Alligator Hide How To And How Not To

[Kcinnick]

Does anyone know where I can buy Vegetable tanned wild Louisiana alligator? I can get salted hides, I can get whole gators, I can get gators with tails cut off, I can get a living gator, but I want a wild Louisiana Hide! The wild Gator has a nice black color, the ones that are farm raised are a muddy brown color.

[chancey77]

Does anyone know where I can buy Vegetable tanned wild Louisiana alligator? I can get salted hides, I can get whole gators, I can get gators with tails cut off, I can get a living gator, but I want a wild Louisiana Hide! The wild Gator has a nice black color, the ones that are farm raised are a muddy brown color.

I could be wrong, but I am 99.9999999% sure I am not!.....I am pretty sure you are S.O.L for finding a Veg Tanned Wild Gator,Farm Raised Gator or ANY GATOR. The region you live in and that I grew up in are the ones that tan those hides. THEY DO NOT VEG TAN GATOR!

Alligator has it's own very specific process to tan. I believe if you had a vegetable tanned Gator it would just feel/ look like rubber seriously a SEMI TRUCK TIRE WOULD BE EASIER TO CUT AND WORK WITH.

The Gator is unlike any other reptile or animal for that matter....Salt Tan and Lutan-F soak is the recommended procedure.

Veg tans use Lime anyhow, so it would ruin the black color you are searching for. Salt tan and Lutan maintain the natural color and what it is supposed to look and feel like....GATOR:)

It is not a tooling leather...I am not sure why you would need veg tanned gator and this is maybe why no one has answered you about this in more than a week because no one wanted to come forward and throw you in he fire or... no one knows.....but I can tell you for sure, it would be like having a discolored tire! And a tire might actually be easier to deal with.

People have been tanning Gator hides for a very long, long time, believe me if there was a way to veg tan it...it would already be in practice!

So go get the salt hide or order some real GENUINE BOVINE that is veg tanned and wet mold it over the gator.

But don't call the tannery and make yourself seem like a real tool for trying to tell them how to tan gator hide.

You could just end up Gator Bait!

Ask any taxidermist and read up on tanning processes,you will see why certain skins are tanned the way they are.

Edited March 21, 2012 by chancey77

[Kcinnick]

I could be wrong, but I am 99.9999999% sure I am not!.....I am pretty sure you are S.O.L for finding a Veg Tanned Wild Gator,Farm Raised Gator or ANY GATOR. The region you live in and that I grew up in are the ones that tan those hides. THEY DO NOT VEG TAN GATOR!

Alligator has it's own very specific process to tan. I believe if you had a vegetable tanned Gator it would just feel/ look like rubber seriously a SEMI TRUCK TIRE WOULD BE EASIER TO CUT AND WORK WITH.

The Gator is unlike any other reptile or animal for that matter....Salt Tan and Lutan-F soak is the recommended procedure.

Veg tans use Lime anyhow, so it would ruin the black color you are searching for. Salt tan and Lutan maintain the natural color and what it is supposed to look and feel like....GATOR:)

It is not a tooling leather...I am not sure why you would need veg tanned gator and this is maybe why no one has answered you about this in more than a week because no one wanted to come forward and throw you in he fire or... no one knows.....but I can tell you for sure, it would be like having a discolored tire! And a tire might actually be easier to deal with.

People have been tanning Gator hides for a very long, long time, believe me if there was a way to veg tan it...it would already be in practice!

So go get the salt hide or order some real GENUINE BOVINE that is veg tanned and wet mold it over the gator.

But don't call the tannery and make yourself seem like a real tool for trying to tell them how to tan gator hide.

You could just end up Gator Bait!

Ask any taxidermist and read up on tanning processes,you will see why certain skins are tanned the way they are.

Well, I found my gator supply. I may have been using the wrong term, but gator tanned in a way that will not make guns rust.

I just happen to find out I shoot with someone who removes nuisance gators and he cannot sell the meat outside of Gator Season, but he can eat it, donate it and keep the hide. He is going to get an estimate on how much it cost to get the hides tanned, and I am going to make him a belt or holster per hide and pay for tanning, and he is going to give me the hide. I will probably have lots of extra back... probably no extra bellies. I am thinking horsehide would be the best backing, am I wrong?

Sorry I mixed up the tanning terminology.

[chancey77]

Well, I found my gator supply. I may have been using the wrong term, but gator tanned in a way that will not make guns rust.

I just happen to find out I shoot with someone who removes nuisance gators and he cannot sell the meat outside of Gator Season, but he can eat it, donate it and keep the hide. He is going to get an estimate on how much it cost to get the hides tanned, and I am going to make him a belt or holster per hide and pay for tanning, and he is going to give me the hide. I will probably have lots of extra back... probably no extra bellies. I am thinking horsehide would be the best backing, am I wrong?

Sorry I mixed up the tanning terminology.

I was just trying to save you some headache, and help steel you in a direction of educating yourself on the different tanning processes:)

Have some ribs for me and enjoy the skin!

Ya horse hide would be GREAT!

[ouchmyfinger]

im not that familiar with the gator tanning process but i did ask someone that only sells exotic skins about getting things that are the natural color of the animal. he said that most processes change the natural color of the skin and then they dye it back to match or whatever color they want. i don't remember what animal i was asking about but this may seem to be your problem of finding that darker color gator. or i could fed bs and am now looking foolish but i haven't heard otherwise yet and its been a few years.