Of any animal we’ve had, rabbits are by far the easiest to raise. They are quiet, cute and very efficient on food.We keep them for meat, for ours and other families, and nothing goes to waste. The dogs and pigs share everything that gets shed during the butchering process and I get the furs.
I've been tanning the hides since the beginning and am now starting to do stuff with them. I've made some as gifts into handbags, purses, cushions, and even Kindle covers. And I am now getting ready to sell them.
To that end, I just bought myself an awesome sewing machine. It's a 1950s Dressmaker heavy duty machine and I got it for a steal. Everything in it is metal, which makes it heavy, but it beats the new, plastic crap on the market.
I'd love to read more about how you tan the rabbit hides. Is it difficult? Do you have a post on it, or can you point me to some instructions?
ReplyDeleteNo, it's not difficult, but it is kind o time consuming.
ReplyDeleteI'm super busy right now, but I'll try and get a full set of instructions on our website over the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, here it is in short.
I put the skins in a solution of 1 cup battery acid, 2lbs salt, 2 gallons water for 10 days. Then flesh them, then return them to the acid solution or another week. Then you wash them and "break" them.
Do a search online for tanning rabbit hides, and there's quite a few options.