southeastpete Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Hi, I got a fox tonight, silly little vixen let me get about 8 yards away. I paused thinking she must be snared or something to let me get so close, but then she got up and tried to run. Blammo, 32g no.4 steel straight through both sides of the chest(left over from season, didnt have any others with me.) I also got 1 pidgeon 1 squirrel and 1 rabbit. Keeping the farmer happy around his feeders! I want to try tanning the skin, cheap and easy. Heres my plan, get a big bucket, and some shampoo, and wash the smelly *****. Hanbg her to dry overnight and next day. Then skin her, tack the skin out on a large board and cover in salt. After a day, scrape the salt off, and recover in salt. Then after another day or 2, scrape the salt off, and if its anything like the rabbits I've done before (I didnt bother shampooing the rabbits) it should be a dry hard skin by now. Then rub in some cheap moisturiser and I should be done. I'm just wondering about the shampooing bit. Should I do it before skinning? And should I let her dry after? Also, do I have to get all the bits of bone and flesh out of the tail, or just the best I can and heavily salt the rest? As i think that will be the hardest bit. Any tips would be greatly appreciated, especially in the next hr, or I'll just go with plan A and hope for the best. Many thanks Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 All i can say, is wear latex gloves when skinning it, or your hands will stink for days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southeastpete Posted February 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 They already do! Will wear marigolds though I think. cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_b_wales Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 I do mine by tacking the skin onto a board, then rub loads of coarse salt into the 'flesh'. Scrape this away, and repeat as necessary, until you remove 99.9% of any fat from it. I then wash the fur in warm water and soak in a bucket of tanning solution that I purchased from Snowdonia Taxidermy Supplies. This comes in powder form, and when mixed, make 2 gallons of solution. It can be used several times, and is excellent. The furs are soaked for about 3 days, then re-washed in warm water, and left to dry. Steve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southeastpete Posted February 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Cheers, but I'm really not after buying tannign solution etc, I'm just going to try the salt and moisturiser route. My main queries are, if i wash the fur, then tack it down, will it go rank after 2-3 days, and the tail thing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosebank22 Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 is the skin going to get wet again at all Pete? if so then the salt method wont work for long as the skin will reabsorb the moisture you took out with the salt I have just tried something similar with a duck skin - well its been in salt for bloody weeks. The threads I have read before have mentioned get as much fat and flesh off with your knife first then salt it like you said but to get a soft skin they say to work the skin with your hand for ages to beat it soft. Nothing ventured mate..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southeastpete Posted February 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Indeed. The rabbit skins I've done like this, are fine, they get wet, I dry them, they are still supple and the hair stays in... I'm going to go for it i think. Anyt on got any tips on the tail though? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southeastpete Posted February 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 ok, well, I gve it a go, and as I started I noticed she had alot of fat, and was dreading having to scrape that all off. then I managed to cut a couple of holes in the skin and decided to leave it. I'm not THAT keen to have a dead fox hanging on the wall, of the shed... So as I had given up, I decided to open her to see if she was carrying young, out of curiousity, and she had 4 v young foetuses, so thats 5 out of circulation on the farmers club shoot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southeastpete Posted February 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Oh, and the smell when I opened the stomach wall was horrific. If I'd have stuck around it any longer I think I'd have been sick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mereside Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 if you want to tan properly use some white deisel and bicarb of soda mix it till its like salad cream . use the salt like you said i leave longer than a day thou i usually leave it a week in the shed and scrape and redo till all the flesh is off after the week use a sander to speed things up and use the deisel cream it doesnt smell as the bicarb nuetralises the smell atb wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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