Rabbit Hide?

[bspitt]

Dyeing Rabbit hides -

Question for you pros:
Hobby Lobby has soft tanned full white rabbit hides for $3.99 - I was thinking of buying a few to dye and cut into strips.
Question 1) - How hard are they to dye? & how do you recommend going about this?
Question 2) - Any recommendations on cutting strips? - I would like "normal" and "crosscut" strips - Head to tail for "normal" ?? and 90 degress to that for "crosscut"?????

Thanks for your help.

Brannon

[FishnDave]

I can't speak for your question #1...but you are correct about the direction for cutting the normal and cross-cut strips.

[kengore]

Rabbit is quite easy to dye using RIT or KoolAid. I do small batch dying in aout 2 cups of water heated in the microwave. I do small batches since I am a hobby tier and don't need/want large quantities of material. In small batches it is harder to measure the dye with great precision, so it can be difficult to repeat colors exactly. Since the dye particles are not evenly distrubuted in the dry powder you will get better precision of you convert them to concentrated liquids by adding some water. You will need to measure dye in 1/16 or 1/8 a teaspoon quantities. I use an eye dropper, just see how many drops of plain water it takes to fill a teaspoon and adjust accordingly.

Note: After dying the rabbit hide will come out stiff, not soft like it is on the hide. You can still tie with it, and you can re-soften it a bit by working the strip over the sharp corner of a table. The same thing happens to commercial zonker strips once you get them wet.

There is lots of info on cutting rabbit strips, search here or on YouTube... The basic principle is to clamp the hide in some kind of device (like a clip board) to stretch it tight and to cut from the skin side using a homemade cutter made of multiple razor blades and spacers. The hide needs to be stretched so the fur side does not touch anything during the cut, otherwise the fur is damaged either side of the cut.

I always thought the cross cut strips were cut at a 45 degree angle, not 90. In this way when the strip is spiral wrapped at a 45 degree angle the fur lays straight back along the hook shank.

[FishnDave]

Here's a short thread I found on another site. Doesn't really answer either of your questions, but I thought it was interesting that the guys suggest the FISH preferred the action of the zonker strips over the cross-cut strips when wound up the shank.
http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/...p/t-22830.html

[Buddy Sanders]

Brannon,

I just took a look into my 2009 Barlows Tackle supply catalog:

www.barlowstackle.com

They have full tanned rabbit skins, already dyed in a range of colors, for $5.95 each. Other suppliers sell them for about the same.

I'd not discourage anyone from 'doing it yourself'....but I'd think about he mess, effort, and cost of dyeing to save $2 before I did it (unless you need a LOT of one color, of course).

Buddy

[iaflyfisher]

There are a lot of great ideas here on FAOL - just search "rabbit strip cutter" and start reading. I have not dyed any rabbit.

I made a cutter with razor blades and aluminum bar stock. I hold the rabbit pelt between two pieces of carpet tack strip with a clamp and cut away. I found if you use good rabbit, it doesn't make much difference if they are crosscut or not.

iaflyfisher

[Eric-WD]

Brannon,

I just took a look into my 2009 Barlows Tackle supply catalog:

www.barlowstackle.com

They have full tanned rabbit skins, already dyed in a range of colors, for $5.95 each. Other suppliers sell them for about the same.

I'd not discourage anyone from 'doing it yourself'....but I'd think about he mess, effort, and cost of dyeing to save $2 before I did it (unless you need a LOT of one color, of course).

Buddy

I have to agree with Buddy, you have to buy the dye, mix the dye, spend the time to get the dye into the fur, then wait for it to dry, or sit with a hair dryer blow drying the pelt, then your hopeing to get the color you want. if you don't then you adjust your formula and start over.

I just did a small batch of mink with Kool Aid, (4 inch piece) I was trying for olive, what I ended up with is the guard hairs were perfect olive, the under fur was bright lime green. it was a fun experiment but If I could just buy what I wanted for $2 extra it would be worth more than the hour or so I had into playing with the stuff.

Eric

[kbproctor]

Why not buy the RIT in the bottles? Then you can measure the dye precisely.

Is it the economical way to go? No, but if it adds enjoyment to the hobby, do it! Sometimes it's the only way to get the color you want.