How to tan rabbit skin at home. Dressing rabbit skins. How to do this at home How to process rabbit skins at home

Dressing rabbit skins is one of the most pressing issues that every rabbit breeder faces at some time; Moreover, the skins of animals of different breeds differ significantly in value. The most expensive fur is considered to be from a silver-brown rabbit, a chinchilla, a white giant and a short-haired rex rabbit, but if an individual of any other breed has beautiful thick fur, you should not leave its wonderful coat without attention.

The slaughter of rabbits to obtain skins should be carried out at a certain time: the best quality of dressing can be achieved with the skins of 6-8 month old young animals, as well as mature individuals that have reached a weight of 3-5 kilograms. In this case, the best time for slaughter is considered to be the period from November to March, when the animal has the thickest fur and the molting period has not begun.

Before starting dressing, you should sort the prepared skins, from which excess elements have been cut, by area and thickness of the core, and weigh each group to accurately prepare solutions for dressing.

The first stage is soaking in water and solutions

The skins, sorted into groups, previously cleaned of heavy dirt and foreign parts, are placed in clean water at a temperature of 40 degrees. The amount of liquid is selected in a ratio of 9:1 based on the total weight of the skins; to maximize the cleansing of the skins, it is advisable to add a small amount of washing powder to the water at the rate of 1 teaspoon per liter.

The duration of this stage depends on the initial condition of the skin:

• for just removed paired skins, 3–4 hours of soaking is sufficient;
• for long-harvested and dry skins, in addition to similar soaking, subsequent soaking in a 1.5 - 2% solution of table salt is required, the duration of which is 10-12 hours, while the raw materials must be mixed every 30 minutes.

Soaking skins is necessary to clean them from natural and external contaminants and prepare them for further processing: skins kept in water acquire greater strength and bending elasticity. Before finishing soaking, you should check the ease of removing the subcutaneous fat layer; if the latter is difficult to separate, you should leave the skins in the water for a few more hours.

During the soaking process, measures can also be taken to destroy pathogenic bacteria present on the animal’s skin. To do this, antiseptics should be added to the solution, for which you can use publicly available formalin or sulfidine at a concentration of 1 ml or 1-2 tablets for every liter of water.

In addition, to enhance the effect, it is useful to add a little decoction of oak, willow or birch leaves to the water; If within 12 hours the skins have not soaked to the required level of elasticity, it is advisable to replace the solution with a fresh one and repeat the soaking process.

The second stage is fleshing and breaking down the rabbit skins

After thoroughly soaking the skins, they must be cleaned of the subcutaneous fat and muscle layer, and the subcutaneous tissue must be removed. In addition, during the fleshing process, the skin is also broken down, which is its stretching in the required directions to increase the effectiveness of the pickling solution. Before you begin fleshing the skin, you should make sure that there are no foreign elements accidentally caught in the wool: a missed thorn or straw will certainly break through the skin and its value will be lost.

The prepared skin is stretched on a blank or a special block set at an angle of 45 degrees. First, the skin is secured with the head towards you and the subcutaneous fat layer is removed in the direction from the middle of the skin, first to the left, then to the right front paw. After which the skin is turned over with the rump forward and part of the flesh is removed from the second half of the skin in the same way: from the middle - to the left and right hind paws. With this direction of movement, the skin is evenly stretched to improve adhesion during pickling.

There are two most common ways of manually fleshing rabbit skins: beating and cutting off the subcutaneous fat layer. The main tools for this are special staples or a sharpened scythe, but at home they can be replaced with a reliable knife or the back of a hacksaw blade.

When flaying “for fluffing”, the skin is scraped out with a blunt staple or knife until the subcutaneous fat layer is completely cleared; in places where its films are weakly connected to the dermis, they can be torn off by hand, being careful not to damage the skin itself.

Fleshing “for a cut” requires more experience and accuracy. In this case, the excess part of the flesh is cut off with a circular knife and separated from the dermis with the thumb. This operation should be carried out extremely carefully so as not to trim the hair follicles and not to leave nicks and cuts on the skin itself.

Fleshing rabbit skin with a knife. Initial stage.
Continuation of the fleshing process, it is more convenient to start with the lower extremities.
Gradually bring the fleshing process to completion

To prevent the skin from slipping during the fleshing process, it, as well as your hands and tools, should be constantly wiped with a dry rag. At the end of the process, the skins are washed in cool water and degreased; To do this, you can use soft powders for woolen fabrics or dishwashing detergents like Fairy. Wash the skin until the hair squeaks, then rinse thoroughly and let the water drain. You can squeeze out the skins only by passing them through a clenched fist; in all other cases, the fur deteriorates and breaks; It is advisable to wipe the clean flesh again with a dry cloth.

Pickling

The process of tanning rabbit skins is called pickling; it consists of treating the skin with a special salt-acid solution to cleanse the main layer of the flesh from adhesive substances, free it from collagen fibers, and also increase the strength and softness of the skin.

The technology for preparing rabbit skins involves two different processing methods to achieve this result.

The first, now outdated method, involves fermenting the skin for several days in a special jelly made from coarse oatmeal. For two hundred grams of such a substance, take 1 liter of hot water and add one and a half teaspoons of yeast.

