Fur Bonanza & I have a question Please

[Skip48 0]

One of my new customers for my jigs ask me the other day if I wanted some hair/fur hats. He told me he's had them a long time and someone gave them to him and he thinks they are over 40 years old. Anyway his wife told him to throw them out and he ask if I wanted them and without a doubt I wanted to take a look.

 

They are the round hats that are a few different kinds of fur (don't know what all of them are) and the only one that is coming apart looks to be a red fox or something like that. I will keep it in a bag and just cut off what I need at the time. The others are in great shape and Two are some kind of thick shorter fur and I guess I can make dubbing out of it huh?

 

Any info or help about what I should do with them other than tie is what i am looking for.

 

Here are pics...

 

The one on the right is one of what I am calling short fur? I am pretty sure the other two are raccoon and one is I guess died to have silver tips or am I missing something?

 

This is the one I am thinking is red fox maybe and the other is another of the short thick fur.

 

Anyone know what the ones on the right in the both pic are?

 

Thanks,

 

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[rockworm 0]

Skip48

 

It is nearly impossible to ID fur from a pic of the hat. A photograph of a small patch of each would be better. (A physical sample of each would be best.) Having said that I would tentatively suggest that the first photo shows (from left to right): gray fox, muskrat, beaver.

 

The second photo: red fox and oppossum.

 

But I wouldn't want to make any bets on being right.

[Ten Bears 0]

Although the sheen of the hat on the right in the second photo does have the sheen of opossum, even the best opossum fur only lasts for 15 years with meticulous care so it is not one of the higher demand furs. I think it's a good possibility that it is chinchilla. The fur is very soft, silky, and dense. In fact, chinchilla fur has the highest hair density of any animal, with more than 20,000 per square centimeter. (This makes it impossible for parasites such as fleas to inhabit chinchillas, as they would suffocate.) Where humans grow one hair from each follicle, a chinchilla has more than 50. Color is silvery gray top hair and dark underfur. The best chinchilla has a slate blue color, often enhanced by brighteners, although mutation colors are now also produced.

 

In the first photo I believe the fur farthest to the left is gray fox. Most gray fox is American, with the best pelts coming from the northern states. It is silver gray with a slight tinge of red.

 

The others are more nondescript and harder to determine by photograph.

[rockworm 0]

Ten Bears

 

Your description makes me think chinchilla should be on my top ten list for dubbing and wings. Please tell me there are no patterns calling for chinchilla because it has some fatal flaw in fiber length, diameter, straightness..... Anything!

 

 

[Skip48 0]

Although the sheen of the hat on the right in the second photo does have the sheen of opossum, even the best opossum fur only lasts for 15 years with meticulous care so it is not one of the higher demand furs. I think it's a good possibility that it is chinchilla. The fur is very soft, silky, and dense. In fact, chinchilla fur has the highest hair density of any animal, with more than 20,000 per square centimeter. (This makes it impossible for parasites such as fleas to inhabit chinchillas, as they would suffocate.) Where humans grow one hair from each follicle, a chinchilla has more than 50. Color is silvery gray top hair and dark underfur. The best chinchilla has a slate blue color, often enhanced by brighteners, although mutation colors are now also produced.

 

In the first photo I believe the fur farthest to the left is gray fox. Most gray fox is American, with the best pelts coming from the northern states. It is silver gray with a slight tinge of red.

 

The others are more nondescript and harder to determine by photograph.

 

As I understand it all these hats are pretty old, like at least 40 years old? The hat bottom pic right is very thick fur and not as long as the others. I don't think it's opossum and you may be right about it being chinchilla. It is soft and not shiny, but very dense.

 

Thanks everyone for the input and maybe I just need to ask around for someone in these woods that knows more than I do.

 

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[Ten Bears 0]

Ten Bears

 

Your description makes me think chinchilla should be on my top ten list for dubbing and wings. Please tell me there are no patterns calling for chinchilla because it has some fatal flaw in fiber length, diameter, straightness..... Anything!

 

The chinchilla skin is very fragile and has to be backed by a stronger material when used by furriers. This really has no bearing for most fly tyers as you would probably cut a pelt into usable swatches that are easier to manage.

 

The only real fatal flaw that chinchilla has is an exorbitant price. A 10" pelt (chinchillas are small animals) is about $125.

 

Here is a link to purchase chinchilla pelts and other furs at a wholesale price. These are full pelts for everything listed. Chichister Inc.

[Skip48 0]

Here is a better pic of the top left one.

 

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[flytyingscotsman 0]

Here is a better pic of the top left one.

 

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Isn't that a still from one of those hair restoration commercials ?

[Skip48 0]

Here is a better pic of the top left one.

 

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Isn't that a still from one of those hair restoration commercials ?

 

LOL, I thought It might be a Tina Turner Wig?

 

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[rockworm 0]

Probably not gray fox. Maybe silver fox?

[Skip48 0]

Probably not gray fox. Maybe silver fox?

 

More and more I have been thinking it may be silver fox too.

 

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