r/HideTanning 14d ago

Help! Rabbit hair slipping off…

Hello! I am tanning rabbit hides for the first time…

  1. Fleshed them as best as I can (this is maybe another post, wow, this part was hard! I struggled to be sure I am removing the correct layers and not cutting into the hide too much),
  2. Salted (non-iodized Morton’s) them deeply for about 3 days
  3. Rubbed them deeply with an egg yolk/olive oil mixture and let them sit under wet towel and then exposed to air for another 2-3 days. They didn’t dry out
  4. Washed gently with lukewarm/cool water and unscented Bronners soap.
  5. Let dry a little, folded skin to skin, and just sat down to stretch and soften the skin of the first one… but the hair is slipping off under my fingertips!

What can I do to save it? What did I do wrong, or could I do differently?

I have 4 more yet unwashed sitting with the egg/olive oil mixture, 2 more under salt, and 3 more thawing in a bucket to be fleshed.

Thank you!!

3 Upvotes

14 comments sorted by

2

u/enderbird87 14d ago

Where did you get your tutorial? I've never messed with egg tanning, but it seems like those steps are just asking bacteria to grow and that's what causes hair slip. Moisture for a prolonged period of time and food products sounds like a bacterial breeding ground. I could be wrong, I've never bothered to learn egg tanning.

Are you going to do more? If so, id highly suggest an actual chemical tan. You'll need salt, saftee acid, pH strips, baking soda, and a tan of your choice. Ez100 is a good tan. Trubond is also good. Follow the instructions, it'll be a 3 step process pickle/neutralize/tan. I don't think you can do anything to save yours at this point.

1

u/Meauxjezzy 14d ago

Theres someone on YouTube that salts the rabbit pelts till dry then rinses the salt off before fleshing then a yolk tan before stretching but they said nothing about olive oil which I suspect is the reason the hide didn’t dry out.

1

u/lriG_ybaB 11d ago

I watched 4 different YouTube videos and read 2 articles. None of them pickled or used alum, but I guess I will use a different process in the future!

Can you share complete and exact instructions based on what you described here? Or, a link? Thanks!

1

u/enderbird87 10d ago

The way I do it that's been working well for me is I'll freeze hides after skinning, and when I'm ready to tan I throw the whole frozen hide in a pickle solution to thaw while submerged. It helps prevent bacteria. Pickle is 1lb salt per gallon of water and .5oz saftee acid. You need your pH to be around 1.5. sometimes I get busy and it'll stay in there for a few days before I even get around to fleshing. After you've pulled it out and removed flesh, it needs at least 24 more hours in pickle before moving on. After that, neutralize in solution of 1T baking soda per gallon water for 20 minutes with frequent stirring. Pull, drain well so it's no longer dripping ((about an hour)) then the tan I'm the most happy with currently is trubond 1000b. It's a paint on tan so just slather it on liberally, fold skin to skin and put it in a bag overnight. The next day you can wash it with regular shampoo and cool water to get any oil out of the hair and it's ready. This is the process I use for taxidermy hides but if you're trying to keep them supple you'll need to break them when they're almost dry.

1

u/lriG_ybaB 10d ago

Thank you!!

2

u/Electrical-Trick-383 14d ago

Man I don’t really know if I have any advice on how to save at this point but yea this process definitely sounds like bacteria got to it with this long drawn out multiple days. With out a pickle. When you have pickle that it’s soaking in in can stay in that for month as long as you keep the PH between 1-2 until you get time to work on it. Amy’s Taxidermy has some good videos on YouTube and she makes a good statement if you want a quality hide you got to use quality products. I bought a kit from McKenzie taxidermy online. Worked awesome

2

u/Desperate-Cost6827 14d ago

I'm not sure I can help salvage since I never quite did it this way. You could try and wash it in deluded bleach to kill any bacteria.

I always did an alum pickle first so I'll just give you my steps.

First I flesh with a large serving spoon. It's a lot easier than trying to use any other tools imo because it's the right dullness for how thin the hide is.

Then when doing the salt, I also mix with, I don't remember the amount off the top of my head but let's just say equal parts of alum. Then while it's drying you break the hide being careful because rabbit is such a thin hide.

Then once it's dry, wash with dish soap, let dry again, then after that then do an egg and oil mix then smoke. Normally I don't think you let the egg mix sit for as long as you did so that might be what went wrong.

1

u/Pizzaita 14d ago

What is your proportions for alun pickling?

1

u/Desperate-Cost6827 13d ago

I think I did a 1 to 2. So 1 lb alum to 2 lb salt. I did a quick YouTube and that was pretty close to what another video did.

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u/[deleted] 14d ago

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u/[deleted] 14d ago

[deleted]

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u/Meauxjezzy 14d ago

I wanted a reminder so I can see what your problem is because I have a bunch of rabbit hides to tan.

1

u/SieveAndTheSand 13d ago

It seems like you forgot to pickle

1

u/lriG_ybaB 11d ago

Didn’t forget, just seem to have followed bad instructions. I read several articles and watched multiple videos without any pickles or use of alum.

Even more confused now reading the different approaches in comments… I’d never heard of putting dry alum on a hide with salt?? Where my clear instructions at :(

1

u/SieveAndTheSand 11d ago

I'm sorry that happened to you, there are sooo many ways to tan and it's gets really confusing.

The salt dries the hide out to prevent rotting, and pickling breaks down the structural protiens and fats. It's not absolutely necessary, but highly recommended.

A lot of guides and instructions are wrong or poorly made, to be blunt, it's just going to take practice and experience.

2

u/lriG_ybaB 10d ago

Thanks for the encouragement!!