![]() Just try not to breathe the stuff in too much. No wet dog smell either, just lovely wood smoke! Use hard wood chippings over hot coals to engulf any pelts you have in plumes of thick, formaldehyde rich smoke for around an hour minimum or hang your pelts up, spread eagled on a line in the eaves of a group shelter to absorb all the campfire smoke that passes through. The longer you smoke it, the more protected it will be from future soakings (a well smoked pelt will stay soft if it gets damp then dries out again but a non smoked pelt will dry stiff unless it's worked soft everytime it gets wet). Wood smoke is an excellent preservative, completely free and will preserve your pelt nicely. Once you're sure the pelt is completely dry you should smoke it. ![]() If you try to 'force dry' it by sitting right near the fire or out in the sun, the pelt will dry too quick and you won't be able to work fast enough to produce a soft, flexible pelt. ![]() Set aside an hour in a warm environment for this and don't go too crazy as rabbit pelts are pretty thin and easily torn. it should change from a dull greyish colour to a bright white shade as the fibres dry and if all those fibres have been worked constantly, they should dry soft and flexible rather than cardboard like. Next I pat the skin side dry with an old tea towel and pull, poke, prod and stretch it in your hands until the skin side has dried completely. The pelt is kept on a cool place over night to absorb the liquid (it's important not to over wet the pelt at this stage - the fur should still be dry at this point). ![]() I always use an egg whisked up in a small amount of warm water or pure soap flakes mixed with olive oil rubbed into the skin side to help soften the fibres. If it's still holding firm you might want to try the following.Īssuming you've carefully scraped any flesh and membrane from the flesh side of the pelt, lay it fur side down and rub in a softening agent. Tanning does require adding something to soften the skin (brain or eggs work) and physically breaking down the outer dermis layers.That's a lot of soaking! Is the fur still hanging on or has it started to slip (pull away from the skin)? I've found if you over wet the pelts during the tanning process the epidermis can enter the early stages of decomposition and the fur might start falling out. I'm talking about the skin, not the friken hair on the skin.ĭrying the skin is the same process as making rawhide. They were soft and flexible when I got then. All my cross cut and zonker strips are made from already processed rabbit pelts I purchased and cut into strips myself. AM I WRONG? I have never worried about making the hide flexible so I don't know. My point here is, if the result you want is simply hair to clip from the hide (the skin) to tie with is one thing, but if you want soft flexible rabbit strips or zonkers (for streamer tails) where you need the hide attached to the hair, plus you intend to expose it to water repeatedly, I think there is more to it then just drying out the pelt with borax. They are hard and stiff like card board, but the skins I have purchased (like zonkers) the hide is soft and pliable. Some of the pelts I have "dried" myself, you could break if you folded it in half. I thought to actually tan the hide (the skin) and make it soft and pliable, there were some chemicals involved, soaking the hide in brains or charcoal (like natives did) or other chemicals. Am I correct? What I personally do is dry preserving with borax and salt. I think there is a difference between tanning and just dry preserving an animal skin.
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