Experimental dual method
I’ve been experimenting with different hide tanning methods and wanted to share what I’m working on right now for anyone who’s curious about the process.
I currently have about 20 rabbit hides sitting in a basic salt–alum solution. This stage helps preserve the skin and set the hair. My next step will be to pull them out, rinse, neutralize, and stretch them. At that point, they can be finished as-is, or taken a step further into a full acid tan.
I’m considering selecting a portion of these and running them through EZ-Tan after neutralizing. This will be my first time combining methods, but in theory it should work fine as long as the hides are properly rinsed and brought back to a neutral pH before re-acidifying for the second tan.
I’ve previously used full acid tanning on sheep, goat, and rabbit hides, and one of the big advantages is that the finished pelts are fully washable and stay soft even after getting wet. It will be interesting to compare those results with the alum-started hides that get a second chemical tan.
This is very much an experiment to see how penetration, softness, and long-term durability compare between the two approaches. I’ll share results once they’re finished and broken in.
This is one recommendation for full acid tanning useing Rittles. I have a variation of this on the bunclub wiki
2
1 comment
Experimental dual method
powered by
skool.com/mmcbunclub-6215
Bun Club: science-based rabbit education promoting data-driven care, accurate nutrition, and verified research.
Suggested communities
Powered by