Revisiting the fox pelt notion

johngalway

I returned to thinking about skins after shooting a particularly red vixen the last night. My biggest stumbling block has always been, how to dry the pelt effectively, having little access to sunshine or free space!

An item I bought last year was a small fan heater. IT was to be part of a project to make a "lamb warming box" to revive hypothermic lambs in Spring. The idea is to connect the fan heater to an electronic thermometer gizmo which then regulates the temperature in the box automatically. For lambs, it'll work just fine.

This leads me on to thinking about fox pelts. The one concern I have is actual air circulation within any box for the fox pelts. Given the better than average chance of stink I'd also like to position any box outdoors!

Any thoughts on the air circulation factor? Would a sealed box simply become too humid and destroy the pelt? Ideas to counteract that?

Obviously we don't want the heater going full tilt all day, as that'd be silly & expensive.

All entries on a postcard to........

poulo6.5

johngalway wrote: »

I returned to thinking about skins after shooting a particularly red vixen the last night. My biggest stumbling block has always been, how to dry the pelt effectively, having little access to sunshine or free space!

An item I bought last year was a small fan heater. IT was to be part of a project to make a "lamb warming box" to revive hypothermic lambs in Spring. The idea is to connect the fan heater to an electronic thermometer gizmo which then regulates the temperature in the box automatically. For lambs, it'll work just fine.

This leads me on to thinking about fox pelts. The one concern I have is actual air circulation within any box for the fox pelts. Given the better than average chance of stink I'd also like to position any box outdoors!

Any thoughts on the air circulation factor? Would a sealed box simply become too humid and destroy the pelt? Ideas to counteract that?

Obviously we don't want the heater going full tilt all day, as that'd be silly & expensive.

All entries on a postcard to........

i know nothing about curing a pelt but if you need heat and dry then wouldnt a tumble dryer on a delicate setting do the job.
maybe or maybe not i'm just thinking out loud

It wasn't me!

Something like a simplified airing cupboard or hotpress at modest temperatures? It's an interesting idea. Keep us posted, would like to do something similar with a few bunnies, make a pair of gloves or something.

4gun

I think you need to salt it before drying

http://www.state.tn.us/twra/pdfs/tanninghides.pdf

meathstevie

John, hang it spread out on a couple of sticks in a very windy spot ( you can't be short of those around a Connemara farm ) and make sure the inside is scraped completely clean and salted ( wee bit of ordinary salt will do ). A friend of mine does the same over here ( as you know not half as windy as your turf ) with rabbit skins and the like and it works quite well.

Tackleberrywho

Salt will absorb out the moisture from the pelt, strech it out like a bodhrán, and use elastic bands to tie it in place, as the pelt shriks from drying the elastic will stop it ripping and will keep the skin tight.

use Alum Salt and regular salt (sodium chloride)
http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-88-Brand-Alum-Crystals/dp/B002B5QWBI

make sure you don't miss a spot, crease or it will be smeeeeeeeeellly

I did it before to a fox tail, I did not put enough in the tail and it rotted at the tip..

A mate of mine has a davy crockett hat that looks mkad, he wears it all winter long. The fact that he has red hair and a mad beard really sets it off!

johngalway

It wasn't me! wrote: »

Something like a simplified airing cupboard or hotpress at modest temperatures? It's an interesting idea. Keep us posted, would like to do something similar with a few bunnies, make a pair of gloves or something.

Yeah, that's the idea. The puzzle is air circulation, without letting an excessive amount of heat escape.

landkeeper

john on a side track, if your making a hot box for lambs make a box out of ply about 3ft square do it so the box sits squarely on the ground make a suspended floor with fine mesh on a wooden frame about a foot up from ground level and cut a piece out in one of the sides at ground level the same size as your fan heater leaving the air intake for the heater outside the box you can cover the top of the box with a cloth or similar the thermostat in the fan heater will work and keep the temperature constant
i made one like that 20 years ago and we still use it works fantastically even revieving comatose lambs that have been out wet all night


re the skins just peg them to a board felt nails are perfect scrape ALL traces of fat off get alum or fulers earth from your chemist and rub well in to the skin if you want to preserve the tail 5ml in a syringe of white spirit will stop it rotting and the smell will have gone by the time the skinn is cured
all salt will do is dry out the skin making it hard and brittle

DonnchaMc

I read somewhere on here alright that the dryer (washin machine) does a great job, this person does it all the time and they turn out perfect.. think they also said not to salt as it just dries it out and makes the skin hard

CJhaughey

If you don't salt you get hair slip. Then your nice pelt looks like a mangy foxskin.

Tackleberrywho

I will really have to get a pic of my mate wearing his fox "Davy Crockett style" hat!

Would make this thread great!

lamper35

It wasn't me! wrote: »

Something like a simplified airing cupboard or hotpress at modest temperatures? It's an interesting idea. Keep us posted, would like to do something similar with a few bunnies, make a pair of gloves or something.

ive done a few bunny pelts bout 2 years ago too use for the dog dummies there still perfect ...i salted them for a few days scraped of the salt then used a hair dryer they dried out perfect and all fur stayed in tact...just dont get too close with the hair dryer or ul melt em:D

4gun

My Granmother used to use pumace stone to remove any unwanted flesh on sheepskins. She used to make them into floor mats.
Also I read in a book that i have that a chap would roll pebbels into the ends of the skins to give the lanyards better hold while the shin is stretched on a drying frame
Currently I have a nice little fawns' skin salting to dry it out. we'll see how it goes

DonnchaMc

CJhaughey wrote: »

If you don't salt you get hair slip. Then your nice pelt looks like a mangy foxskin.

Cool, i dont know for def myself I was just passing on what this person had written (mainly the drying part, salting was a sub note) but i totaly except the salting idea, it seems unlikely otherwise...
What is hair slip exactly? sounds like the hair falls out?????