Rabbit Fur?

I was wondering about rabbit/hare fur and how hard is it to prep?

I am kinda keen on attempting to make one of those fluffy ball thing key chain things most girls have hanging off their bags (I like to stay somewhat girly) and thought it would be cool if i could use the fur off a hare/rabbit i have shot. But i am thinking this would be bloody hard to do.

My partner said just pull of its tail and stuff that and bam fluffy key chain, But that's not quiet what i was looking for :)

Is this impossible having never prepared skin/fur before, should i just flick it off to someone who knows what they are doing or give it a go?

cheers

@Dundee help our new member with a bit of tanning advice.

Just dry a tail, get two you'll have a pair of earrings in no time!!

You could skin it,fold it skin to skin then roll up and bung it in the freezer(at the bottom where its coldest) and when frozen drop it at your taxidermists to be tanned and turned into leather.
A rabbit skin would be fairly cheap I imagine.

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Originally Posted by Maca49

Just dry a tail, get two you'll have a pair of earrings in no time!!

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I was thinking more along the lines of rabbit feet for earrings, ya know keep it h=Hollywood style with the long heavy earrings. I will be the belle of the ball.

Yea, I have made a keyring with a back foot. Cut off on the lower ankle. Put on shelf for about a week, then drilled a small hole thru the ankle end, threaded a ring thru. gave it to my niece as a good luck charm.

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Originally Posted by mehtat

I was thinking more along the lines of rabbit feet for earrings, ya know keep it h=Hollywood style with the long heavy earrings. I will be the belle of the ball.

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Fitting right in mehtat. Good on ya.

@mehtat

Skin your rabbit

Staple the skin to some board, ply cardboard what ever you have


Make sure it's skin side out and do not stretch it beyond where it sits naturally.

Then place it out of the sun in a dry place like your shed and leave it for about two or three weeks to air dry.

Then you can cut it and stitch it to the shape you want.

Cheers
Pete

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Originally Posted by P38

@mehtat

Skin your rabbit

Staple the skin to some board, ply cardboard what ever you have


Make sure it's skin side out and do not stretch it beyond where it sits naturally.

Then place it out of the sun in a dry place like your shed and leave it for about two or three weeks to air dry.

Then you can cut it and stitch it to the shape you want.

Cheers
Pete

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Cheers mate. I don't need to put salt or anything on it to help dry it out?

A mate of mine was making goat skin mats with baking soda and kerosene maybe. Defiantly baking soda though.

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where i work i have access to 10% formalin and other chemicals used on animal tissue i wonder if that will do the trick haha kidding, but i think i will try that baking soda and hanging it up thanks :)

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Originally Posted by mehtat

Cheers mate. I don't need to put salt or anything on it to help dry it out?

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Nope don't need to put nothing on it

The skin will be air dried , not tanned

Cheers
Pete

If the humidity down there is anything like we have had up here the last two months you have zero show of air drying a skin, it will putrefy or get blown.
Search on here , there is a few threads on preserving/tanning skins.....at an absolute minimum you will have to salt the hell out of it with the weather we have been having.
Baking soda and kero works to dry and preserve but doesnt actually turn it into "leather" as such...if you get it wet again it will go rotten.

We always used salt on rabbit skins to help dry them, but I am talking UK climate.

Look up alum and borax tanning.
I got both products from mitre 10 for under $25.
I've used this method on a couple of goat skins and they turned out nice and soft.

cheers guys...now need to just get out and get some skins to practice.

https://www.guncity.com/?q=tanning

I used gum tree bark to tan a goat skin, took a good long while for it to tan through and I had to keep going back to the park and nicking more bark to mix up more solution. I have done a rabbit skin with the leftovers too. Look up skill cult on youtube for bark tanning info and long jibberjabbery videos. If you are really interested I can probably get off my bum and post some pictures.

kero and baking soda tans a skin,but as others said if it gets damp it will go off.I had to clean my walls at Mum and Dads house after I was away in the NZ Army one winter and the skins went bad. Drying it is easy like @P38 said but rabbit and hare skins are paper thin when dryed and will tear easy.The last small skin I got tanned professionally only cost $5 but that was a few years back. And welcome to the forum @mehtat

Finally got round to getting out again for a quick shoot and now will have a go with this. let's see how it turns out.Attachment 67200

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Originally Posted by mehtat

Finally got round to getting out again for a quick shoot and now will have a go with this. let's see how it turns out.Attachment 67200

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Might find it easier to tube skin it next time.

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Originally Posted by SlowElliot

Look up alum and borax tanning.
I got both products from mitre 10 for under $25.
I've used this method on a couple of goat skins and they turned out nice and soft.

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Yep

Ive used this method on goats too.

Works great

Leder kits work great too
http://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co.n...p-water-14303/

Cheers
Pete

Anyone tryed brain tanning with any success?
It's always intrested me but yet to try it myself.

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@mehtat have a look at fly tying supplies like complete angler you may get a skin cheaper than tanning it yourslef

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Originally Posted by SlowElliot

Anyone tryed brain tanning with any success?
It's always intrested me but yet to try it myself.

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I was thinking of trying that for the next one I do and see how it turns out

LEDER TANNING UTILITY KIT | Trade Me

I use one of these kits, done heaps of skins and lasted about 15 years to date. The chemicals don't go off.

Well here is the outcome of my fist rabbit I skinned and prepped. I decided to play around and make a keyring using some of my used shotgun shells as well
It's pretty rough but was fun to play experiment with.Attachment 67781

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Originally Posted by mehtat

Well here is the outcome of my fist rabbit I skinned and prepped. I decided to play around and make a keyring using some of my used shotgun shells as well
It's pretty rough but was fun to play experiment with.Attachment 67781

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Pretty cool, good job.

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Awesome job, make up a dozen and chuck them on trade me

Good on you. Well done.

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Originally Posted by mehtat

I was wondering about rabbit/hare fur and how hard is it to prep?

I am kinda keen on attempting to make one of those fluffy ball thing key chain things most girls have hanging off their bags (I like to stay somewhat girly) and thought it would be cool if i could use the fur off a hare/rabbit i have shot. But i am thinking this would be bloody hard to do.

My partner said just pull of its tail and stuff that and bam fluffy key chain, But that's not quiet what i was looking for :)

Is this impossible having never prepared skin/fur before, should i just flick it off to someone who knows what they are doing or give it a go?

cheers

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Classic decor in Napier has beautiful tanned rabbit skins for ten dollars each.

Sure you don't mean Classic Sheepskins Gary? :)

Agree it's not worth shagging about if you can get one for $10. They do a good job on deer skins.

Looks like you figured it out alright. If it hasn't been tanned it'll be sensitive to moisture - getting damp can let bacteria grow and the fur slip, or if it dries before that happens but is untanned it'll harden since it's more or less rawhide.

Chemical tans are easy to use and give a decent finish, but my personal preference is bark/veggie tans. It's slower, but gives a nice rich deep brown colour to the leather. Has to be worked until dry or it'll be rock hard. Keep the mix a little acidic and the solution strong and you won't get fur slip, then rinse and neutralize it at the end so you don't get acid burn in the leather a couple years down the road. In a hide that's as thin and low in oil as a rabbit's it's impossible to case harden the hide so just hit it with the strongest tan solution you can make. If you slip the fur rabbit skin makes really nice soft book or glove leather too.