![]() So, go look as some natural recipes, and I will help where I can.Feel free to email if you need to, it just may take a while to respond.I should get an update when you post here next. Rabbit is actually one of the easier "fur pelts" to work with though can tear or "slip" if you are lackadaisical in attention.Īre we going to move into traditional sewing methods also? If so, get some sinew and/or learn where and how to harvest it.There is good stuff online for that also. "Stiff skins" are what I sold from my trap line as a kid.They are "fleshed" and salted but still considered "green skins" and/or "hides" if fur is off.įully tanned and worked hides feel like velvet felt or shammy cloth. There is just gobs of info on line (good and bad) so if you look into "natural tanning" (aka brain, tannin, soap, oil, etc) I can help you with "fleshing out" (no pun intended) the details. I do not condone or support "Kits" as they typically are chuck full of nasty modern chemicals. Gosh Joe, I was hoping someone would take you through this start to finish.I am swamped right now with work but don't want to leave you hanging on your project. ![]() Perhaps if you sanded them and then moisten them and tumble them dry they would be usable. We sold most of the hides but from what I remember, once the varnish layer was broken up they were quite supple. Once dry the growth layer of the skin would be stiff like varnish. Occasionally an old rabbit would have fat on the skin but the young ones needed no further treatment. Then with a length of pipe on each end two people could bend it into a "U" shape narrow enough to fit in the hide. ![]() To make the stretcher we would file a notch in the spring steel to snap off a pice a little longer than twice the length of the hides. To stretch and dry them we used cable wire from the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. When I skinned them I basically had a slightly tapered tube with the fur on the inside. My experience was in the 1950's with giant chinchilla furred rabbits. Maybe tumbling them in a front loading dryer with wooden balls might work. I suppose that is too labor intensive for modern day. I think you are supposed to chew on them after they are dried to get them supple. I would worry about damaging the fur/pelts by putting solid objects in with them, though.Īgain, I'm still learning as I go, but since no "experts" have chimed in yet. I do remember someone saying that tumbling in a cool dryer with short pieces of wood to work the hide would make it pliable.Ī few articles I read (including the one above) also mentioned placing them into a dryer with no heat. They used battery acid instead of alum - perhaps that breaks the hide down more? On the other hand, this post by Rise and Shine Rabbitry says that it's quicker. They're still stiff, but fortunately I don't need them to be soft for my purposes. ![]() I did it for about an hour total on the last four skins I was tanning, then decided that it wasn't worth the effort. You work them over with your hands to rub the skin this way and that - carefully so that you don't tear or stretch the hide - over and over again as it dries. I hope someone with more experience chimes in, but so far I have found it to be very time and labor intensive to make the hides soft. You can take short breaks during this.Joe Camarena wrote:I've also identified a market that would purchase them if they are soft and subtle. It’s dry when it’s totally white (or off white) and no longer cool to the touch. Stretch and work the hide constantly until it’s totally dry. Take several egg yolks and rub them into the hide until it’s saturated and can easily stretch. It’s hard to see sometimes so go over it with coarse sandpaper just to be sure. Leave it to dry out for at least a couple weeks.ĭump all the salt or borax off the hide and use a knife to scrape the membrane off the hide. Then you dump either salt or borax onto the hide, making sure to work it in to the hard to get spots. This also works with larger hides.įirst you take the hide and get all the meat off it, then tack it to a board or box with the fur side down. I found that I got the same results tanning hides this was as I did with the more involved methods, and success was mostly do to starting with a good hide and the patience you put into the process. As you get better with any method, you get better at all the methods. Success is largely based on experience, not on the method. Ever want to try tanning hides but got overwhelmed by all the convoluted steps? I did, so here’s the method I’ve used since I was a teenager that’s super simple and works! I tried all the books and videos and came to the conclusion that tanning hides is dead simple, but people often severely over complicate the process.
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