The chemical pickling method is much easier to implement and its results are much better than the first. To make it, concentrated organic acid (acetic, formic or lactic) is used, which is taken at the rate of 60 grams per 1 liter of water; 30 grams of table salt is also added to the solution.

The solution should be prepared at a rate of at least 3 liters per 1 kg of raw materials: the skins should float freely in the solution. Treatment in this way lasts from 6 to 24 hours, depending on the thickness of the skins. You can check the skin for readiness by checking the “quadruple fold”: the skin is folded in four at its thickest point and pressed on the fold line. If a thin, quickly disappearing white stripe appears - a drying line - the skins can be taken out of the solution and laid out for curing, which is carried out at room temperature for 1-2 days.

Tanning rabbit skins

At the end of curing, the process of tanning the hide is carried out, which is necessary to consolidate the result of pickling and increase the resistance of the hide to chemicals, moisture, heat and enzymes. There are several ways to tan skins, the simplest and most common of which is to treat the flesh with a decoction of pine, oak or willow bark until the skin stops absorbing liquid. In addition to the above, you can also use an infusion of horse sorrel roots; Treatment is carried out 2-3 times a day and takes several days.

Another method of tanning is treatment with a solution of chrome alum or an industrial chrome tanning agent, with which the hides are lubricated several times a day for 2-3 days.

Finishing the skin

Dried skins after tanning are soaked in a greasy solution to prevent them from drying out and cracking. To do this, you can use melted fish oil, lard, castor oil, glycerin or fatty cream. The fat is applied in several layers, before each of which the skin is kneaded in the hands or rubbed with the flesh on a rope or the edge of a table. After which the skins are rolled up and left to cure for 12 hours, after which they are subjected to final drying in a stretched form.

Skins processed in this way can be stored indefinitely until they are subsequently dressed and assembled into a product.

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Detailed instructions for dressing rabbit skins.

So how do you process rabbit skins for fur? I won’t write much, everything is shown very clearly in the video, and we have already talked about all the advantages and delights of dressing skins in a previous article. However, I still recommend looking at the basic scheme of activities first. This way it will be easier to imagine the overall picture, and some additions to what you saw may be useful to you. This technique is not a dogma. There are different options for individual stages. For example, the most labor-intensive process of fleshing can be done as shown in the video, or it can be done with the help of devices such as a dull knife, a metal brush, or a scythe installed permanently and also blunted. Pickling can be replaced by fermenting skins and so on. But let’s not rush around, but stick to a specific training video. I just introduced an additional first point. The fact is that the skins can be stored in the freezer before dressing, as the author of the video does, or you can dry them and pre-soak them before work. So, we will assume that you have in your arsenal a small batch of 8 non-faded skins, removed with a tube or stocking, previously cleaned of large fat and muscle layers and dried on straighteners in the shade. If there are more (less) skins, then you just need to increase (decrease) the volume of water in the container and the amount of chemicals (reagents) in accordance with the proportion. The time of each operation remains unchanged.

ALL STAGES dressings are very important. I strongly advise against skipping or cutting anything. Measure reagents strictly in accordance with the instructions. This is the only way you will get high-quality and durable skins suitable for sewing.

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This is not shown in the video, so I will go into more detail. No one works with dried skins. They need to be soaked and brought to a condition similar to freshly removed ones. Use enameled or plastic dishes and water with a temperature no higher than 25° C, otherwise the lint will be damaged. The wetting process is long, from 12 hours to several days, depending on the condition and duration of storage. Over such a long period of time, putrefactive bacteria can become active. To prevent this, table (kitchen) salt is added to the water at the rate of 50 g per 1 liter of water, as well as antiseptics. The most popular of them are norsulfazole (2 tablets per 1 liter of water), formalin (0.5 - 1 g/1 liter), sodium bisulfite and zinc chloride (2 g/1 liter). The water requirement is approximately 1.5 - 2 liters per 1 medium-sized skin. This means that for our 8 skins we need to use 12 liters of water. It is important that they float freely to allow periodic stirring and kneading. The amount of water must be remembered or written down. Why this is needed, you will understand from further materials. If the skin has become soft, the same as fresh, the soaking process must be completed, turned inside out and squeezed lightly.

This is the removal of inevitably remaining layers of fat, meat and films from the flesh. It is performed with fingers or a blunt blade, moving from the rump (back) to the head. The operation is the most labor-intensive and will require you to be in good physical shape, especially at the stage of mastering the profession. A large amount of raw materials will require a lot of effort and time. It is important not only to get rid of fatty deposits, but also not to damage or stretch the skin itself, because the load on it at the point of contact with the working part is very high. But if you seriously start working with skins, you will most likely decide to get a manual skinning machine. They are now produced in various versions, both in terms of drive (electric, pneumatic) and in terms of working tools.

