How to tan a rabbit pelt?

[Jazz006]

Hi guys, just back from the bushcraft show and my daughter got herself some rabbit pelts from the game prep demos. What's the best way to tan them without the use of lots of chemicals.

Thanks
Jazz

 

[Blaidd]

Someone had to be childish and puerile, so I thought "why not me?"

 

[JohnC]

When I had some that had lingered in the freezer for a year, I defrosted them, then scraped clean as best I could, dried them pout with salt over 1 week, washed in warm water, wrung them out, then coated them on the flesh side with egg yolk and olive oil mix, rubbed in and left in a plastic bag overnight.
Then, washed clean again, dried out to damp, stretching them and working them till dry (took a while but not too long), then finally smoked them over a (smoky) fire till tan/brown. It seemed to work ok, there was some fur loss from them being in the freezer for a long time, and I'm no great expert on this, but it was fun to do...