Do long hair rabbits make good skins?

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Regular haired rabbit fur can also get matted....ruined a wonderful blue pelt....ugh. Very easy to get it matted, longer hair would be even more of a pain. Possible, though, since they make sheep wool throws out of sheep pelts.
 
I wonder if they make them out of sheep that have wool that is less likely to felt?

I could see Angora wool just felting in the tanning solution.

I am going to cull some Jersey Woolies, and that thought had crossed my mind. I will pickle some and see what happens.
 
I've been wondering the same thing since I have some beautiful white French angora skins waiting for me in my freezer. Maybe if you don't cause too much agitation during the process?
 
I almost did once and then threw the hides away right before they went into solution in fear they'd mat. Half tempted to try again, but it looks like I might already have half of my latest litter of FA sold, so I might not get the chance.
 
Zass":3lxwik4o said:
I've tanned angora rabbits, they do just fine in the pickle and tanning solution, and make lovely pelts.


Thanks. I have to cull the sneezing doe, and I am thinking she's make a good hat, as she has too much guard hair for me to enjoy spinning the wool.
 
Undercoat shouldn't be a problem at all.
tanning agents generally work from the flesh side. stir gently, don't overcrowd, you know the drill.

I don't use any kind of tumbler or agitation though.
 
Neither do I, just a big ol' 5gal bucket and my hands!

Thank you, now I really have to try. 2/3 of this latest angora litter is unshowable colors (darn these recessive genetics, so fun to play wih when you get PROPER colors!) so I'm assuming half of them will be going into the freezer at some point. Will post pics here of the tanned hides when get them done, though it will be a while.
 
skysthelimit":3asad3ui said:
Zass":3asad3ui said:
I've tanned angora rabbits, they do just fine in the pickle and tanning solution, and make lovely pelts.


Thanks. I have to cull the sneezing doe, and I am thinking she's make a good hat, as she has too much guard hair for me to enjoy spinning the wool.

I want to see this hat when you're done with it.
 
I have about ten pelts in my freezer ready to go, but I need to find the aluminum sulfate (I think that's what's it is... I don't have my recipe in front of me). Where do you guys order tanning supplies from?
 
I use potassium alum, its what my fiber store offers to dye wool and it works wonders. I don't know if you could find it locally, but the store I go to is called Table Rock Llamas. They do have a website, though I can't remember if its a .com or a .org thing, so you'd be better off googling it. They charge $8 a pound, and then there would be tax and shipping, so you would probably only want to so that if you couldn't find it locally.
 
I ordered mine from a garden website, I think it was ACE. Alum is used as a fertilizer.
 
Well, I've got proof that it can be done!

The nasty chocolate doe that I culled was just at that perfect stage of molt where most of the undercoat had gone already everywhere but the skirt, and the guard hairs had already come back where she was done molting, so there wasn't as much as usual to risk matting.

The wool is still a bit greasy from working the hide, but it was all I had the energy to do tonight. Just finished it, and if y'all like I can try to get better pics tomorrow. The small coffee can is in there for size comparison. This girl was already the size of my 2 y.o. bucks at only six months old. Luckily, I told her breeder about what happened and she has more chocolate litters coming up. She offered one for free as a replacement, but I know it wasn't her fault and the care that goes into each animal, so I told her I'd be happy to trade my chin kit for another chocolate, instead of a freebie.
 

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PSFAngoras":30tcnu3x said:
Well, I've got proof that it can be done!

The nasty chocolate doe that I culled was just at that perfect stage of molt where most of the undercoat had gone already everywhere but the skirt, and the guard hairs had already come back where she was done molting, so there wasn't as much as usual to risk matting.

The wool is still a bit greasy from working the hide, but it was all I had the energy to do tonight. Just finished it, and if y'all like I can try to get better pics tomorrow. The small coffee can is in there for size comparison. This girl was already the size of my 2 y.o. bucks at only six months old. Luckily, I told her breeder about what happened and she has more chocolate litters coming up. She offered one for free as a replacement, but I know it wasn't her fault and the care that goes into each animal, so I told her I'd be happy to trade my chin kit for another chocolate, instead of a freebie.

Wow! It looks great! Your picture makes me want to rush out and do mine too. I'll get there one day... once I finish procrastinating. ;)
 
I finally culled the himi doe and the pelt is in the bucket, She molted right before I culled her but there is still some length left.
 
I was grooming my buck today and my husband made a suggestion.

He said that what I needed was to get a big bunch of duct tape and as I comb it out, stick it to the tape and then cut my patterns out of the tape.

I just gave him a dirty look.
 
:p

Sometimes I just don't think the other halfs understand. My DH is usually very patient and understanding about the buns, though everything that they entail still falls to me. (Feeding, grooming, processing, cooking even, though he'll happily eat them).

Even with that when I told him I need to expand to compete at show better the first thing out of his mouth was "How many more do you need?!" :) I had to laugh. Apparently for all his trying to understand he still doesn't know how this works!
 
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