When and how do I do this?

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Jessykah

Jessykah

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I have 10-14 week old pelts I put in the freezer (just rinsed and bagged them). I have heard that the fur slips if the pelt is too young, and that it also slips when you process in the wrong season. I was told to only use pelts from rabbits processed in winter, when not shedding.
Is there truth to this? Should I only keep adult hides, or are junior hides ok? I don't want my fur hat (or whatever I make) to be shedding all the time.
Also, when I go to process (in battery acid method), do I just thaw the hides and put them in with a weight on top? Do I thaw in fridge, or at room temperature, or in water on the counter?
Thanks!
 
I haven't found any truth to that. I've only had pelts slip when I was thawing and left them in the water too long without any solution. It was very long, about two weeks, and I forgot about them.

I did my first pelt in the dead of winter, and besides the fact that the house is ice cold so it took forever to work, there was no ill affects. I have a batch in the bucket now, the house is at 30F maybe. Alum is a pickle, and those guys will be just fine in the solution as long as I take care to stir. The hard part is the summer, attracting insects and hoping they don't go bad in the heat before they cure properly.

Fur slips when the hide is not handled correctly. And if you take a hide in between primes, jr and sr, you are more likely to get a lot of shedding. I take hides not before 16 weeks, and not in between jr and sr prime. It can be done, but a hide anytime before 16 weeks is more likely to tear.

Thaw the hides if you like. I haven't seen that it matters.
 
Sky is right, furs aren't that particular. I have done hides from eight week olds before (when I prefer to process my meat buns, still nice and tender!) and the only thing you have to watch out for is that they rip easier. Those hides were taken in summer too, and they are gorgeous.

The only time I have EVER had any slippage occur on a hide is the time I took my squirrel skins out to thaw thinking I would have time to tan them, and then put them back in the freezer after a few days when I realized it wouldn't work out with the timing. The next time they thawed, the hair started to come off, but that was due to the thaw and sit for a week in the fridge, freeze, and thaw again thing. If you thaw them and they immediately go in the solution you won't have an issue.
 
I read that with battery acid, I can leave in in there for a long time, like a year or 2 or something...so if I don't get around to it right away, they can sit for a bit without me worrying about wasting them.
I just don't want any slippage. I don't want all of my work wasted.
 
I'm not going to say not to use the Sulfuric acid (battery acid), since I have no experience with it. I also don't know what your options are for tanning chemicals in Canada.

I do know that there are a lot commercially available pickling acids in the US that keep pelts well these days(I've left a few for several months). Some are as safe as citric acid or acetic acid. (There are other blends which work well, they don't always tell you exactly what type of acid they are, like "ultimate" acid or "saftee" acid) As long as they can be safely and legally neutralized with baking soda and disposed of down drains, and are unlikely to cause chemical burns or reactions, I give them a shot.

The most important thing is to have some litmus strips on hand and watch the PH closely.

I guess I'm just trying to let you know that there might be safer modern options that work just as well available to you.
 
They main reason they say not to tan rabbits that young is because of how thin the rabbit skin is at that point. That of course hasn't stopped me from doing it. All it means is that you need to be extremely careful when fleshing, (if you decide to,) and stretching the hide. The fur will not slip unless the hide has been mishandled or not tanned properly as all the others have said.
 
Battery acid is a decent method, just remember to put the acid int eh water and not the water in the acid.

The alum pelts have been sitting since Thanksgiving. Sometimes I take them out and let them air dry, store them, re wet and stretch when I have time. They can sit like that indefinitely.
 
I use the alum method too, and love it for the younger hides because if you soak them in the pickle, it eliminates having to flesh them first. Just soak them for a few day, pull them out, pull the membrane off, and add more salt and alum and return them to the same bucket. The older hides should still be fleshed first though. They can be a pain.
 
PSFAngoras":2rx8aa6p said:
and love it for the younger hides because if you soak them in the pickle, it eliminates having to flesh them first.
Click to expand...
Yes it does. It makes it so much easier, the membrane just slides off. I've also heard it makes for a whiter pelt.
 
Jessykah":2xpu4u0n said:
and that doesn't happen with the battery acid method???
Click to expand...
Not with the same ease. There will be more fleshing/scraping. I've never scraped a pelt with an alum tan.
 
There are several sources on line. If you are in a place where they can, you should be able to find it in a store. That didn't work for me. I ordered mine from somewhere on line, I think it was Sears. It was in the plant fertilizer section, Bonide Aluminum sulfate. 4lbs for around $8.
 
Jess.. when you are near Renfrew.. I have some alum that i bought when i did my pelts.. I dont do pelts anymore.. I have some left over and i think the bill is in there so you can order more if you want .. but this way you can try to see if you like it or not.. battery acid is hard on your hands.. and the pelts dont turn out as white
 
One of the main reasons hair slips from a hide is bacteria. If you let a hide sit in whatever solution you use, eventually bacteria will ruin it. That is why the pickling solutions are acidic but the acidity does not remain high to where it will kill bacteria for several months. I wouldn't leave the skins longer than a couple of weeks beyond what your recipe calls for. Hot water/hot room temperatures will also make the hair slip.

The reason to use older rabbit hides and winter rabbit hides is that older rabbits have very much thicker skin you'll have a hard time tearing it except around the edges. Part of the process is basically tugging and pulling at the hide to break up the fibers in the skin which makes it easy to tear a thin hide from a younger rabbit.

Winter rabbits have a thick winter fur that is just lovely after tanning it compared to the not as thick warm weather fur.
 

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