leather side after I vulcanized.


This is the finished product. Notice how the wrinkles are greatly reduced, borders trimmed and a borderless backing was attached.


This rug not only looks much better,it will now withstand another 60+ years of life in the hunters grandsons home.

Hope this was helpful in giving you some options and info on how to proceed.

Kindest regards,
Mary

Mary, as for where the "taxidermy" was done; my money is on India. I had the chance to repair several Bengal Tiger rugs and mounts some years ago that were taken in India back in the early 1900s. All were stuffed (to say the least) in India. I think the guy now works on the Jerry Springer show offering tickets to callers. The Tigers expression was the "full cavity search" look.
LDK

quote:

Chrome tanned skins will have a grayish blue leather appearance, be a bit thicker than any other tanned skin and have unbudging memory.(Although it would rehydrate well, it would never lose the memory of the shape it was in prior, even after stretching and drying).

Mary: That's it! That is exactly how it looks to my untrained eye.

I'm going to try to get my dad to take some photos of the rug so I can post them here for better help.

Paul