Ok, My wife just left for work and i have an otter i brain tanned yesterday thats ready to be broke in!! I was going to try and take some of the work out of mt back and throw it in the dryer with tennis shoes as i have read they make for a good media when your not worried about grease or fluffing the fur.. my dryer has an air only setting.. Ive never worked a hide in the dryer, im assuming you would tumble it skin out correct? thanks

Sounds risky to me not for the fur but for you she might tan your hide when she gets home and smells her dryer lol

omg... i let it tumble for a few hours, stopping occasionally to pull and stretch.. it was an otter fur, still a little stiff so i staked it and drew it back and forth on a smooth rounded post.. that helped but it needed the brain again. i double brained it, softened with virgin olive oil 2 times heavy and 1 very light coat. staking, stretching and pulling with only a few 45 minute breaks.. what a job!!! but its ready to be smoked now!! im going to get some sandpaper and smooth it out real good, thin some of the thicker spots i missed when i thinned the hide before braining.. Im really proud of myself. i keep going out and messing with it. i cant believe my first time went so smooth,its beautiful and soft! i actually think for garment material it should be a little softer.. but for such a heavy hide i think i did a dern good job.. I honestly expected to have a raw otter hide from hair slippage or something.

i forgot to mention after OMG.. that it smelled like otter in the dryer... but it was no match for lysol multi purpose cleaning spray.. i almost busted myself because i left a couple of my fur towels and a pair of old tennis shoes in front of the dryer.. i think she knows something fishy was going on lol...

Man she finds out she's gonna put you in the dryer, oooo, I got something to blackmail you with bro, better be nice to me, he he he!!!!

Makes for some tired muscles don't it always makes me wonder how ripped up and tough men like jim bridger,John Colter,ECT,ECT really were. Sure wouldn't of wanted to go to the gravel with them that's for sure. Lol

Just wondering why u brain tanned your otter when there are much better products out there JUST WONDERING

because im poor and brain tanning is free. And also because I really like accomplishing things done the old way. When this otter came out so soft and nice,i felt so proud. I don't think i would have felt that way had i used a chemical product. its soft and pliable and will make the best mittens when i get the material to sew them up. I'm going to tan some skunks next and make the coolest hat. And I'm going to rock it with a pocket piece like a Mississippi Pimp. Nomsayin lol.

Thats cool. I also have put deer capes in the washer on spin cycle to get moisture out before mounting

i used to wash all my furs when i was a bachelor..