By fleshing it is impossible to remove all traces of fat from our skin. It will interfere with further chemical processing, pickling and tanning. And for final degreasing, soap or, better yet, washing powder is used. Experts recommend Novosti. But you can also use others, similar in composition, containing soda ash, for example “Lotus”. Again we use table salt. The process is the shortest in time, takes 1 hour. But during it you will have to crush the skins a little, and at the end, rinse them in clean warm water to remove any remaining powder, blood, dirt and squeeze them lightly. To make the rinsing process more effective, the skins need to be turned inside out, that is, rinsed on both sides. It's a little more difficult with soap. To dissolve it, the water is first heated, and after dissolving and whipping the foam, it is cooled below 25°C. For a batch of 1 kg of skinned skins, take 7 liters of water (for us it will be 8 skins, again the same 12 liters of water), and in each liter we dissolve 10 grams of washing powder and 15 grams of kitchen salt.

The previous operation removed almost all of the remaining fat from the outside of the meatus. But of course it remained in the very thickness of the skin. Remove it using pickel, an acidic solution. Various acids can be used. For example, sulfur, but there can be difficulties with it due to restrictions on sale, and it is also very dangerous to use. Therefore, we will focus on acetic essence (70% acid). You need 60 ml per liter of water. Again, add and dissolve salt at the rate of 30 grams per liter. The amount of water is the same - 12 liters. The skins should be fur-sided inward before lowering. To avoid defects, you need to carefully expel all the air from the internal parts of the skins and prevent it from accumulating in places of contact between adjacent skins. The whole mass must be stirred every hour, and covered with a lid during breaks to avoid a strong odor. Pickling time is not constant, ranging from 5 to 12 hours and depends on the skins themselves. That is, you need to periodically check them using dryer testing. At the end, as usual, we take out our semi-finished product and squeeze it lightly.

HOW TO GET A DRYER Fold the skin in half, then in half again, but this time perpendicular to the previous bend. We squeeze the resulting angle tightly with our fingers at the very top. We straighten the skin and see a cross or dryer. If it persists for 3 - 5 seconds, then the pickling is completed. If the cross is not visible or it quickly disappeared, pickling needs to be continued. Overexposure is very dangerous. It's better to underexpose if in doubt.

This is an older, classic method of treating skins with acid instead of pickling. Its current unpopularity is explained by the duration of chemical processes. The acid does not form immediately, but it is more gentle on the skin. As a result, its tensile strength is much higher than with pickling. The amount of water, as you understand, does not change. Again 12 liters. For each liter we take 200 grams of coarse rye flour, stir it in water until it has a homogeneous consistency. Next, pour 7 grams of dry yeast, 0.5 grams of baking soda, 30 grams of salt into the container, also at the rate of 1 liter of starter. The result will be something reminiscent of jelly. To ensure uniform processing, the skins need to be stirred and turned over periodically. They should be turned inside out with the fur inside. When several days have passed on the flesh, you will see a white coating and smell a smell reminiscent of bread. This is a signal to complete the fermentation of the skins. As in the alternative, the rule here is that overexposure is very dangerous. The fur may completely deteriorate. Next, the skins are removed, the solution is allowed to drain, and rinsed in clean water.

Prepare 12 liters of warm water, dilute baking soda in it at the rate of 10 grams per liter. Place the skins in the bowl for half an hour. During this time, as a result of the chemical reaction of acid and alkali, a neutral environment is formed. The acid will leave the skins and they will not have a specific smell. To ripen the material, turn the skins fur side out, squeeze them lightly and place them in a stack under a press for 12-14 hours. If the skins are large, they can be folded in half. The load must weigh between 5 and 7 kg.

It is necessary to give the raw material strength, durability, and wearability, including in conditions of high humidity. Tanned skins are not afraid of getting wet, are tear-resistant and do not crumble.

Dissolve table salt in 12 liters of warm (35-40°C) water at the rate of 40 grams per liter. Chrome alum - 10 grams per liter, that is, only 120 grams, first pour a small amount of boiling water, up to half a liter, and dissolve in it. After this, pour the alum solution into the main container. The skins are tanned with the flesh facing out, so after they are removed from the press they turn inside out. Make sure there are no folds, otherwise there will be untanned areas. The whole process takes from 12 to 24 hours. During this time, do not forget to stir the skins every 2-3 hours. The end of tanning can be determined by a knife cut of any extreme section of one of the skins. On the cut under a magnifying glass you should see a change in color (yellowish tint) throughout the entire thickness. Then we take the skins out of the solution, squeeze them out, and stack them again under the press. The time for such ripening can be from 12 to 24 hours.

If you wish, you can try using folk remedies. Oak and willow bark (their small branches), and horse sorrel can be used as tannins. In this case, the process will take up to 4 days. In addition, oak bark can change the color of the material. If this doesn’t bother you, then prepare the solution like this: fill the bowl with oak or willow bark, without compacting it, fill it to the top with water and boil for half an hour, strain at the end. A decoction of sorrel is prepared in the same way. You need 4 times less of it. Then the two decoctions are mixed. You can even do without sorrel, but then the tanning will take longer. Salt is required, 50 grams per liter of broth. Before tanning, do not forget to cool the broth to 25°C.

This operation gives elasticity to the raw material. The absorbed fat protects it from cracks and kinks, both during cutting, sewing, and during wearing of finished products.

For further operations you need to stretch the skins on the rules. Their design may be different. I use the same ones as for the initial drying of skins after slaughter. After pulling our semi-finished product onto the rules, we wait until all the moisture has drained. Usually 5 hours is enough for this. The skins should not be placed in the sun or placed near a heater. The material should be slightly damp.

