How to Pickle Rabbit Pelts

Rabbit pelts can be pickled using non-toxic ingredients

Rabbit is a commonly used fur for clothes trim and craft projects. The skin of a rabbit pelt is thin with little fat, which makes it a good pelt for preservation by pickling. You can pickle rabbit pelts in the home workshop using ingredients purchased from a grocery store. There are pickling recipes that call for dangerous ingredients such as sulfuric and carbolic acids. However, the novice should who is pickling a few pelts should avoid these recipes. Pickling kits with safe ingredients are also available from taxidermy supply houses.

Things You'll Need

• 1/2-inch plywood, 4-by-4 feet
• Plastic garbage bag
• 3-gallon metal container,
• 2 to 3-gallon plastic bucket
• Citric acid
• 2 pounds non-iodized salt
• Powdered borax
• Baking soda
• Hair comb
• 1-inch rustproof finishing nails
• Hammer
• Neatsfoot oil

Instructions

1. Clean all fat and tissue from the skin side of the pelt. Spread the pelt out fur side down on a half sheet of plywood covered with a plastic garbage bag and pour a 1/8-inch-thick layer of salt over the entire flesh side of the pelt. Leave the salted pelt like this for 24 hours.

2. Scrape the wet salt off the pelt after 24 hours and rinse the pelt thoroughly in cold water to remove all the salt.

3. Pour 2 gallons of water into a metal container and bring it to a boil. Add 1 pound of salt, 3 ounces of citric acid and 2 ounces of powdered borax to the water. Mix the solution thoroughly until all the ingredients are dissolved and then remove the container from the heat and allow it to cool.

4. Place the pelt in the completely cooled solution and stir it around so the solution reaches all areas of the pelt. Leave the pelt in the solution for 24 hours, stirring it every 6 hours.

5. Pour 2 gallons of cold water into a plastic bucket and stir in 2 ounces of baking soda. Remove the pelt from the pickling solution, strip off the excess water and put it in the bucket of water and baking soda for 15 minutes, stirring the pelt around. This stops the pickling action on the pelt.

6. Remove the pelt from the bucket, strip off the excess water and hang the pelt over a clothes line fur side out. Leave the pelt hanging until the water has finished dripping off the fur and it begins to dry.

7. Comb down the fur on the pelt and lay if fur side down on the bare plywood. Stretch the pelt out, making it square, and then drive a nail through one corner of the pelt and into the plywood 1/4 inch in from the pelt's edge. Pull the pelt to its full width and length placing a nail at each of the remaining three corners.

8. Nail the pelt down to the plywood by driving in nails completely around the pelt 1/2 inch apart and 1/4 inch in from the pelt's edge. Drive the nails alternately from one side to the opposite side while pulling the pelt out to its full width in order to keep the sides even.

9. Rub a thin coat of Neatsfoot oil into the flesh side of the pelt and then leave the pelt to dry in a place away from direct heat or the sun. The pelt will dry in three to five days depending on the temperature and humidity. Remove the nails and fluff out the fur.

Tips & Warnings

• Salting the pelt prior to pickling draws the excess moisture out of the pelt and sets the hair roots so the hair won't fall out.

• The pickling solution must be cold before putting in the pelt. If the water is hot, it will shrink and damage the pelt.

• The dried pelt will be slightly stiff, but because it is a thin pelt it will still bend easily.

• Citric acid is a food additive that may be found under the name sour salt in the store.

• Keep the pickling solution out of the reach of children and pets. The ingredients are non-toxic but drinking it can still make a child or pet sick.

References

• "Shooter's Bible Taxidermy Guide;" Russell Tinsley; 1967