The ways of furs!

My husband has been asking me for several weeks about how to tan, preserve the pelts, and fur of rabbits. He wants to do this once we start butchering. I encouraged him many times to join RT, and have him post about it. My thought was, he could do the posting/learning/research of that while I do the same for everything else that I personally do with the rabbits. I figured since HE is the one that wants to do it, he can learn about it. (Not that I do NOT want to do it, but it's something that would be HIS project to do with the rabbits.) Well every time I suggested he make an account here, he would just stare at me. He asked me again last night about the pelts, and finally I decided to make a post myself, lol.

So here I am posting, lmao.

We want to save the furs for probably a variety of things such as clothing, sewing (mittens, boots, and hopefully a fur blanket for our bed,) unaltered pelts just for selling.

We have thought about brain tanning, but know there are many other methods as well, and want to try a few to see which one suits our needs best.

I have done some small research on Google, but honestly I prefer, and more so trust the advice, and knowledge of the users here.

I'm seeking any, and all advice possible. Steps to tanning, and preserving, sewing ideas, helpful products, maybe even some user errors so know what NOT to do. :lol:

Being lazy I usually just let the fur dry specially this time of year. You can hang them to dry out doors without worrying about flies. In warm weather flies lay eggs within minutes and the resulting maggots eats up the fur.

In humid places, drying outside can be impossible.

The most important thing I think anyone needs to know about furs is that bacteria can quickly eat the epidermis, causing hair to fall out. It's called epidermal slip, and in unfavorable conditions (especially warm humid conditions) it can start shortly after an animal is killed.

Like was already mentioned, a hair on-pelt can be successfully created with...nothing at all.

An air dried skin would be called hair-on rawhide. I have a pretty stool here I topped with black and white cow skin that I'd simply scraped and dried. Rawhide is extremely hard. Not too many want their finished furs that way.

Making the leather soft is call breaking. It's the process of working and pulling the leather so that the fibers do not seize up as it dries.

It's important to remember that breaking happens AS the leather dries and not AFTER.

__________ Wed Dec 30, 2015 9:42 pm __________

Hmm...Lets get this into some kind of order.

The most basic steps of fur making would be like:

1: Flesh (remove membranes on the inside of the leather)

2: preserve (there are a range of chemicals and preservation methods available, naturally the various methods have different finished properties, and can affect the lifespan of the pelt.)

3: Break (working it soft as it dries)

Hello. I'm a newbie at all this, so feel kind of uncomfortable offering advice or opinions. I certainly don't have the experience of Zass and many of the others here. But I've recently tanned some pelts, and they turned out great. I'll post the link here of the article I used for directions, but as the others have said, there seem to be many different ways to do this, and I'll probably try some other ways in the future just for the experience. But the directions for this method are very easy and very inexpensive. I used the alum option, rather than battery acid, and the alum can be kind of hard to find. I bought mine at an Amish store. You might find it at some pharmacies, but it will be very small quantities for way too much money. At the Amish store I got 6 oz. containers for 89¢ each. The salt is not hard to find at all. Good luck and let us know how it goes.


http://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/how- ... fzraw.aspx

IMO battery acid is just a rather outdated pickling agent.
I can't help but notice that article is dated from the year I was born...
Pickling seems to cause a lot of confusion.

Just about ANY acid that you can get into the ph range of 1 or 2 will work for a hide pickle.
Pickles are useful for all sorts of things when it comes to tanning. Killing bacteria, plumping, stabilizing it in a wet form for fleshing at one's convenience, making the final flesh easier, getting the PH just right for some tanning agents....The list goes on.
An acid pickle is not a necessary part of the process, but awfully helpful. I use them routinely, although I prefer acetic acid (aka vinegar,) citric acid, or "saftee acid" which I suspect is mainly acetic anyway.

Lets be clear here. A pickle is NOT a tanning agent. The article gets that part wrong.

Alum has unique place as both a stabilizing acid pickle and a preservative that remains in the pelt. It doesn't truly alter the fibers of a skin like a tanning agent, but it can preserve them for a very long time.

The acids in other pickles do not have the same properties, and it's standard to neutralize them prior to actually tanning a skin.

The pickling stage in tanning comes after rough fleshing but before the final flesh. Pickling prior to tanning generally only takes about 4 days total, while an alum taw usually takes longer.

I suppose, I could skip the semantics and call every method of hide preservation "tanning" as is commonly done, but...I think that has already caused far too much confusion in regards to fur preservation.

Zass, I don't think I would have used the acid anyway. Just sounds too dangerous to me! My mother used alum in her pickles, so I felt safe with that. LOL

As for the date of the article, that year seems pretty recent to an old timer like me who was born in '55. Now I admire you even more to know you've gained so much knowledge and experience at such a "tender age"! I have kids a little older than you who barely know what a rabbit is! Now I'm raising some grandkids, though, and you'd better believe I teach them all I can as soon as I can!

Thank you for the input!

Haha, even at this age, I don't always feel tender and young anymore!

Hmm....What else is important.. The article had some very good points.

The main one I'd like to repeat that the fleshing and breaking processes are more important to the finished product than any chemical you may, or may not, choose to apply.