DON'T TRY Excessively stretch the skin base, the main thing is that you do not form folds. If you have correctly pulled the skin onto a straightener, then its width in the middle part should be 3 times less than its length, and all four “legs” should be located symmetrically.

To prepare a fat emulsion, take half a kilogram of animal fat. “Native” rabbit, collected during the initial processing of skins and from its internal organs, can also be used as such. But usually there is not enough of it, so pork is often used. Beef and lamb are not entirely practical, as they quickly harden at room temperature. First, melt the fat over low heat, then grate 200 grams of laundry soap into it and dissolve it by stirring. Next, pour in 1 liter of water and continue stirring until a homogeneous mass is obtained. And finally add 20 grams of ammonia. Let the resulting mass cool slightly, to about 60-70°C, and begin the fattening process.

Apply the emulsion to the skin using a regular paint brush in an even layer. Be careful not to touch fur-covered areas, as they will be severely damaged. If you still cannot avoid defects, you can try to remove the contamination with B-70 gasoline or solvent. If there are a lot of skins and the process takes a lot of time, you need to periodically heat the fatliquor. After this, turn the skins fur side out and wait 3-4 hours until the fat is absorbed. And finally we proceed to final drying. To do this, we cut the almost finished raw material along the belly line and hang it in the room for several hours on a rope, securing it with clothespins. During drying, it is recommended to periodically stretch the skins with your hands, getting rid of possible wrinkles.

We perform mechanical kneading with movements reminiscent of removing dirt from clothing. To give the skin a marketable appearance and get rid of excess fluff and unevenness, use fine sandpaper or pumice.

WARM UP WELL until the effect of softness is obtained on the skins of young rabbits up to 4 months old. If you want to process the skin of an old rabbit, especially a male one, you will have to work longer as the material will be rougher and thicker. At enterprises, special warm-up machines are used for these purposes.

We remove excess fat and make it whiter by rubbing with tooth powder or high-quality chalk. And finally, we knock out the skins and comb the pile using a massager. If you did everything correctly, you will have clean, shiny, soft and fluffy skins with elastic fur in your hands. Now you can safely cut them and use them to sew beautiful, warm and practical fur products.

I hope that after reading this article and watching the video, you will have no more questions and, having prepared the necessary reagents, you will confidently take up the preparation of skins.

But for the most ambitious of you, I have prepared material on how you can become a real pro, gain the necessary knowledge to open a new serious business, and perfectly master the honorable profession of sanding. We'll talk about this in the next article.

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The quality of the fur depends on how well the rabbit skins are processed. Rabbit breeders are not always able to find specialists who flawlessly process rabbit skins, so the question arises: how to process rabbit skins yourself?

Primary processing of skinned skins and storage

At home, this operation will require certain chemicals, a sharp knife and salt. Of course, rarely does anyone succeed in tanning the skin perfectly the first time: the fur will come off in clumps or the skin will not tan. Don't despair - by following the recommendations in this article exactly, you will eventually learn how to handle rabbit skins with ease.

It is much more difficult to remove fat and muscles from a dry rabbit skin.

After removing the skin, you must immediately remove the fat and muscle remaining on it. The most convenient way is to scrape off the muscles and fat with a knife, stretching the still warm skin onto a previously prepared wooden block. When scraping, the knife blade should be at right angles to the skin, scraping should be from the tail to the head. You can remove muscle and fat with your hands, collecting the layer in a circle. Keep in mind that it is much more difficult to remove fat and muscle from a dry rabbit skin.

Video about dressing rabbit skins

If you are not going to start dressing right away, preserve the skin. Pull it with the fur inward to dry on a special rule made in the shape of the letter A from a wooden board. The horizontal crossbar must be movable so that the rule can be narrowed or expanded to the required size. It is recommended to secure the lower end of the rabbit skin, otherwise it will bunch up in folds, and the fur in the folds will get stuck and come out. Do not leave rabbit skins uncured even for a day - they will quickly rot. They should also not be stored in the cold.

Place the rule with the stretched skin in a ventilated room, the temperature in which is not higher than +30. In a damp room, the skin will become moldy, and in the sun or near the stove it will become brittle. Try not to store rabbit skins for a long time so that they are not spoiled by moths. If you need to accumulate more skins for sewing a fur product, put them in a clean, tightly closed box in a cool room, additionally putting bags of moth repellent there.

Try not to store rabbit skins for a long time so that they are not spoiled by moths.

Step-by-step instructions on how to tan a rabbit skin

The process of preparing rabbit skins includes several specific steps that must be performed in strict sequence.

Soak

Mix the soaking solution from 1 liter of water, 30 g of borax, 2 g of carbolic acid (in crystalline form), 50 g of salt. You can also use other antiseptics: sodium bisulfite (2 g), furatsilin (1-2 tablets). If the skins have already been well salted during preservation, a smaller amount of salt is added to the solution.

The solution is poured into a sufficiently capacious stainless steel container, glass or enamel container. After placing the skins in the solution, place a heavy object on them so that they do not float and are covered with water by at least two centimeters. During the soaking process, stir the skins from time to time to ensure they are treated more evenly with the solution.

