Handheld Smoking Gun?

So I'm interested in trying egg yolk tanning on some pelts, which I plan to use to make stuffed furry cat toys. I have read that when using egg yolk or brain tanning, that you should smoke the pelt after the process is done to keep mites away. Has anyone here used a handheld pistol smoker for smoking a rabbit hide? (The kind marketed for kitchen use to add smoke to foods and drinks)

Would it be a good idea to put the pelt in a container and fill the container with smoke from the pistol a few times? Or is this type of smoking inadequate for the task?

I wanted to ask if anyone had experience before spending $115 on the smoking kit...

Thanks in advance.

I thought this thread was about an unsolved mystery LOL!!! Thanks for the laugh LPH! (No, obviously I haven't a clue regarding your question.)

For pelts, you want cold smoke and not hot smoke....and... Smoke should be kept away from the fur.
Traditionally brain tanning and smoking pelts was done with hair-off leather.
That's all I really know about it.

I don't know anything about smoking, but honestly, I doubt the toys will last long enough to get mites.

When I have given our housecats bunny tails, they EAT them after flinging them around and "playing them to death" for a bit... and our outdoor barn cats will often steal pelts I have hanging near me while I butcher rabbits and devour them fur and all.

The fact that the cats will likely eat the toys is actually a great thing- you will have a never ending market for them, just like my Critterz Chewzit bunny toys. :money:

If you stuff them with some catnip they will likely disappear even faster! :twisted:

MamaSheepdog":2rsnpii9 said:

I don't know anything about smoking, but honestly, I doubt the toys will last long enough to get mites.

When I have given our housecats bunny tails, they EAT them after flinging them around and "playing them to death" for a bit... and our outdoor barn cats will often steal pelts I have hanging near me while I butcher rabbits and devour them fur and all.

The fact that the cats will likely eat the toys is actually a great thing- you will have a never ending market for them, just like my Critterz Chewzit bunny toys. :money:

If you stuff them with some catnip they will likely disappear even faster! :twisted:

Click to expand...

I noticed this with my cat but never even thought to market it. Welp. I already keep the pelts, feet, and skulls but now I have one more thing. (I feed the front feet and offal to the dogs so don't "keep" them in that sense)

Well, you've all given me food for thought. I didn't consider some cats would actually try to consume a stuffed toy - but I guess that's a real possibility. I've wanted to find a replacement for a lost toy for my cat for less than that darn old thing cost me. It was like $12 or something from a catalog. But he LOVED that thing. It was a good 9 inches long- big stuffed furry rat that had a bell inside it. It was big enough to do the crazy bunny kick. So, having a bunch of frozen pelts and endless eggs... I thought maybe I'll make a stuffed rat for him out of rabbit fur. I'll try it out, anyway, without the smoking. I will probably keep it locked up when not used under supervision. I know the dogs would make it disappear if I ever forgot to put it away.

Cold smoke, huh, Zass? Well, the articles I read didn't specify and I know I'm not ready to invest in a $500 smoking cabinet, so I thought the gun might work. But setting up a smoke house is on our list of things to do either this summer or next. So, I guess eventually I'll get to smoke some pelts, lol. Until then maybe I'll just soak all the fur off them and turn the leathers into rawhides for the dogs. And try to use the fur in my needle felting projects. Or maybe use it as batting.

Hot smoked food is essentially cooked food.
I'm pretty sure commercial home food smoking devices are designed to create hot smoked products, to cook and add smoke flavor.

I think most of those would be unsuitable for hides or pelts.

Cold smoking was/is done more as a preservation process.
There is some controversy over the practice of cold smoking meats now...

http://www.grillbeast.com/blog/the-grea ... d-to-know/

__________ Tue Feb 09, 2016 11:13 pm __________

If I were doing skins for pet toys, I'd probably go with hair-on rawhide, which isn't too different from what you suggested.

Just fleshed and quickly dried.
So long as it stays dry, it can last for decades. If a dog eats it, it wouldn't be any more dangerous then any other rawhide toy.

It can be oiled and broken relatively soft with a pet safe oil.
Probably easiest to sew while slightly moist.

I would think olive oil, brains, or egg would make it more desirable for consumption...Which can be good or bad depending on your goals.

Darn it, now I'm making a hair on rawhide to show you...See how dangerous it is for me to talk about pelts? :lol:

Why is it I never realized what "rawhide" really was?? Feeling like quite the idiot right now

I would love to do something with the hides that wouldn't be hugely labor intensive as a way to ease into it... cat toys - brilliant!

Adding things like brains or eggs will not make fur last longer, so far as I know, they do nothing to preserve the pelt or keep the hair on. I actually think adding those can make fur slip more easily. Their main purpose is to help soften the leather side.

Ok, so I know this is supposed to be a "fur" section of the forum... so my next question might seem a little counter to the purpose... but...

What's the easiest and safest way to get the fur off the hide without damaging either? If I throw a frozen pelt in a bag of water, how long would it have to sit before the fur falls off? And should I/could I add anything to hasten the process?

LPH_NY":35dah3qn said:

Ok, so I know this is supposed to be a "fur" section of the forum... so my next question might seem a little counter to the purpose... but...

What's the easiest and safest way to get the fur off the hide without damaging either? If I throw a frozen pelt in a bag of water, how long would it have to sit before the fur falls off? And should I/could I add anything to hasten the process?

Click to expand...

Essentially... anything that encourages bacterial growth will help get hair off.
How long really depends on the exact conditions you have set up. Warm dirty water will cause slip faster than clean cold water... Things like that.

Epidermal slip from bacteria often comes with a yucky rotten odor. Not sure if that's a problem.

Ash or lime is said to work much faster, but I have no idea what it does to the fur. :? I've never actually used it.

Perhaps the pelts could be shaved?

we used to add wood ash to the water to make the hair come off a lot faster