Save big $$ on bunny strips

I have recently started buying bunny scraps and cutting them myself. Not only does this save a LOT of money, it allows me to cut them any way I want. Skinny, wide, and even custom crawdad pinchers (wide on the ends & skinny in the middle).

• Use a very sharp and thin x-acto knife. Scissors do not work well because the hair usually overlaps the cut which will leave bald spots on one side. [/*:m:71090]
• Cut with the hair facing down. This makes it easier to get straight cuts because you can see the incision clearly.[/*:m:71090]
• Stretch the pelt and keep it taut while cutting. Either have someone hold one end or clamp it in a vise. Grab the bottom, pull tight, then start cutting.[/*:m:71090]
• Take your time. Slow = straight.[/*:m:71090]

I get my scraps here: http://cgi.ebay.com/RABBIT-HIDE-PIEC...QQcmdZViewItem
The quality was better than I expected. Commercial strips generally have a consistent lay and thickness throughout the entire strip; straight for zonkers or cross-cut for palmering. When the "grain" of the fur becomes inconsistent, the remainder of the hide ends up as scrap. It doesn't bother me at all to have half a strip be cross-cut and the other half straight. There are also areas where the hair is thinner than average, and areas where it is thicker. This also works to my advantage depending on what I'm trying to make. Thick and thin both have legitimate uses.
Sure there are a few spots that are unusable, but I only throw away about 10%.
The only down-side to buying mixed scraps is that you never know what colors you will get. :?

I have been buying whole skins on ebay for years. Sometimes you can get them for 3 bucks. I just strip w/ double edge razor blade. I clamp the head end to my tying bench w/ spring calmp, pull it taught and carefully slice the strips. Like you say custom width strips are easy to make and this a much chaeper way to go if you use a lot of rabbit.

Agree, Agree, Agree. Now let me add just a couple of things that'll increase the amount of hair/fur left on the strip after it is cut. Make sure the skin is on a flat, hard and non-slippery surface. Use a metal edged ruler to line up the cut line. Make your first cut shallow. This creates a groove that is easier to follow with the next deeper cut. On this cut, DO NOT cut through the skin, but make it as deep as you can without actually going through the skin. This takes a little practice so you might want to do it on a part of the skin that is too small for strips. Make as many separate groove cuts as the strips you want. Now take the skin off of the board and tear the individual strips away from the rest of the skin. If done properly, the strip will tear away very easily, you will have lost very little hair/fur and the strip will be nice and thick.

Deezel

Don't throw any away!!!!!

Use it for dubbing.

Chris from canada