Wanting Softer Pelts

[Graceful Meadows]

Last year I tanned a rabbit skin hat for 4-H using the alum/salt solution. It took two months of sitting in the solution for the hides to cure (hold up to boiling). The hair didn't slip and the hides were beautiful, except for being rather stiff. This was fine for a hat, but now I want to make mittens that are fairly soft and comfortable. What should I do differently? I did these in early spring when our house was 60-70 degrees, was it too cold to cure quickly? How would I get the hides I will be curing soon to cure more quickly? What about the age of the rabbits? The were 3-6 months old when they were butchered so their fur would be matured. Were they too old?

 

[ladysown]

wish I had an answer for you but I really haven't a clue....

 

[Lastfling]

Are you breaking the hides as they dry? This is what normally breaks the fibers and creates the softness and flexibility you're looking for. If you're just letting them dry, they are going to be stiff. Most tanneries use tumblers for this, but at home pulling the hide back and forth across a sharp edge or corner will duplicate the effect. Now, as for boiling - what's that about?

 

[Ramjet]

Are you breaking the hides as they dry? This is what normally breaks the fibers and creates the softness and flexibility you're looking for. If you're just letting them dry, they are going to be stiff. Most tanneries use tumblers for this, but at home pulling the hide back and forth across a sharp edge or corner will duplicate the effect. Now, as for boiling - what's that about?

This is the first thing that came to mind for me too ...


opcorn:

 

[Graceful Meadows]

I did that, and though they did soften quite a bit, over some time they would get a little stiff again and so I would re-wet them and stretch them some more. As for the boiling part, I got that from the instructions I used from the post on Mother Earth News about tanning rabbit pelts. It said to cut a small piece of pickled pelt and boil it in water, if it turned hard and curled up, the pelt was not cured.

 

[skysthelimit]

room temp is best. the fastest I've ever had a hide cure is three weeks. forgive me if I am repeating what you already know but just in case--
1 cup of alum, 1 cu of salt does about 5 hides. stir every day,make sure they sink. after about 3-4 days, take them out, pull of the membrane and stretch. add more alum and salt to the original mixture (do not dispose of the first mixture), now stretch like this every other day, just a little bit, breaking it in. then let it dry, which takes another few days... but while it is drying, stretch it. don't let it dry before you stretch it fully. you can rewet it, but I like to get it done in one pass.

 

[Graceful Meadows]

I also kept adding salt and alum because I thought that it would speed up the process (the instructions said it should take at most 2 weeks), maybe that affected it a little? Anyway, I am starting to think that I should have had more patience with the whole thing, so maybe if I try it again and wait longer, it will do better. :roll: By the way I like the bunny pancake! ancake:

 

[Ramjet]

I also kept adding salt and alum because I thought that it would speed up the process (the instructions said it should take at most 2 weeks), maybe that affected it a little? Anyway, I am starting to think that I should have had more patience with the whole thing, so maybe if I try it again and wait longer, it will do better. :roll: By the way I like the bunny pancake! ancake:

Nothing will replace patience & elbow grease .... be patient and stretch them more & you should come away with a fine hide.