:yeahthat:
How are rabbit hides processed commercially?
- Thread starter GBov
- Start date
Help Support Rabbit Talk Forum:
GBov":1rpc163b said:
I recall a while back watching a youtube video of a fur buyer processing I think it was mink hides & he had a tumbler but what he put in it was sawdust & something else (oil?) to "condition" the hide. Its been quite a while back ... my memory fails on this one.
Don't recall where I saw or read about using shoes in the dryer.
I don't know if I'd use pieces of 2x4 , it may harm the hide simply because of the hardness / abrasiveness. Compare that to a shoe which will flex & give a little to absorb some of the impact .... Let us know how that works out.
I'm really considering trying the dryer method as I have 16 hides in the pickle right now & that's a whole lotta elbow grease otherwise.
cmfarm
Well-known member
I will have to try out the dryer method. We have an old dryer outside and I think the spin still worked it just didn't heat anymore. I will have to see if it still works. Can you thaw out a hide, flesh it, and then re-freeze it until you have time to do the rest or will it hurt it?
GBov
Well-known member
alforddm":3c3ogq1a said:
About enough to felt a one inch ball. MUCH less than comes off a load of towels drying.
As I said, they are not as high quality as the ones I do by hand but they are MILES above what is being sold in hobby stores.
Shall let you know how the 2x4s do.
What I find so pleasing is that this batch are fryer hides. Usually I dry them to shave for needle felting (non so far shaved due to lack of shaver so many dried and stored in boxes :roll: ) but this way, I have a sellable/useable product with minimum time and effort.
Smoking today and have 6 more fryers to do so more hides to try this way. Shall change the ratio of brains to water to closer to 50/50.
My poor mum, she said she never DREAMED she would be living in a tannery one day! :lol: Esp. when I mentioned I wanted to try vulture fleshing again, only this time on purpose. <br /><br /> __________ Thu Apr 16, 2015 1:35 pm __________ <br /><br /> My last batch consisted of 4 very thin fryer hides and two older rabbit hides so much thicker.
Took the ratio of brains to water to closer to 30/70 with much more water than last time and three brains spred to 6 hides.
The fryer hides came out GREAT!
The prime hides came out stiffer but still nice.
I had to google this to find out what it was but thank you! I am going to have to try this! (I mean the needle felting.) I may try breaking the hides in the dryer as well. The knob on my dryer is broken on my 35 yr old dryer (no I'm not kidding) though so I'll have to remember to dig out the pliers to change the heat setting :lol: :lol:
skysthelimit
Well-known member
The fleshing is the easy part for me. The longer I leave it in the pickle, the easier it is for it to peel right off.
Breaking consists of me pulling in every direction several times a day for 10 minutes or so.
Breaking consists of me pulling in every direction several times a day for 10 minutes or so.
GBov
Well-known member
alforddm":24byj5qr said:
Needle felting is GREAT!!! Such fun, just remember to get finger guards when you start. Its major ouchy when you poke yourself with a felting needle!
I do a lot of that. Break for a few minutes, toss it back in the freezer to stay moist until I feel like spending another 10 minutes on it...skysthelimit":v1qxw6gv said:
GBov
Well-known member
It takes me about 2 to 3 hours of work to bread a hide fully by hand so any way to reduce that is great. And my hands don't half hurt by the time I am done. <br /><br /> __________ Mon Apr 27, 2015 5:06 pm __________ <br /><br /> I feel RICH!!!
Finally got my shed converted to a smoker (put my gas smoker into the building, stapled sheets up inside to turn it into a walk in smoker) and stretched cloths line across it. Pegged my now 16 finished hides to the line and smoked them all at once.
Plus bacon, butter and cheese.
Wow, to have all those hides finished is like a dream. My kids split them all between them and have stuffed their beds with finished hides.
The bedrooms smell GREAT! :lol:
Finally got my shed converted to a smoker (put my gas smoker into the building, stapled sheets up inside to turn it into a walk in smoker) and stretched cloths line across it. Pegged my now 16 finished hides to the line and smoked them all at once.
Plus bacon, butter and cheese.
Wow, to have all those hides finished is like a dream. My kids split them all between them and have stuffed their beds with finished hides.
