Got some rabbit skins

[eide 0]

Got some rabbit skins the other day to start cutting my own zonkers and to start dying my own material (got to have a winter project!). The strips on the natural brown ended up quite nice:

Tied with the strip above, really enjoyed the process!

 

http://dryfly.me/2014/10/rabbit-skins/

 

[Piker20 0]

Looks great. Did you buy the skins or hunt them? The white looks great for dying.

[eide 0]

These are bought, I don't hunt. Looking forward to dying that skin!

[shoebop 0]

What did you use to cut them with? How do you cut the skin and not cut the fur too? Did you crosscut them or just stripcut them? Just wondering. I am thinking of doing the same thing.

[eide 0]

What did you use to cut them with? How do you cut the skin and not cut the fur too? Did you crosscut them or just stripcut them? Just wondering. I am thinking of doing the same thing.

I put together 4 razor blades to get something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxWSpL22RuA and then hold the skin tight while just cutting through the skin (be very careful at this point). I straightcut them.

[shoebop 0]

Thanks Eide. I hadn't seen that before.

[Piker20 0]

Don't worry about cutting right through the skin on the first pass. I find normally you will but if you are happy to go down a second time you don't press too hard and damage any fur.

[tidewaterfly 0]

I cut a lot of my own too. Only use a single blade, and cut from the hide side. As long as the blade is sharp, I've found I can make some pretty straight cuts & at whatever width I want them. I don't lay them down flat either, as that cuts the hair. I can now stretch out the hides by hand & cut each strip with very little hair loss. Took a bit of practice to do it & is not fast, but does what I need.

 

Eide, how do you intend to dye them? I tried dyeing some rabbit strips with acid dyes & it took the tanning out of the hide. After dyeing, they dried hard & brittle. I was later told, that the dyeing needs to be done before the tanning process or they need to be re-tanned.

[Cannonx4 0]

That looks like a pretty neat looking process and gizmo he made there.

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

For years I bought my rabbit pre-stripped and often chafed since most strips aren't exactly cut with a saltwater tyer's needs in mind... I finally began buying skins and cutting my own strips.. I freehand them as noted by tidewater.... The trick for me came in several moments - the first and best trick was not to use single blade razors since even a brand new one isn't sharp enough... I went to double edged blades and broke each one in half length wise to make two single edges -but still only use one edge at a time. The second breakthrough for me was to use an old clipboard to mount the skin -fur side down. With one end secured properly (and the skin oriented with the head end clamped to the board) it was a simple matter to pull the skin tight and very slightly away from the clipboard so each cut was like a hot knife through butter... I was able to get the exact width I wanted, without losing a single hair... Hope this helps anyone considering stripping their own rabbit skins.... I used to large numbers of tarpon flies with rabbit tails so had a bit of practice....

[eide 0]

For years I bought my rabbit pre-stripped and often chafed since most strips aren't exactly cut with a saltwater tyer's needs in mind... I finally began buying skins and cutting my own strips.. I freehand them as noted by tidewater.... The trick for me came in several moments - the first and best trick was not to use single blade razors since even a brand new one isn't sharp enough... I went to double edged blades and broke each one in half length wise to make two single edges -but still only use one edge at a time. The second breakthrough for me was to use an old clipboard to mount the skin -fur side down. With one end secured properly (and the skin oriented with the head end clamped to the board) it was a simple matter to pull the skin tight and very slightly away from the clipboard so each cut was like a hot knife through butter... I was able to get the exact width I wanted, without losing a single hair... Hope this helps anyone considering stripping their own rabbit skins.... I used to large numbers of tarpon flies with rabbit tails so had a bit of practice....

That old clipboard trick is great! Got one around here somewhere, got to dig it out and try it! thanks

[Guest]

I have an old cutting board and a metal straight edge - I use two old vise c-clamps, wrap the edge around the board and clamp down and start cutting.

 

A really good way to get different color's is to buy the Hairline assorted pieces bag. I get mine from Cabelas when I go out for my grand daughters birthday to Michigan.

 

This is what was in 1 bag - depending on what way you clamp the fur down you can cut straight or cross-cut strips

 

Even with all the strips I cut I hardly touched one bag and ended up with this

 

I've seen the video on how to make that little cutter but I like my fingers!!!!!!LOL

[SilverCreek 0]

http://globalflyfisher.com/tiebetter/zonkers/cutting.php

 

http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=69209