Dressing rabbit skins at home: step by step instructions

Breeding rabbits for fur requires knowledge and skills to process skins after slaughtering animals. Available technology allows you to make rabbit skins at home. This does not require special tools and expensive chemicals. The most important thing is the correct execution of technological operations, observing their sequence and duration.

Rules for skinning

Before cutting the carcass, the ears, front legs and tail are removed from the rabbit. The skin is removed immediately after slaughter, so that it is easier and better to dress it. The rabbit is attached to the struts upside down.A circular incision is made on the hocks and with a knife, separating the skin from the meat and fat layer, skin from the thighs to the groin.

In the area of the urethra, the sections from the thighs are connected with a transverse incision and then the skin is removed like a stocking, up to the neck. Then pull out the front paws and head. When removing a pair of skins, no effort is made so as not to stretch the dermis.

Required tools and materials

Beginners in rabbit breeding need to familiarize themselves with the sequence of work and the requirements for their implementation. At home, they use as equipment:

• rule;
• scythe/knife;
• acid-resistant container;
• wooden spatula;
• tassel.

For processing use:

• s alt;
• vinegar;
• formic/sulfuric acid;
• formalin;
• washing powder;
• potassium alum;
• chromium sulphate with basicity 33;
• animal fat.

Variation of materials for processing skins is allowed. For example, instead of fat, use machine oil, change the acid.

Steps of dressing skins at home

Having removed the skin, they do the primary skinning: they clean off the trimmings of muscles, tendons and fat with a knife. Then the skin is turned inside out with fur and pulled over a rule (a special frame made of metal or wood). A metal rule is made of a rod 4-5 mm thick and wrapped with insulating tape, a wooden rule is made of hardwood.

After primary processing, paired skins are dried in a ventilated place at a temperature not higher than 30 and not lower than 20 degrees. The distance between the rules - from 15 centimeters.

Violation of technological requirements will make further processing impossible. After drying, the skins are stacked and stored until dressing, protecting them from dampness and moths.

Preparatory

Dressing begins with the complete removal of fat and meat residues from the dermis. To do this, you need to perform three technological operations.

Soak off

Dry skins must be returned to a paired state. S alt is added to warm water (up to 28 degrees), at the rate of 30 grams per 1 liter, and 1 gram of a bactericidal agent (for example, formalin). There should be enough water so that all the skins are covered with a layer of water of at least 1 centimeter.

The soaking procedure lasts depending on the thickness of the skin, shelf life: 20-48 hours. For uniform impregnation with water, the skins are periodically mixed with a wooden spatula. The end of soaking is determined by the softness of the mezdra and the strength of the fur coat.Finished skins are carefully squeezed from tail to head.

Mezdrenie

To remove the softened layer from the mezra, use a knife or a blunt blade of a scythe, fixed at a right angle between two boards. The skins are twisted and scraped from the tail to the head and the ridge to the sides. The resulting incisions at the end of the mezdreniya are sewn up with white threads, with fur inside, end-to-end.

Degreasing

Cleaned skins are washed in water at a temperature of 20 degrees in washing powder (4 grams per 1 liter). Degreasing is carried out manually or mechanically (in a washing machine) for 30-40 minutes, so as not to damage the fur and the skin. Rinse under running water. Press.

Main

Mezdra needs to be protected from temperature changes, getting wet, so that there is no deformation of the skin, loss of presentation.

Picking

Acid-s alt treatment of mezdra. Following the step-by-step instructions, a high-quality protective layer is obtained, thanks to which the skin does not stretch, does not shrink, does not lose fur. Pickling sequence:

• prepare water at 30 degrees;
• add 40-50 grams of s alt per 1 liter;
• pour 70% acetic acid (15-25 grams per 1 liter) or formic acid (10 grams per 1 liter) or sulfuric acid (4-5 grams per 1 liter);
• put in the solution of the skin for 16-24 hours (until the appearance of "drying");
• stack in a container to rest for 12-24 hours in a warm place.

"Sushinka" is a trace on the core, which determines that the pickling is completed. To do this, the skin is bent in the inguinal region and carried out along the mezdra with a fingernail. It should print a white line that disappears after a few seconds.

Sourness

A process equivalent to pickling on purpose. The difference lies in the materials used, the duration of the technological operation and some difference in the final result. For fermentation, sour milk or sourdough is used. It is rarely used at home, as it requires a long wash in order to further clean the fur.

To make skins, sourdough is prepared from rye, oatmeal, wheat flour and yeast, or sour milk is used. The skins of skins are smeared with a thick layer of leaven. Stack them in a pile and cover with polyethylene. A day later, the procedure is repeated. Ripening time - 2-3 days. The temperature in the stack - no more than 35 degrees. Readiness is checked by "drying". The strength and elasticity of "fermented" skins is 2 times higher than with acid-s alt pickling.

Tanning

The next operation is to create a protective film over the softened collagen layer. For tanning, chromium sulphate with a basicity of at least 33, or potassium alum, or a mixture thereof, is used. Potassium alum gives a white, soft skin, but when moisture gets in, they are washed out, which leads to coarsening of the skin.

In home dressing, chrome tanning or chromium-aluminum-potassium tanning is more often used.

Tanning agent content in 1 liter of water at a temperature of 25-28 degrees:

• chrome - from 4 to 7 grams;
• potassium aluminum - 10-20 grams;
• blends - 4 grams each.

Step-by-step tanning procedure consists of 4 parts. First, the skins are placed in the finished tanner for 6-7 hours. Then, every hour, a deoxidizer (neutralizer) is added from baking soda and water (330 milliliters at the rate of 3 grams per 1 liter).

Fatting or fatting

To protect the tanning agent from washing out the skin, it is necessary to process it with a greasy emulsion. It contains pork fat (200 grams), boiling water (500 milliliters), 25 milliliters of machine oil, 40 milliliters of glycerin, 200 grams of egg yolks.

The tanned skins are stretched over the rules, smeared with a brush and hung to dry.

Finish

The dressing of rabbit skins ends with a simple operation: the dried skins are removed from the rules, gently kneaded and stretched, achieving softness and elasticity. The fur is combed, the mezra is rubbed with chalk, polished with sandpaper. The hair is rubbed with gasoline / technical alcohol, combed.

Alternative dressing options

Tanning at home is possible without chemicals.The bark of trees or grasses is used as a raw material for tanning: willow, spruce, oak, horse sorrel. A simple way to prepare a tanning agent is a decoction. For example, a 50-liter metal container is filled with grass to the top, poured with water, brought to a boil and kept for 30 minutes. Cool to 30 degrees, add s alt, filter. The skins are placed in a decoction for several days. The end of tanning is checked by a cut of the mezra: it should be the same color to the full depth.

Classification of rabbit skins

Gender and age of rabbits matter for dressing. The thickest mezdra is in males older than a year, the thinnest is in 5-6-month-old rabbits. This adjusts the composition of chemicals, temperature and duration of operations.

According to the State Standard, when accepting skins for fur production, varietal differences relate to the size of the skins, the quality of the hairline and the skin, the presence and types of defects.

Skins are classified according to the method of drying after slaughter for long-term storage:

• fresh dry;
• s alty dry;
• frozen.

In the first and second methods, the skins are dried on the rules with the fur out. Mezdra is sprinkled / not sprinkled with s alt before stretching. Undressed skins are used as raw materials for further dressing or obtaining fluff for felt products. When freezing, paired skins are folded one by one with the fur out in plastic bags and placed in the freezer. Freezing temperature - 18-32 degrees. The skins are a semi-finished product for obtaining fur products after dressing.

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