Short Course - Gameskin and Nguni Hair-on Tanning 

GAMESKIN AND NGUNI HAIR-ON TANNING

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

This course is still under development but will be available during the second half of 2025.

This course is aimed at hunters or taxidermists who wish to gain a better knowledge of how to tan hair-on gameskins or Nguni skins. The course does not cover the taxidermy work of mounting skins on animal forms or mannequins, but concentrates on the tanning of soft hair-on gameskins and cow skins such as Ngunis that are used for floor coverings or can be cut up and turned into products such as cushions, bags, mats or ottomans. 

The course covers the following topics:

Preservation and salting of hides and skins

Skin structure

Basic measurements and calculations used in the tannery

The equipment required in order to tan hair-on hides and skins

The different process stages in converting a raw hide or skin into a properly tanned hair-on skin or hide 

Simple processes for tanning hair-on gameskins

More complex processes for tanning larger hair-on gameskins or Nguni skins

The drying, milling and buffing of hair-on gameskins and Nguni skins

The proper trimming of hair-on gameskins and Nguni skins

Possible simple methods of treating the effluent from a hair-on gameskin or Nguni skin tannery

Possible chemicals that can be used for hair-on gameskin and Nguni skin processing

Chemical suppliers

Equipment suppliers

Approximate water usage for the simple tanning of hair-on gameskins

Approximate water usage when using a more complex tanning process for large hair-on gameskins or Nguni skins

Approximate chemical cost per skin tanned using the simple and more complex tanning processes

How to recycle the pickle and tanning solutions to minimize the effluent produced by the tannery

ISTT still sells an older version of its practical handbook for tanning gameskins and Nguni skins which contains very useful information and processes. This will be replaced by the new Gameskin and Nguni Hair-on Tanning course notes once they become available.   

The cost of the older handbook is R395 incl VAT & postage, but excludes the cost if the purchaser wishes to use a courier.