Oils are typically applied after fleshing, pickling, or tanning, but before breaking.
Neetsfoot and mink oils are industry standard.. Brains or eggs are readily available and will do the job, but...I personally don't like the smell of either. Olive oil works.

For something like olive, it should be mixed down with water. drop of soap can be used as an emulsifier. Use less oil than you think you need, as more can be applied later.

The only oils I really recommend against are petroleum based ones, as they are known to cause leather to deteriorate over time. .

katievictoria":dweh6tzd said:

Hello. I'm a newbie at all this, so feel kind of uncomfortable offering advice or opinions. I certainly don't have the experience of Zass and many of the others here. But I've recently tanned some pelts, and they turned out great. I'll post the link here of the article I used for directions, but as the others have said, there seem to be many different ways to do this, and I'll probably try some other ways in the future just for the experience. But the directions for this method are very easy and very inexpensive. I used the alum option, rather than battery acid, and the alum can be kind of hard to find. I bought mine at an Amish store. You might find it at some pharmacies, but it will be very small quantities for way too much money. At the Amish store I got 6 oz. containers for 89¢ each. The salt is not hard to find at all. Good luck and let us know how it goes.


http://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/how- ... fzraw.aspx

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I could have sworn I posted in this thread earlier .... guess not !?


I use the alum & salt method with very good results , I got the "recipe" from the link you posted above. Works great.

Two pieces of advice to pass along:

1) Be sure to use NON-Iodized Salt!!!

2) Rinse them thoroughly .... to remove the alum odor , its not strong but is noticeable. I put 3-4 in a 5g bucket of COLD water with Palmolive and squeeze (Not Wring) them out , repeating the process with a fresh water Palmolive solution several times.

I get my alum at a rural feed lot / store in a 25lb bag for about $10. You may also find it at your local hardware store (not the big chains) or nurseries as it is used to adjust the ph of soil for some plants.

You can also use stock from a feed store.

Ramjet, I've always been under the impression that the main reason non-iodized salt is preferred has to do with preventing possible discoloration to the leather side.
I've also heard that there are often anti-clumping agents in table salt that can affect PH slightly.
Do you know any other reasons?

HansenHomestead":3tm97nri said:

I have done some small research on Google, but honestly I prefer, and more so trust the advice, and knowledge of the users here.

Click to expand...

I know! I don't even Google stuff about rabbits anymore. Even when I don't start a thread or comment on a thread, I'm reading an old thread, or I'm sitting here watching an interesting thread develop. opcorn:

Zass":3uxhr5lu said:

You can also use stock from a feed store.

Ramjet, I've always been under the impression that the main reason non-iodized salt is preferred has to do with preventing possible discoloration to the leather side.
I've also heard that there are often anti-clumping agents in table salt that can affect PH slightly.
Do you know any other reasons?

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From what I understand , the iodine will cause the fur to slip.

SoDak Thriver":3uxhr5lu said:

I know! I don't even Google stuff about rabbits anymore. Even when I don't start a thread or comment on a thread, I'm reading an old thread, or I'm sitting here watching an interesting thread develop. opcorn:

Click to expand...

I don't often google either .... I just search here and find posts by trusted posters .... especially those of Zass , MSD & OAF and Dood when it comes to genetics.

Ramjet":1cpnwkgc said:

From what I understand , the iodine will cause the fur to slip.

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http://www.outdoorsdirectory.com/akforu ... /23228.htm

This is a quote from Bruce Rittel. I can't seem to find the original post on taxi net..

it really doesn't matter whether you use iodized or non-iodized Salt. For tanning however, the non-iodized type has always been preferred, because in bulk its usually much cheaper. The Iodine simply has no effect on your tanning. In Iodized Salt, because it was intended for human consumption, it was added simply to prevent Goiter problems. There's a new additive out too, call Yellow Prusaite of Soda. Its an anti-clumping agent the manufacturers are adding to their Salt. It wont affect your tanning - but you have to be mindful of your Ph. It slightly raises it, so your solution may be a bit higher. As long as you're aware of it, and can compensate for it, you should be OK.

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So, adding some kinds of table salt and not tracking your PH can reduce acidity and lead to slip, but it's not because of the iodine.
If someone is following a set recipe, non-iodized salt with yellow prusiate of soda would be worse than iodized salt without it. I BELIEVE the stock salt I purchased last had that in it actually... It never occurred to me as a problem because I always track the PH of my solutions and adjust accordingly.

It's as easy as dipping a litmus strip in the solution, and adding more acid as needed. Following a recipe like that...It can work, but there are so many variables, and products do tend to change over time.

For example, some brands of stock salt may have the anti-caking agent, while others may not...

I strongly recommend ph monitoring as a routine part of pickling.

A couple have mentioned they don't bother looking stuff up, the just come here for the correct answers. Well I feel the same. I DO start out with a little research because I don't want to sound like a complete idiot by the time I get here. :shock: And it never hurts to learn several ideas before asking a question. But when I'm ready for a final answer that I know I can trust to be factual, this is where I end up! Absolutely wonderful forum! :clap:

Thank you everyone for you input. We butchered our first rabbit today, and we have the fur in the freezer, and are getting ready to get everything brought to preserve it.