Bunny Skin

[tommy the cat]

Mate gave me a rabbit skin which he wants me to have a go at drying cleaning etc.Its sat in a zip lock bag at the mo as I am not sure what to do with it?
My mate and I used to when we were kids try to dry out and make stuff out of rabbit skins but never got anything but rock 'ard pencil cases!!!!(used to scare the girls though!!!)
Have found tanning on the site but nowt about pinning them or scraping?
As always many thanks in advance Dave

 

[boisdevie]

I've tanned rabbit skins successfully. Mix about 7 pints warm water, 1kg salt and a cupful of battery acid. Leave skin in liquid for about a month, remove and gently scrape and pick off all the fat. Rinse and leave to dry. Before it gets fully dry try working it over a worktop edge so it stays nice and flexible. I've not tried it but heard that applying neats foot oil to the skin also helps.
I made a rabbit fur hat with mine. Good luck.

 

[tommy the cat]

Ta for that I have read your post about battery acid but didn't really fancy using something so nasty? I take it there is an alternative?
Thanks D

 

[LocalYokel]

Alum powder from any chemist. Mix a small quantity two tablespoons to a litre of water... actually sod that... just put a small pack into a bucket of tepit water(you can't really over-do-it... just in the interests of economy )and plonk in the skin (minus as much flesh & silverskin as you can manage) and leave it there for up to a week. Then pin it out and dry it as usual and give it a good scrub on something to supple it up.

 

[snerper]

Ta for that I have read your post about battery acid but didn't really fancy using something so nasty? I take it there is an alternative?
Thanks D

YES, BUY A CAP!

 

[pierre girard]

Ta for that I have read your post about battery acid but didn't really fancy using something so nasty? I take it there is an alternative?
Thanks D

We used to use alum or a chrome tan kit. More recently, I've used gasoline. Makes scraping easier, though you do want to give them a good rinse. For making rabbit blankets, I just scrape them, cut them to lace, dry them, and use them green. Makes an extremely warm blanket.