Playing with the pelts

[KelleyBee]

So, I have air dried 11 pelts. No, these are not quality pelts, except one from a 9 month rabbit I recently culled (her pelt is not pictured). Has anyone air dried and proceeded with tanning from here? I've read conflicting info, which is why I'm asking. Some say air dry then tanning is preferred, others say air drying is not preferred. What I like about the air drying is the flexibility of keeping it as rawhide or proceeding to tanning if it is a good pelt. I look forward to hearing from the experienced!

 

[KelleyBee]

Is no one interested in joining me in this conversation?

 

[Preitler]

Well, I never dried pelts, they go straight into the pickle after a quick wash, get fleshed in the next 2 or 3 days, then into the tanning bucket.

I wouldn't know how to store them really dry enough here, and, well, if I don't do the work right away I'll end up with piles of pelts that could be tanned at some undetermined point in the future...., I once made the mistake of freezing fresh pelts, ended up throwing all away a year later. So I either discard them, or tan a few nice ones.
I have now a pile of tanned pelts, waiting to be used for something at some undetermined point in the future.....

 

[opossumparable]

I know that generally salting hides to dry them out and simply rehydrating them before a pickle or other true tanning method is acceptable, and I dont see why air drying them and rehydrating them would be any different, but i have no experience air drying pelts myself.

 

[KelleyBee]

Well, I never dried pelts, they go straight into the pickle after a quick wash, get fleshed in the next 2 or 3 days, then into the tanning bucket.

I wouldn't know how to store them really dry enough here, and, well, if I don't do the work right away I'll end up with piles of pelts that could be tanned at some undetermined point in the future...., I once made the mistake of freezing fresh pelts, ended up throwing all away a year later. So I either discard them, or tan a few nice ones.
I have now a pile of tanned pelts, waiting to be used for something at some undetermined point in the future.....

I have some in the freezer and I have worried about that method of temporary storage. Why, what happened that caused you to decide to trash the frozen pelts? Online, lots of people are freezing them to hold before tanning. I decided to dry them because I prefer not to use the freezer space for them any longer.

 

[KelleyBee]

I know that generally salting hides to dry them out and simply rehydrating them before a pickle or other true tanning method is acceptable, and I dont see why air drying them and rehydrating them would be any different, but i have no experience air drying pelts myself.

Is pickles no and tanning the same thing?

 

[Bunnies4me]

I'm halfway through this process. I have dried with salt in the past and I have one dried with borax, but I havent got to next stage of setting them back to rawhide to tan, so I don't know how they'll turn out. I made contact with a professional tanner and asked her how the best way was to store them, she told me they get freezer burn and go 'old' in the freezer after about 3-6 months, which meant they weren't always as premium as they initially would have been. She hasn't tanned my borax dried skin, but I will ask her to when I am ready to have a few samples to compare. I tried to tan a few with an old fashioned method of using egg yolk, washing them with shampoo was part of the process, that was successful, but I don't know how long they will last or how hardy they will be.

 

[KelleyBee]

I'm halfway through this process. I have dried with salt in the past and I have one dried with borax, but I havent got to next stage of setting them back to rawhide to tan, so I don't know how they'll turn out. I made contact with a professional tanner and asked her how the best way was to store them, she told me they get freezer burn and go 'old' in the freezer after about 3-6 months, which meant they weren't always as premium as they initially would have been. She hasn't tanned my borax dried skin, but I will ask her to when I am ready to have a few samples to compare. I tried to tan a few with an old fashioned method of using egg yolk, washing them with shampoo was part of the process, that was successful, but I don't know how long they will last or how hardy they will be.

Thank you for your story. I sho probably get the ones I have out of the freezer, thaw and onto the drying stretchers. It sounds like this is a better way for storage before processing them further.

 

[Shea]

Thank you for your story. I sho probably get the ones I have out of the freezer, thaw and onto the drying stretchers. It sounds like this is a better way for storage before processing them further.

If stored vaccum sealed in the freezer they will last a while. But you can run into the priblem of the fur insulating skin so bits of flesh don't freeze fast enough and can rot. I have air dried a few, but my critters kept getting into them. Switched to salting and havent had a chance to go further then that yet.
Tan and pickle or used interchangebly these days, but are 2 very different methods.

 

[opossumparable]

Is pickles no and tanning the same thing?

Pickling is a part of the tanning process. I pickle in a regular salt bath for a while even though I do brain/egg/smoke tanning because it helps sort of fluff the skins fibers and makes detail fleshing easier. Some people pickle in an alum salt bath which is part of a different tanning process that i have no experience with.

 

[Burelka]

For those of you pickling your hides would you mind sharing your method/recipe from start to finish. I tried the salt drying and egg yolk method once on a hide and it went bad. I suspect inadequate ventilation was my issue.

 

[george8211]

I'm here but a little late lol. I'm looking to get some Silver Fox to raise and breed. Are you doing any Silver Fox pelts? As may experiment with trying pelts. Are some breeds better than others to make better pelts?

