Recommendations for elephant skin tanning

I am not sure who the taxidermist sent it out to but they just said they send it out to their leather workers. I suspect there aren’t a ton of places that do it and they might all use one or two shops in town. In fact, the pictures I got were examples made out of hippo leather just to give me an idea of what they can make, but they look like the exact design like the ones in in the earlier post so definitely the same shop doing it. See pic below. I did have a combination of hippo and elephant leather items made.


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Huntforever said:
Please don’t laugh but why add color? With other hides don’t they just tan them and it comes out the organial color of the hide?
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I dunno. That's just what a taxidermist in Windhoek told me last week. It probably has something to do with epidermis slip. The underlying dermis is very light in color and it stands out. It's pretty common on animals like buffalo. Most of the time they need lots of airbrush work to look right. Animals that are covered with hair don't show it.

Here's a rifle case I had made by a fellow in North Carolina from the tanned trunk of my ele:

IMG_5746.jpeg
 
Huntforever said:
Would you have to have paperwork to get the finished products back home ?
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You’re supposed to have your approved Cites and USFWS Import Permit but it’s also possible to buy elephant leather goods and bring them (gun cases, ammo pouches, belts, shoes from Courtney, etc). They’re common going through the airport security in Zim they won’t call attention to them, and a receipt if bought should cover you in the US as a curio.

Below is a photo showing the different colors you can get from Collett’s on your elephant leather. I’m a fan of the Safari Tan and Congnac, as well as natural grey and the Std Tan. I had my leather tanned in Zim by Collett’s

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BryceM said:
I dunno. That's just what a taxidermist in Windhoek told me last week. It probably has something to do with epidermis slip. The underlying dermis is very light in color and it stands out. It's pretty common on animals like buffalo. Most of the time they need lots of airbrush work to look right. Animals that are covered with hair don't show it.

Here's a rifle case I had made by a fellow in North Carolina from the tanned trunk of my ele:

View attachment 772012
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That looks amazing!! Did he do the engraving as well?
 
Mtn_Infantry said:
You’re supposed to have your approved Cites and USFWS Import Permit but it’s also possible to buy elephant leather goods and bring them (gun cases, ammo pouches, belts, shoes from Courtney, etc). They’re common going through the airport security in Zim they won’t call attention to them, and a receipt if bought should cover you in the US as a curio.

Below is a photo showing the different colors you can get from Collett’s on your elephant leather. I’m a fan of the Safari Tan and Congnac, as well as natural grey and the Std Tan. I had my leather tanned in Zim by Collett’s

View attachment 772013
Click to expand...
This shows my lack of knowledge but I simply thought the hide was tanned as is and used. I never realized it was dyed.
 
Mike B. said:
I am not sure who the taxidermist sent it out to but they just said they send it out to their leather workers. I suspect there aren’t a ton of places that do it and they might all use one or two shops in town. In fact, the pictures I got were examples made out of hippo leather just to give me an idea of what they can make, but they look like the exact design like the ones in in the earlier post so definitely the same shop doing it. See pic below. I did have a combination of hippo and elephant leather items made.


View attachment 772009
Click to expand...
I can see the blue in the gray as mentioned above.
 
Bryce, that looks like a “LeatherLinks” case and pyrography of the elephant.
 
I heard that, all leather, due to the tanning process, comes out white, and therefore needs colouring in one form or other.
Can any leather workers confirm?
 
I think most processors in Africa use the Chrome tanning process. It’s fastest and cheapest. But also the harshest.

Vegetable and Brain tanning leaves a nice natural color. But you wouldn’t like the price compared to Chrome tanning.

www.montanaleather.com

Explaining the 3 Main Leather Tanning Methods

From centuries-old processes to some that have evolved over time, explaining the three main leather tanning methods helps consumers understand leather products.
www.montanaleather.com www.montanaleather.com
 
All leather is factory dyed with little exception. Buck Skin comes out white as is typical, but the traditional insect repellency treatment was smoking over a punky fire. Hence, buckskin is that light tan color via pigment. There are bark tanning processes where the tannins in the walnut shells or acorns create a pigmentation color on leather too, but that is a dye of another sort.

I've never seen elephant undyed as it would be quite ugly. When you see swatches that show "natural" its just a dye to resemble the living animal color.
 
I had these wallets made from undyed ear leather. I actually prefer it to the 100% uniform dye color.
 

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Altitude sickness said:
I think most processors in Africa use the Chrome tanning process. It’s fastest and cheapest. But also the harshest.

Vegetable and Brain tanning leaves a nice natural color. But you wouldn’t like the price compared to Chrome tanning.

www.montanaleather.com

Explaining the 3 Main Leather Tanning Methods

From centuries-old processes to some that have evolved over time, explaining the three main leather tanning methods helps consumers understand leather products.
www.montanaleather.com www.montanaleather.com
Click to expand...
The Africans use chromium salts in most of their tanning. Exceptions are birds and reptiles.
 
kpoynter said:
Don’t even think about doing it in the U.S. basically
I threw away an elephant hide years ago
Tried to even give the panels to a guy that makes stuff out of it and he wouldn’t take the panels for free (because all his tanning is done abroad)
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Oh no, next time i'll take it for free lol
 
Altitude sickness said:
I have products made by TCI in Bulawayo and they are high quality. As said above be careful on the dye used. It looks uniform and clean. But is too uniform for my taste.

I would leave it natural. Un dyed.

I just happened to be headed to my daughter’s to shoot a few rifles at longer ranges. Here are two bags made at TCI in Bulawayo. one is elephant dyed all gray.

And here are two ammo wallets left natural. View attachment 771856View attachment 771857
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Really like the natural, but have to admit that gray rifle case is super nice as well. I normally lean away from gray died leather...especially elephant as it just always seems to pick up steely blue tint, but that one seems dark enough it actually very, very cool.
 
I chose this color for some of my gun cases. I felt like it had close to a natural look to it. Choosing based on what you see on a phone screen versus seeing it in person is kind of a crap shoot. Hopefully I chose well but I liked what I saw so went with it. Hard to tell but it might be the same color as the picture posted with the first set of gun case photos?
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I'd just like to be able to find some panels to work with. I can get small pieces but getting them large enouigh for rifle cases, etc. is tough to find.
 
Where are you in TX?
 
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