Recent content by GBov

Oh, I forgot to add, bought tanning agents all talk about uniformity of hide colour but, with natural tanning agents every hide will be a different colour which I like. I just have to be careful to not get the agent on the fur as it can stain lighter hides. But even that can work in my favor...

I take the hides straight off the rabbit, flesh and then dry. That gives me YEARS to work with it. Seriously, other than moths and a hurricane, I havnt found anything other than dogs that can hurt a dried hide. The wooden blocks were cut down two by fours so about four by four by two but I...

I have used ants the same way for smaller hides and vultures for pig hides, they all did a pretty great job. Hides dried flat store in a smaller space, I have over 200 right now so case drying doesn't work for my storage space but if you have the area, good on ya! You may or may not have...

NO SALT eeeeewwwww please no salt! I hate salted hides, it makes the beautifully soft fur all harsh and awful! All I do is flesh them really well, sharp scissors work the best for that job for me, and then I nail them to a bord hide side out and put it in front of a fan. When I say nail I...

A HUGE gold star for the idea though! Well done you. lol

R92, that would work in the States but I'm in the UK and the dryer is plugged into an extension cord. I think I might unearth some of my very old NZ hides and just use them as a test run. They are nice enough but worth wasting on the experiment. Will let y'all know how it goes once I find...

Oooooo that's a good idea!

No worries! It took several years of trial and error so I am thrilled when anyone wants to give it a go.

I flesh and dry all my hides first so that when I'm ready I brew up a super strong solution of black tea and, when cool, paint the hide side with enough coats for it to soak in fully, stretching them between times to allow the fibers to drink it all up. Then I let them dry a bit - being careful...

I can do a few hides by hand but I pay for it so much that the dryer is my preferred method. And nope, she was so happy when I got the dryer - for doing hides with - that I just couldn't justify killing it. lol

I could, but then again, my skill set doesn't work that way. lol And it would break my mothers heart.

The title says it all really. lol I bought a dryer to do double duty for drying clothes and breaking hides but, because I wasn't paying enough attention when I bought it, I didn't realize it didn't have a heatless drying cycle. So its lowest setting is between 125 f to 145 f. When does a hide...

I just sold her as I have no room to keep any of that litter other than the one red doe. She was soooo pretty though, such a warm and cozy colour.

I've had it happen a few times with grow outs, it seems to be more common with spring and summer grow outs, never had it in autumn or winter grow outs. Always look under the cages when feeding and spot any tufts of fur. A sure sign that fighting is happening, despite all looking well when you...

I have a Rex trio and a pair of mixed dwarf does. The mixed ones produce fryers that grow out just as good as the purebreds but seem to sell a bit better than the Rex in this area. With so little space one of the mixed does is going soon as I have a red Rex doe that I held back to replace...