Wednesday, January 20, 2010

What is the easiest way to tan a rabbit hide?

This winter i'm going rabbit hunting with some family for my first time and i was wondering what is one of the easiest ways to tan a rabbit hide? please no hypocrites.What is the easiest way to tan a rabbit hide?
I usually do what's called the ';dry scrape'; method.





First you either stretch it out on a frame, or tack it to a board with the flesh side up.





Then you scrape all the meat and membrane that you can off of it. Be careful not to cut the hide.





Then you pour salt on it. Go heavy on the salt. That'll dry it out. You can use borax too if you have a lot of bugs in your area. Leave it with the salt on it for a few days so it can dry out. You can leave it like this forever as long as it doesn't get wet. If it gets wet, it'll rot.





Then, once it's dry, you scrape the salt off, and buff the hide with sand paper to raise the grain and break up any membrane that got left on it.





Now you have a choice. If you saved the head, you can use the animal's brain and mix it with warm water to make a tanning solution, or you can use eggs as the yolks have the same tanning oils as the brain does. For a cottontail rabbit, three eggs should work. No need to mix the eggs with water.





Once you have the tanning solution that you're going to use, rinse the hide in warm water until it becomes soft again (it'll dry hard). And wring all the water you can out of the hide. Apply your tanning solution, either brains or eggs and rub it in with your hands.





Once the hide is soaked in that, wring it out and work it back and fourth across a wooden beam or just back in fourth in your hands until it's dry and not cool to the touch anymore. It usually takes a few hours. If it dries hard, you need to put more solution on it and break it in again. It'll turn a white color when it's close to being dry.





Then you should have a soft, white, dry hide. You can leave it like that and it will be fine as long as it doesn't get wet. If you want to make it water resistant, you can set it over the smoke from a fire until it turns brown (again, this takes a few hours). After you smoke it, I would wash it in water and a natural soap to get the smokey smell out of it, as the smell is very ';strong'; for most people.What is the easiest way to tan a rabbit hide?
so the fur will still be on the otherside right cuz im really confused on this whole thing...

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Get some stretchers for when you turn the hide inside out.





That will keep it from shriveling up on you.





We used those all the time.
Take it to the beach.

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