 

[Burelka]

I'm here but a little late lol. I looking to get some Silver Fox to raise and breed. Are you doing any Silver Fox pelts? As may experiment with trying pelts. Are some breeds better than others to make better pelts?

I would imagine the different breeds would provide different fur textures. Raising all the same breed would ensure uniformity in all pelts if you are wanting to have all the same colour pelts for a larger project. Personally I have mutts, so all my pelts are different colours and patterns but I like this as I am a fan of randoms colours and textures used in one project.

 

[Bunnies4me]

Hello all - restarting this thread again. Does anyone know what the youngest age a rabbit has to be before you can successfully tan the hide, and it is sturdy and good quality?
About 8 months ago a lady told me they had to be 5 months old to have their adult coat and for the skin to be tough enough to stand up to the tanning process. That's quite a bit of feed.
Last week, another lady told me she harvests her rex at 16 weeks for their pelts (I imagine she would also get better meat from them). She is tanning her own pelts, not taking them to a big tannery, so I am thinking she may be able to be more gentle on them in the process. I'm not sure of her results, I'm not sure if she's finished her first batch yet.
Would the hide be sturdy and strong at 16 weeks?
Is this an accepted standard?

Thanks in advance

 

[KelleyBee]

I'm here but a little late lol. I'm looking to get some Silver Fox to raise and breed. Are you doing any Silver Fox pelts? As may experiment with trying pelts. Are some breeds better than others to make better pelts?

Silver fox were originally developed for their coats to replace the actual silver fox that was being hunted for its fur to extinction. I raise Silver Fox, but I do not use their fur in that manner because I dispatch most at a younger age for meat (Silver Fox has a commercial body type and size, so they are also a meat breed). Rex, however, is the way to go if you are serious about the fur. Apparently, it is the best, most lush and dense of all rabbit breeds.

 

[Alaska Satin]

Hello all - restarting this thread again. Does anyone know what the youngest age a rabbit has to be before you can successfully tan the hide, and it is sturdy and good quality?
About 8 months ago a lady told me they had to be 5 months old to have their adult coat and for the skin to be tough enough to stand up to the tanning process. That's quite a bit of feed.
Last week, another lady told me she harvests her rex at 16 weeks for their pelts (I imagine she would also get better meat from them). She is tanning her own pelts, not taking them to a big tannery, so I am thinking she may be able to be more gentle on them in the process. I'm not sure of her results, I'm not sure if she's finished her first batch yet.
Would the hide be sturdy and strong at 16 weeks?
Is this an accepted standard?

Thanks in advance

We butcher our Satins when they reach 5 lbs, which is between 9-12 weeks. We have home-tanned the 12-week-old skins and while they are not the "prime" pelts of 5-month-olds, they produce beautiful skins which we have used to make hats, etc. You do have to be a little more careful around the edges/thinner parts of the hide when breaking, but the upside is that they are a heck of a lot easier to get off the carcass - the older a rabbit is, the more it tries to hold onto its skin, so to speak. 12-week-old Satin skins are certainly as thick as squirrel or muskrat skins, which are frequently tanned as well, so I can't imagine they would be rejected by a good tanner. In fact a few of my friends who raise Satins, Rex and Silver Fox have routinely sent fryer hides down to the Lower 48 for tanning (we don't have a commercial tannery in AK).

 

[Alaska Satin]

For those of you pickling your hides would you mind sharing your method/recipe from start to finish. I tried the salt drying and egg yolk method once on a hide and it went bad. I suspect inadequate ventilation was my issue.

We like a method from Mother Earth News which was originally published in 1983: How to Tan a Rabbit Hide – Mother Earth News
It gives two recipes: one uses battery acid + salt, the other using alum + salt. We've used the battery acid one simply because we had that on hand. It works great, gives soft leather with nice fur if you pay attention to the stirring and get the timing of the breaking figured out. I'd like to try the alum recipe since it supposedly results in a whiter leather, but ours are pretty light already, and we use the skins for hats and mittens etc. so the leather doesn't show anyway.

 

[GPH]

Awesome topic and input everybody! I'm currently tanning my first batch of hides. After butchering, I picked the large bits of fat off the hide, laid the hides fur side down and covered in a thick layer of salt. After drying like that for about a week I then rubbed off the salt, peeled off any bits of fat or meat, and now plan to do a soap tan on my pelts and then smoke them. Has anyone tried soap tanning? If anyone is interested I'll try to post some pics once I'm all done. In reference to air drying, I certainly hope it doesn't hurt the hides because I have my first four hides (thoroughly dried with salt) stacked and waiting on the other hides to be at the same point so I can apply the soap solution to all of them at once. I will see how it goes lol.

 

[Bogdangeh]

Where is moderator??
It is important.
Regards.

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

Where is moderator??
It is important.
Regards.

Huh?