The bedrooms smell GREAT! :lol:
GBov":313w8e73 said:
Yeah, mine do that too. It's hard to save any for myself.
GBov
Well-known member
Zass":x51103uc said:
I am trying to turn them into a lap blanket but the thought of the fights to possess it is a bit off putting. :lol:
GBov":jzdxx4dg said:
You'll just have to make one for each kid .... more work for you.
How did the 2x4 pieces in the dryer work ?! Any tears in the leather , what about denting the inside of the dryer (My wife would kill me).
GBov
Well-known member
Ramjet":1u3xg6fh said:
That is the one thing I havnt done yet is the 2x4s, still using shoes and yes, the inside of the dryer does look as if I have been drying rocks. Lots of little dings.
If it stops raining and my wood dries out that is on my list for this week.
But so far, no holes in the hides. Well, other than the ones I put in fleshing that is. The best part about those holes and this method is that the holes don't get any bigger and my hides don't rip from being pulled about by me.
Now to decide if I should trim the hides into rectangles for stitching together or try to fit them together with all sorts of edges.
GBov
Well-known member
Ramjet":2fmeaa33 said:
Clogs :lol:
And a baseball, tennis shoes, sandals and some small boots. I have to brace the door really well so all that lot doesn't bash the door open.
Still havnt managed to cut the 2x4s. I am NOT complaining about the rain, am dancing about it in fact, but it is hampering a few projects.
But several fryers are hitting the freezer today so more hides to do. I am trying to do fryers in batches small enough to do the entire job all the way to the hides pegged out to dry instead of bigger batches with the hides going into the freezer.
I just took 16 hides out of the pickle , have to get them rinsed then they'll go in the dryer .... we'll see how it goes.
I'm gonna go with a few of my daughters old tennis shoes so there isn't anything dense enough to do any destruction.
I'm gonna go with a few of my daughters old tennis shoes so there isn't anything dense enough to do any destruction.
GBov
Well-known member
Ramjet":3aywlrcu said:
Make sure to let them dry to just damp, I put in a very wet hide and the fur matted up.
And make sure the shoes are clean, one of my hides is rather dirty from the first batch, the shoes were in use so rather dirty. Funny how only one hide got dirty though.
Oh, and perhaps just try a few? Seems a shame if it goes pear shaped with all your hides.
I've got them all rinsed and hanging over the bathtub dripping dry , probably tomorrow or the next day before they go in.
16 hides is a lot of work .... next time I might do half that.
__________ Fri May 01, 2015 11:28 am __________
Just ran the entire lot of 16 thru one 40 minute cycle in the dryer with my daughters old shoes .... I must say I'm impressed with the outcome , so far , so good !
Probably take a few more cycles to get them done and may require a little hand work but this is a whole lot less time & effort than doing the entire batch by hand.
Now if I could only find a better (less tearing) , more efficient way of fleshing ....
Someone asked up thread how much fur was in the lint filter .... Not a whole lot , less than I anticipated by far.
16 hides is a lot of work .... next time I might do half that.
__________ Fri May 01, 2015 11:28 am __________
Just ran the entire lot of 16 thru one 40 minute cycle in the dryer with my daughters old shoes .... I must say I'm impressed with the outcome , so far , so good !
Probably take a few more cycles to get them done and may require a little hand work but this is a whole lot less time & effort than doing the entire batch by hand.
Now if I could only find a better (less tearing) , more efficient way of fleshing ....
Someone asked up thread how much fur was in the lint filter .... Not a whole lot , less than I anticipated by far.
How do you think it would work if you threw in tennis balls instead of the shoes? Used to do that to "fluff up" quilts or pillows while drying. It would be easier on your dryer, but not sure if hard enough to break the hides.
the reluctant farmer":2hy7d1t9 said:
I only ran them thru two 1 hour cycles. After the second cycle I took them out and finished them by hand , each one taking 2-4 minutes and they look fantastic.
Had I replaced the shoes with tennis balls , I don't think they would have had the mass to break the leather. I used small kid sized shoes , sizes 12 - 1 for two reasons. First so they didn't tear up the dryer - mission accomplished , no damage at all. Second so they didn't have so much mass that they harmed the hide - mission accomplished.
Will have to experiment with size / mass of items used but considering the results of this batch , what I used will be hard to top.