During the soaking process, stir the skins from time to time to ensure they are treated more evenly with the solution.

The soaking process can last from six hours to four days. Skins that have been preserved recently soak faster, while those that have been poorly cleaned of fat or dried too quickly soak worse and longer. The degree of readiness of the skin can be determined by the following signs:

• the hair stays firmly in the skin without stretching,
• the flesh has softened and wrinkles well anywhere.

Flesh

Having carefully removed the remaining water from the soaked skins and wiped them dry, you can begin to remove the inner layers (fleshing) and loosening the fibrous tissue of the skin so that subsequent treatment with chemicals is more effective.

First of all, with a sharp knife, the remaining muscles and fat are removed from the inner surface of the skin, then the flesh is planed to the same thickness over the entire area of ​​the skin. After that, with the blunt part of a knife, the flesh is broken down from the tail to the head, as well as from the tail to the floors. Do the work carefully, conscientiously, but don’t get carried away too much, otherwise you risk exposing the hair roots on the skin.

Having carefully removed any remaining water from the soaked skins and wiped them dry, you can begin removing the inner layers

After fleshing, rabbit skins need to be washed and degreased. Prepare a degreasing solution from one liter of water and 4 g of washing powder. After washing the skins by hand, you will notice how the flesh has turned white and begins to squeak on your fingers, like freshly washed hair. Now place the rabbit skins in clean water, rinse and place in a container with soapy water (about 10 g of soap per liter of warm water). Lather the wool until it is squeaky clean and rinse again. After washing the skin, hang it up, beat it with a stick to shake off the water, and go over it with a dry cloth.

Pickling

To make the skins durable, they should be treated with a solution containing acid: add 30 g of salt and 15 ml of acetic acid per liter of water. Immerse the rabbit skins in the solution, skin side out, and stir them frequently. Pickling can last from several hours to a couple of days, but it is better to underexpose the skins in the solution than to overexpose them.

You can determine the readiness of a rabbit skin by testing it for drying by removing the skin from the solution, bending the flesh and squeezing the fold - when opened, a “drying strip” (a white stripe) should appear. If it does not disappear within five seconds, it means the skin is ripe. You can easily pluck out the hairs in the groin area of ​​the finished rabbit skin, and the inner layer is separated with your fingers.

Layover

It is advisable to place the rabbit skins in a solution of baking soda after lying for 20 minutes.

After pickling, the rabbit skins need to be squeezed out a little, turned inside out with the fur and placed in a pile, and some weight placed on top. The stay lasts from 12 hours to 24 hours. It is advisable, after lying for 20 minutes, to place the rabbit skins in a solution of baking soda, since acid still remains on them.

Tanning

Thanks to tanning, the rabbit skin will shrink less, the skin will become stronger and more resistant to water, and the fur will gain additional elasticity. You should not use oak broth for tanning - it makes the rabbit skins coarser. The best choice is bark from willow trees or willow trees.

Boil the bark for 30 minutes in a saucepan, pour the solution separately, add 40 g of salt per liter of water, and cool. Please note that willow decoction not only colors the rabbit’s skin creamy, but also its fur, so you don’t have to soak the whole skin, but just apply the decoction to the inside with a brush. To impregnate the skins with tanning agent, fold the skins inward and leave them for another day, and then dry them, periodically removing them from the straightener and stretching them in different directions. When the skins are semi-dry and velvety to the touch, the core will need to be sanded to achieve optimal softness.

Video about dressing rabbit skins at home

Zhirovka

After tanning, the skins are fattened to give them greater plasticity, strength and water resistance. Fatliquoring is done with a mixture of egg yolk and glycerin in equal proportions.

The fat mixture or solution is applied to the skin and the skins are left to rest for several hours. After which the rabbit skins are dried again, kneaded, the insides are rubbed with chalk so that it absorbs excess fat, and the fur is combed. At this point, the preparation of rabbit skins is completed - it is recommended to store the finished skins in fabric bags made of cotton or linen, but not in plastic bags!

Rabbits can produce not only meat, but also valuable fur material. Skins are in demand for sewing many haberdashery items, clothing, and decor. It must be remembered that the cost and quality of fur depends on the dressing. It is important to carry out the procedure according to certain rules. The topic of this article: dressing rabbit skins at home.

There are three criteria that help you get off to the right start when working with rabbit skins:

• breed. The most expensive material is provided by white giant rabbits, chinchillas, etc. These hybrids are specially bred to produce thick, high-quality fur. Gray giants and similar breeds are suitable for skins when they can be raised to produce a dense pile. The main trick in this matter is a diet enriched with vitamins;
• slaughter time. The skins of young animals are best suited for dressing at 8-9 months, when the skin is fully formed. Killing is carried out from November to March, taking into account molting. If the process of changing the undercoat is not completed, the pile will come out of the skin and the material will quickly become bald. Adults are slaughtered after reaching the desired weight (3-5 kg, depending on the breed). Old rabbits are not used due to the coarseness and brittleness of the hairs;
• slaughter method. To preserve fur, methods that involve physical damage to the skin and a lot of blood are not used. They also try to avoid the electric option - it can scorch and weaken the pile. Air embolism and the French method are preferred. A blow with a stick or the edge of the palm behind the ears is used if you are confident in your ability to avoid bruises.

