Tanning a fox fur at home (graphic)

[firecrest]

I put this up ages ago but exceeded bandwidth so Ill so it in installments! ive not posted a lot for a while - a combination of only getting internet when I can nick it off the neighbors, and being busy with various projects, but I still love the meets, and I do a bit o bushcraft when I can steal the time. Anyway, in december, I was coming home from morrisons when I found a road killed fox lay on the pavement which wasnt there when I set off 20 minutes earlier. Being me, I scooped it up and took it home along with the shopping.

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[firecrest]

I feel more sad seeing a beautiful animal get scooped up by the council and thrown on the tip, than it actually getting put to a use, I wish more people would understand that (I got stick off friends and family for 'being weird', Im sure we've all had that thrown at us in our bushcrafty lives), anyway, Ive never skinned or tanned anything, so this isnt an expert tutorial, rather just guidelines of what even a beginner can achieve at home with no specialist equipment.
first off, I skinned the fox, I started underneath and split down the belly, across the legs in a T shape, I didnt fiddle about with the feet or legs, its a bit too advanced for me. The skin comes off easily, and with no blood, it did not take more than an hour, Im sure it can realistically be done in a few minutes though.
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[firecrest]

After it was skinned, I spent 3 hours scraping it, with it pulled tought over an upturned chair leg. I staple gunned it to a wooden board, stretched as best as I could, and poured ordinary table salt on it. If i had time, Id have got borax which is apparently better. I had a mishap with the tail, its tricky to skin and following some duff advice, I tried to pull it off like a glove, which only ripped the whole tail off the body. After it was de-boned, I followed some more (seemingly pointless) advice, and put the tail in a jar of white spirit to pickle. I left it 3 days leaning against a radiator. then I shook the salt off, and rescraped. Against all sensible advice, I cut a massive corner by scraping it by using a sanding tip on the end of a power drill. Yes, I managed to put more holes in it than was nessisary, but it was properly scraped to the right amount in about 15 minutes! It just depends how much time youre gonna dedicate to this. I then resalted it, and left it for about 3 weeks, though that was largely because I wasnt sure what to do next.

[firecrest]

Tanning:
Heres how I tanned it, as I didnt collect the brain. I bunged it in the washing machine and washed it on cold for 2 hours with a lot of fairy biological washing up liquid, and double the amount of fabric conditioner. It has to be Bio. I then repeated and then washed it on a rinse wash (dont spin) It didnt make too much of a mess of the washing machine. Oh yeah I put the tail in and that got ripped in half again so I had three bits to the tail them
b940565c.jpg Thats it drying on a broomstick over the bath. The skin next to it is a fox fur that was a raw hide someone gave me. they got it off ebay and it was stiff as a board

[firecrest]

While its drying the skin needs to be continually stretched by hand, it is then you see the grey skin become white and begin to actually resemble leather. Keep stretching by hand for three or more days. You can rub a bit of neats foot oil in as well, though really I dont think it needed it at this point, and it felt greasy for weeks afterwards.

[firecrest]

12b162bd.jpg And thats the final fur. 2 months on and its still soft and supple. I stitched the tail back on It wont be winning any awards, but its not bad for t a first attempt.

I just saw I posted this in bushcradt chatter accidentally, I meant to put it in DIY . Can a mod move it?

[bushwacker bob]

Looks good Lindz. What are you going to make with it?

[firecrest]

Ugg boots

Lol I kept intending to line a hat with it, but I might just keep it as is and show it off to unsuspecting guests

[ZEbbEDY]

I feel more sad seeing a beautiful animal get scooped up by the council and thrown on the tip, than it actually getting put to a use

aint that the truth

[MartinK9]

Snip> I kept intending to line a hat with it...

Do it Linds

[sxmolloy]

That clip is simply brilliant !

[spandit]

I'm guessing you're not married...

[treebloke]

I skinned my first fox 35 years ago and although I tried I never quite got the hang of curing the skin but then I never had the guts to put it in the wifes washing machine

[Dave Budd]

Nice work there Lyndz I've never heard of using the washing mashine, that's brilliant! Where did you get the idea?

Do you have any plans for you new furry friend?

[firecrest]

Lol. no Im not married, not suprisngly. Im also a 29 year old woman living in suburbia. I look very wrong carring dead animals home with the shopping!
Dave, the washing machine idea was off a youtube video I saw, though his resulting fox had looked like he just scraped it up off the road and plonked it on his head. I wont be doing that one! Its worked a treat, its still soft and supple, so Ive obviously done something right! Its not great, but Im sure if I got the chance to do it again, Id be able to do better. Ill bring it to the moot

[woodstock]

looks good lindz I resisted the temptation to put little thumbs up smiley

[Bearded Bugs]

Definitely going to try this. A while ago my dad found an intact dead roe deer by the side of the road but sadly discarded the skin after taking all of the meat; next time I'll persuade him to try some tanning with me.

