Tanning Rabbit Hides

[wildbee 1]

I Tried allum but think I left it in too long might give it another go,

 

Hi Darren what happened to your skins?

[3175darren 1,100]

 

I Tried allum but think I left it in too long might give it another go,

 

Hi Darren what happened to your skins?

 

I did a fox skin, it was winter coated and in good condition,I left it in around ten day's the recipie was to use allum and washing soda,I am not sure if I left it too long,but basically it fell to pieces the fur came out,the best one I did was with red diesel and baking soda a deer skin, I will probably return to that method this yr

[Nick3439 83]

I have this kit; and have covered three rabbit skins in salt; am I right I now scrape the flesh off then stick it in the solution? If I haven't 100% fleshed it is that going to cause massive dramas?

[Outlaw Pete 2,224]

Have you heard of the technique of brain tanning?

 

 

F**k me, it's Buffalo Bill!

 

 

[Terrier Sam 297]

sounds expensive... inc postage £24.34 for a few rabbit skins, especially if you've never done it before?

 

'If you've used the tanning kit you will already know that it's not just alum', actually couldn't get a straight answer from your company when I asked what was in the kits, just 'chemicals you find in domestic water supply' so it could be salt and alum.

 

 

Got good results from the kit but also had no trouble getting the same first time with alum, and the nice white colour on flesh side, like suede.

Hi Wildbee,

 

Sorry for not replying, haven't been on in a while.

 

I may be wrong but I can't see that 'chemicals you find in domestic water supply' was the answer you got to one of our guys here. I can however imagine that this would have been the answer to a question regarding the disposal of a White Tan kit as it is perfectly fine to dispose of down the sink so long as you're not disposing of more than a few kits at a time.

 

Course, a full recipe list of what's in White Tan isn't going to be provided. It just wouldn't be done in the same way that Fairy Liquid won't give you the recipe for any of their products. However, don't be fooled into thinking that it's just alum and salt because, firstly, there isn't any salt in the kit. It has a lot of other products in the kit that have other uses such as softening, breaking down oils in the skin etc. etc. that straight alum simply won't do.

 

I think that you took what I said in the wrong way. I didn't say that Alum was no good nor that you won't get the desired results with Alum however, the white tan kit is everything that you could possibly need for the tanning process and is fool proof so long as the enclosed instructions are followed.

 

Also, each kit will do about 30 rabbit skins or the equivalent area of any other small-medium sized mammal. It also keeps indefinitely meaning that you could tan 3 rabbit skins tomorrow, 1 next year, 10 the following year and so on.

 

Edited to add that 20 quid isn't bad really considering if you get 30 skins out of a kit each skin works out at just over £0.66 each...

 

I hope that this helps and all the best,

 

Sam

[Rob58 1,597]

Its alum doesnt matter how you want to dress it up as. an alum and salt pickle will do the same thing pure and simple. alum and salt pickles are also foolproof and you can do alot more skins with a 2 gallon mix and it will also keep indefinitely.

[Terrier Sam 297]

Like I say, rob, there's more to it than just alum, salt and pickle. No dressing up required.

 

You're happy with your way of doing things and that fine. I'm not trying to convert anyone. The fact of the matter is, as someone who knows, I'm not argueing with someone who doesn't.

 

We could argue until next Christmas about this but like I say, if you're ok with your way and your recipthat's great.

 

There are loads of different ways of tanning and curing skins - you could argue that the majority of them do the same thing too. Horses for causes, each to their own.

 

All the best

 

Sam

[Gill Stubbings 0]

Just out of interest here folks, What suppliers do you guys tend to use?
I only know of snowdonia and JHT and every now and again I struggle to find what I'm after, though Im sure if i contacted them i could get hold of it.

[steelewilly 3]

I have tanned a lot of rabbit skins with alum and salt. Your making more work than necessary.

1 kg alum, 1 kg salt, 15L water.

Skin rabbits and put straight in freezer till you have around 15-20. Don't salt or flesh them.

Mix your solution, put them in for 2-3 days, stir twice a day or more if possible.

Pull them out and rinse them. Beginning from the backside peel membrane from skin. Should be quite easy.

Keep old solution and add half as much salt and alum.

Put skins back in for 10-14 days, stirring whenever you can.

Pull skins out, rinse them, hang them over the bath to drip dry using bent coat hangers to hold skins in shape, after around 36-48 hours they will be drying out, stretch them bit by bit and you will see them turning white as you do this, once this is done rub castor oil in to each skin as you go. If you want it to be even softer lightly rub with 2000 wet and dry or lightly buff on bench grinder buffer wheel. Enjoy.

 

Other methods of tanning can give you a stronger skin. There is an old R.M. Williams leather bound book from around the 40's that has everything to know about tanning. Hard enough to find in Aus, don't know how you will go in the UK. Although ive heard its on the net somewhere and our national library has one copy.

 

Bill

Edited December 21, 2014 by steelewilly

[David K 172]

I used the Alum/salt and water recipe to do a Sika hide given to me by my friend who shoots deer around here. It came out quite well I think, I cleaned as much flesh and membrane before it went into the mix for a couple of weeks and then scraped it again and worked it over a couple of months. The final stretching and drying was the hardest I think, to get it to stretch enough without tearing and keeping it supple enough to work. There are no bald patches and the fur is really tight on the skin, I treated it with a little neatsfoot oil when I was happy it needed no more stretching. I've a few rabbit skins in the Alum mix at the moment and will do them when I get a chance.

 

 

 

 

 

[terryd 8,383]

They look very good some thing I all ways wanted to do I know my daughter all ways wants a nice one like she see's at the game fairs

Edited December 21, 2014 by terryd

[J Darcy 5,871]

Is there any guide as to how far the skin is to be stretched once it has come out of the solution?

[steelewilly 3]

The skin will only stretch so far, and as you do it, it will turn white. Also forgot to mention a couple of spoonfuls of bicarb soda is good for the solution too.

[Bobba_fett 117]

so wheres the cheapest place to buy Alum?

[Rob58 1,597]

Alum is cheap you can get it on flea bay or JHT taxidermy just google them. You use the bicarbonate to nutralise the alum salt pickle after you have cured the skin if you want to get more stretch in your skins you should tan them with lutanF after nutralising for a couple of days.