You can get high-quality meat and skin only by following the rules of slaughter. The process may be unpleasant in theory, but is not so difficult in practice. No breeder who wants to sell rabbit products can do without it. In this article you will learn how to kill a rabbit.

Experienced farmers advise not to neglect these points, since they directly affect the profitability of the business.

How to remove the skin correctly?

Before dressing, the skin and fur must be removed from the carcass. The procedure often causes difficulties for beginners. With experience, it ceases to be problematic and begins to work out quickly and accurately. It is best done immediately after bleeding is complete, before the rabbit becomes numb.

The fabric must come out whole, so the animal is “undressed” in a stocking manner. The carcass is hung by the hind legs on a strut, head down. The following are step by step:

It is important not to overtighten or tear the skin.

Primary processing of skinned skins and storage

Immediately after skinning, the skin must be scraped to remove pieces of meat and fat. It is much more difficult to clean a dried surface from these residues. You cannot leave a layer, otherwise the material will quickly begin to rot. It is also necessary to remove large debris from the wool.

To clean the inside, it is convenient to use a dull knife and your own hands. It is better to stretch the canvas onto a thick wooden beam (blank). Movements are carried out in a circle. Warm muscles and fat layers will be easily removed. If there are tears, they can be carefully sewn up.

Dressing can be started immediately or dried for processing at a convenient time. Drying is carried out on a rack in a ventilated area. The temperature should not exceed 30°C. Some farmers freeze fresh skins, but this is also considered undesirable. Over-drying and hypothermia will make the skin brittle and may damage the pile. Dampness will lead to mold formation. The duration of the process varies individually. It is determined empirically. The canvas becomes completely dry, quite hard and slightly crispy. On average, the procedure takes 2-3 days.

Primary processed specimens are wiped with a rag or sawdust. Then they can be stored in tight, dry, well-closed boxes and bags. To kill moths, you can put naphthalene or its equivalent wrapped in cloth. Excessive storage is not recommended. It is advisable to start further dressing no later than in a month.

Some farmers additionally sort by size and thickness. This helps in later soaking the material evenly in the solution.

If dressing will be done “hotly,” then you can cover the straightened skin with salt while the materials are being prepared. This is also done when it is necessary to process several fresh canvases in a row.

How to stretch the skin

The rule is chosen to be wedge-shaped. A sliding design is also an excellent option - it will better help maintain its shape, since it can be narrowed and expanded according to the size of a specific skin.

When tensioning, follow several rules:

• fur inside. The hair is smoothed a little, the fabric is put on inside out, skin out;
• moderation of stretching. There should be no folds or creases left. At the same time, you cannot overdo it (sparse hair will appear) and underdo it (the material will gather too much and noticeably lose in size);
• edge securing. The lower end is attached to the rule with a staple or nailed with a pair of nails so that it does not turn under during the drying process;
• rule size. For rabbits, equipment with a height of 80-100 cm is standardly used. The width of the base is 27-30 cm, the width of the top is 0.5-0.75 cm.

Under such conditions, the canvas will be of the correct shape, and the fur will not thin out.

How to tan rabbit skin at home?

Dressing is a set of operations to which raw hides and fur are subjected. The result is a material suitable for sewing products and their subsequent wear.

The procedure is labor-intensive and requires certain skills. Not everyone manages to carry out the treatment without torn areas the first time. Patience and practical experience invariably lead to a positive outcome if the manufacturing occurs according to a certain algorithm.

The technology for processing rabbit skins includes three sequential parts:

• preparatory. This includes soaking, fat removal, fleshing;
• dressing. It involves pickling or pickling, tanning and fatliquoring the skin;
• finishing. Final processing with drying, dyeing, combing the hair.

All stages are extremely important. Skipping or shortening their duration is definitely not recommended. Durable, high-quality fabrics can only be obtained by following all the technology.

Tools and materials

Before starting work, you should prepare chemicals. Their choice depends on the capabilities and personal preferences of the processor. Options will be discussed in the descriptions of the stages themselves. In addition to them you will need:

• sharp and dull knives;
• table salt;
• rule (sliding);
• bark, branches from willow or pine;
• basins, large-volume pans made of glass or enameled;
• protective gloves, apron;
• blank or tabletop.

It is advisable to cover the work surface with film or paper. The room must be ventilated.

Step-by-step instructions for dressing rabbit skins

You should always start dressing dried fabrics by soaking them. This way they will return to their original softness. Northern peoples do this with the help of milk and tugging. Small areas of material are sprayed and wiped with your hand (similar to shaking off debris from trousers). Then they are carefully rubbed literally centimeter by centimeter at a time, while simultaneously removing the films from the skin. This skin becomes very soft, but the process takes a long time and requires a lot of effort.

Modern farmers more often use warm water with chemicals. At the same time, a short soak is done even for fresh skins, so that the skin is easier to clean and the fabric becomes more elastic.