[JoshS]

To remove a foxes tail, cut through the skin around the tail at the base, trying not to cut the meat.
Then get a small green straight stick bout half and inch + in diameter, split one end down to halfway.
Slide the split end over the meat, squeeze stick together with hand hand pull tail skin off, leaving behind the flesh and bone.
You can the soak it in a jar of meths for a week to stop it going smelly. The fur will stay on, but after about 5 years it will fall out if pulled.

[Reddo]

I'm diying to get my hands on a fox pelt to tan. Unfortunatly I seem to having trouble getting hold of one! There is road kill - and I have considered it but there never really seems to much left of the poor things when I see them! Not only that most of the time that we are in the car I have my 4 yr old daughter in the back and the dogs in the boot - I dont think picking one up would work out too well in that situation for anyone!
I've had a lot of success tanning other hides, rabbit, squirrel ect and would love to work with something bigger - Just a shame I cannot get hold of one!

[Bartnmax]

Having worked semi-pro as a rabbiter many years ago I have had the oportunity to tan quite a number of fox skins over the years, many of which I still have at home, even after 20-30 years.
Here's how I usually do it.

First of all the skinning. This can be as simple of detailed as you like.
If you really want a quality pelt then take the utmost care right from the outset. Care be-gets quality.
The basic cuts are up the underside from chin to genitals & carefully around each side of the genitals.
Then across each leg so that it all resembles a 'H' pattern.
Now, the mask. if you want to retain the mask with your tanned skin then you're in for some slightly fiddly work.
Ideally the eye lids & lips should be split & salted once the mask has been removed, but you can often get away with not doing so if you're living in a reltively cool climate. If you live in a warmer climate then it pays to split/salt em as they can decay after a while.
To get the body slkin off work it slowly with your fist starting from the belkly & boing over the back & then up each leg.
When you get the leg skun down as close to the feet as is absolutely possible you can then cut through the fur just above the feet.
Once you've got the main body skin off go to the head/mask. Leave the tail for last.

Now, assuming you've got the body skin off but the tail skin is still on the tail, there's two ways to handle skinning the tail.
First is to use two green sticks clamped together (by hand) with the tail between. You basically just push the tail skin off with the sticks.
The other way to do it is to wrap the body skin around the tail base several times until it's reletively tight & then holdinhg the tail fairly close you use the body skin to push the tail skin off. Once you get the hang of it it's really fairly easy.

Now, once the skin is off all fat & meat needs to be removed as soon as possible.
The easiest way to do that is to hang the pelt over a rounded pole setup for that purpose but if you dont do that many skins then you can simply peg the skin out temporarilly & then carefuly scrape it off.
Once the skin is clean it needs to be carefully washed. DO NOT wash it in warm or hot water & dont use detergents.
Do so & the fur will slip - guaranteed.
Just give it a good, thorough wash in cold water & then hang in in the shade to dain a bit.
Then you can peg it out properly.
Take care to get it pegged as evenly as possible & if there are any tears/holes now ids the time to stitch em.

Tanning the skin.
There are more recipes for tanning skins around today then there are different types of skins I reckon.
One that I have found extremely easy & works well for both fox & rabbit pelts is merely just a mixutre ofd Bi-carb soda & kerosene.
Mix it into a paste & work the paste well into the skin (which by the way should be pegged fur side down).
Allow the skin to dry in a shady (but not damp) area for around 4-6 weeks. During that time it's worth re-applying the paste every 3-4 days.
Once the skin has dried adequately it then needs to be 'broken' by working it over a rounded object.
Again the best tool for this is the rounded post but working it over the back of an old chair will work ok..
Once it has been 'broken' is can then be LIGHTLY sanded after which neatsfoot oil can be lightly applied.
A light dusting with borax every few months into the fur side will keep insects at bay.

Very easilly done & produces a very nice pelt.

If you're not overly worried about the face mask the pelts can be square cut & stiched together to make a nice throw rug, coat, etc.

Note that when using this method (past rub) it is very important when pegging/treating the pelt to ensure that the tail is split down the middle & also pegged & cleaned right out. if using an immersion tanning mix the tail can just be turned carefully inside out for cleaning/tanning, after which is can be turned back to it's fur side out & retained in 'unsplit' form (makes for nice fox pelt hats).

Bill.
PS. As an aside, one method that's often employed by pro shooters (when head shooting foxes with a rifle - it doesn't work with shotgun shot foxes) is to cut a small nick in the base of one leg skin. A compressed air blower is then inserted into the nick & the air is then pumped inbetween the skin & carcass.
This blows the skin up like a balloon & seperates the skin from carcass quite nicely.
It's then only a matter of making the 'H' cut to get the carcass out as well as completing the mask/tail skinning.