Step 1. Soak

Soaking in water softens the material. The use of chemicals helps to carry out the first antibacterial treatment. Dried skins are kept only in a solution with an antiseptic (for rot) and for at least 12 hours. Fresh enough for 3-5 hours and you can take clean water at 25°C (but an antiseptic is preferable). For 1 kg of canvas, calculate 3 liters of liquid. The solution should rise 2-5 cm above the skins. For this amount, take 150 g of table salt or 6 g of zinc chloride and sodium bisulfite. Additionally, you can add 1.5-2 g of formalin. According to the second option, 150 g of salt is mixed with 90 g of borax and 6 g of carbolic acid in crystals.

The skins are folded flat and pressed down with a small weight for the first half hour so that they do not float (then the weight is removed). When the tissues are completely soft and begin to float freely, the residual fat is separated from the flesh without unnecessary effort, and the operation is completed. The material is lightly wrung out and the solution is drained. During the process, you can stir the liquid and change it several times, especially if the step lasts more than half a day.

At the end, you need to rinse the solution with clean water and let it drain.

Step 2. Flesh

The surface of the soaked skin is wiped from excess moisture with a soft cloth. Stretch the canvas onto a blank or lay it out on the table with the fur inward. The surface of the skin is cleaned of films, fat and muscle residues. Then the topmost layer of flesh is cleaned off with a knife.

Scraping movements with a blunt knife are made from bottom to top. The center is from the tail to the head, the sides are from the back to the stomach. It is convenient to use a steel brush. The main thing is not to press the tool so as not to tear the skin. The stage is completed by lightly tapping the knife handle over the entire surface (breaking).

Modern technologies offer fleshing machines with magnetic and electric drives. This tool greatly speeds up the process.

Step 3. Degreasing

Next, you need to wash it in water with toilet soap, washing powder or regular shampoo. Powder takes the longest to wash out, so the other two options are preferable. For each liter of water, take 25 g of soap (shampoo) or 1.5-2 kg of powder.

The canvases are placed in a warm solution (25°C) for 10 minutes. Then they are thoroughly rinsed with clean water and wiped dry with a cloth. There should be no household chemicals left on the skin - this will not only spoil the appearance of the finished product, but will also complicate subsequent processing.

Step 4. Pickling and pickling

Choose 1 of the proposed methods. Pickling is a classic method for working with rabbit skin, but some people find pickling more convenient. Both procedures are needed to give greater strength to the material.

Pickling	Pickling
Prepare a homogeneous jelly-like mixture. For 1000 ml of hot liquid add 0.2 kg of rye or oatmeal flour, dissolve 3 tbsp. table salt, 7 g of powdered yeast (dry), 500 g of soda. This jelly is cooled to 30°C and the sheets are laid skin side up for 2 days. As soon as the flesh has acquired a white tint and the smell of bread has begun, it is time to remove and rinse the skins with clean water. Then let them drain.	Use acid pickle from 1000 ml of water (35°C), 12 ml of vinegar 70%, 5 tbsp. salt. The skins are placed in it for 2 days until the flesh becomes white. Readiness is checked by folding the fabric 4 times with the inside out. Firmly pinch the groin corner and draw along the fold with the sharp edge of the nail. If a white stripe remains when turning, you can rinse it off the acid. The neutralizer is prepared from water and soda (1.5 kg per liter), the material is dipped into it for 30 minutes. Rinse off with clean water and wipe dry.

All solutions are prepared at the rate of 3000 ml per 1000 g of skins, as for soaking.

Step 5: Tanning

It is necessary for moisture resistance, wear resistance, and less shrinkage when worn. Can be done in two ways.

Chrome	Tannid
7 g of chromium alum per 1 liter of hot water. Keep the skins for 1 day.	Fill the container with oak or willow bark and branches. Do not compact. Boil for 30 minutes over low heat. Add 50 g of water per 1 liter of water. Cool. Keep the canvas for 1 to 4 days.

Remove the material, neutralize with the soda solution from Step 4 (Pickling). Rinse with clean water and squeeze lightly. Flatten and put under a press for 48 hours, skin on skin (flesh to flesh, fur to fur).

The readiness of tanning is checked under a magnifying glass. An even yellowish color throughout all cells, a velvety texture of the skin is a sign of complete tanning. Finally, you can sand it lightly with fine sandpaper.

Step 6. Fattening and drying

Fatting gives the skin shine, plasticity, and water resistance. A cotton swab is moistened with castor oil, glycerin or fish oil. They wipe the insides with it and leave it for a couple of hours. Then the skin is wiped with a clean cloth so that it absorbs any remaining oil and sent for final drying.

Drying is carried out on any convenient surface or leveling surface with the fur facing up. The air should circulate well. Sunlight and heating devices are not allowed. Desirable shade outdoors or indoors with open air flow and low humidity.

Completely dry fabrics are kneaded and slightly pulled in different directions with your hands. It is recommended to rub the inside with chalk (tooth powders without additives are also suitable), and sand the surface again with sandpaper. The powder must be carefully knocked out along with the resulting debris. The pile is combed with a soft bristle brush.

The resulting skins can be stored for a very long time. It is better to do this in cotton or linen bags (cellophane is not suitable).

Alternative finishing options

Craftsmen have invented several more methods for preparing rabbit skins:

Both methods produce a good, beautiful skin, but there is no reliable data on durability after such processing.

Classification of rabbit skins

Finished canvases are divided into 4 grades:

Variety	Characteristics
First	full hair. With down and developed hair, without bald spots; clean dense flesh. 3% blue spots are acceptable in skins from rabbit breeds of gray and blue colors.
Second	not full of hair. Not fully developed awns and downy layer, not densely packed pile; the mesdra is thin. The blueness near the ridge zone is continuous or in places.
Third	low pile Full hair, but short hair and little fluff, possible areas of loss; dull flesh. Thin, with blue throughout the entire area.
Fourth	sparse pile. Characteristic for slaughter during molting. Hair falls out, bald spots, no spine on the spine, the undercoat is very low; defective flesh. Small stitched tears (no more than 50%), blue discoloration, bites. Clumpy skins.

Video - How to process rabbit skin at home

Many farmers think that tanning rabbit skins at home is a very complicated procedure. This is not entirely true: dressing fur will not require much effort from you, but this process will take a long time. It takes from 5 to 7 days to prepare the skins, depending on the method of primary processing.

Read also the article: at home?

How to choose rabbit skin for dressing

The skin of a ten-month-old rabbit is suitable for dressing. Such an animal already has a formed fur coat. This allows you to remove any remaining meat and fat from the dermis without damaging the rabbit fur. The process of primary processing of the skin is called fleshing.

After the skin has been removed from the carcass, it must be turned inside out and inspected. If the flesh is blue, then the rabbit was sent to slaughter during molting.

When fleshing such a skin there is a risk of damaging the fur. Bald spots form on it, which affects the quality and price of the finished material.

Fleshing rabbit skin

There are two methods for primary processing of the skin. In the first case, dressing begins 2 hours after slaughter. With this method, the skin and fur are dry, which makes fleshing easier.

The second method is fleshing after drying and soaking. With this processing technology, the skin is left for a day in a room with an air temperature of 24 °C. Then it is placed in warm water, the temperature of which is 35 ° C, for 24 hours.

If the fur is of high quality, then you can carry out fleshing 2 hours after slaughter, this way you will save 48 hours. Dressing rabbit skins using the second technology is used if there is a lot of blue on them.

For fleshing, use a kitchen or hunting knife. There is no need to sharpen it, as a sharp knife can easily damage the dermis.

You need to remove any remaining meat and fat, starting from the rump and moving towards the front of the skin. You should slightly trim the vein at the animal’s paw and remove the film from the dermis manually, simultaneously trimming the meat with a knife.

Stages of skinning

In addition to primary processing, there are several more stages of skin processing:

• washing and degreasing fur;
• pickling;
• tanning;
• lift;
• drying;
• softening;
• grinding.

After fleshing, it is necessary to wash the fur and dermis in warm water at 38 ° C in order to dissolve any remaining fat. To 10 liters of water you need to add 10 g of washing powder and 10 g of dishwashing detergent.

Wash by hand if there is a lot of blue on the skins, or if you have torn the dermis during fleshing. You need to wash it twice - on the fur, and with the skins turned inside out. After washing, the skins should creak; if this does not happen, washing should be continued.

If the skins are of high quality, they are loaded into the washing machine for 30 minutes in the “Economy” mode with the spin function. After washing, you can start pickling the skins.

Pickling rabbit skins

Pickling is an important stage of dressing. It is carried out to disinfect skins. To prepare the pickle solution you will need:

• 10 liters of warm water (38 °C);
• 20 tablespoons of salt (50 g/l);
• 100 g formic acid (10 g/l).

Formic acid leaves no odor on the skins and has no toxic fumes, unlike acetic or sulfuric acid.

Formic acid must be added in two stages: half when preparing the solution and half 2 hours after immersing the skins in the solution. Sulfuric and acetic acid are added to the solution in one go.

An antiseptic, for example, furatsilin, can also be added to the solution to prevent the formation of putrefactive bacteria. The skins are left in this solution for a day and then lightly washed. Pickling can be considered completed.

Preparation of tanning solution

To prepare a tanning solution, add 500 g of salt and 30 g of chrome tanning agent to 10 liters of water. This solution can be replaced with a decoction of oak or walnut leaves (250 g of leaves per 1 liter of water). The broth is cooled to a temperature of 38 ° C, salt is added and the skins are immersed in it.

To neutralize the acid, 2 hours after immersing the skins in the tanning solution, add baking soda to it in a ratio of 4 g/l.

After tanning, the skins are washed again and placed under a press for a day. Then they are dried in a room for two days with the fur facing out, turned inside out and the dermis is dried for three days. During drying, the gray areas of the dermis are stretched manually.

By the end of drying, the skin should be as hard as shoe leather.

Final stages of dressing

The next stage of preparing rabbit skins at home is softening. To do this, each skin is treated with a solution of glycerin and water, which is prepared in a ratio of 1:4. After wetting, the dermis is kneaded in the palms.

To wet the dermis, use a spray bottle and repeat the procedure every 30 minutes for 1.5-2 hours.

Dressing rabbit skins at home is a simple but lengthy process. The last stage of finishing is grinding. To do this, sandpaper is passed over the skin.

To whiten and better remove pellets, the skin can be pre-sprinkled with chalk.

Video about dressing rabbit skins at home