I tanned a fox!

[Jenny from the Woods]

Well... here she is...

a challenge for a first too!
 
A friend gave me 4 red foxes to practice on... He shot them the week before... then put them in a bag and left them in his garage....  its been a very very mild winter this year.   when I picked them up they were very limp... as in no longer in rigor mortis!  I had to keep taking breaks during the skinning due to the SMELL...  they were putrid!   the skin was green in some patches and this brownish gray in others!  Luckily I had stop rot and applied liberally.  I threw 3 skins in freezer after I skinned, fleshed, and stop rotted but the 4th one I kept out and salted(after applying stoprot)

 I salted till stiff then put directly into the pickle(McKenzie ultimate acid) with out rehydrating first(I read on the stop-rot website how the guy didn't rehydrate with a putrid deer skin) 
After 5 days I put a degreaser in pickle(a McKenzie relaxer-degreaser stuff)
Rinsed well
drip
put skin in Lutan fn
after 12 hours I baseified(however you spell that) the tan
Rinse well
drip
apply oil to skin
dry -break- fluff
break- fluff- dry

 and now I have finished product... skin is soft and white.  Fur is fairly fluffy  (ears are tick eaten but not my fault)  no putrid smell(smell like the oil i used right now)

and absolutely no hair slip! 

I'm fairly happy with end result but it just doesn't seem as fluffy and nice as it could be.  I used my hair drier on the no heat to fluff and back brush as it dried. 
Fur looks kinda oily in a dull way
I have 3 more to do in same putrid condition.   are my methods good or did I just get lucky to not have a bald fox. 

[Keyda81]

Looks great!  I am surprised you didn't get any hair slippage.  From what I've heard fox are the worst!  I'd do it the same way again with the other ones, and hope you don't get any slippage on them.  I've heard the stop rot works wonders.  Going to get some with my next order of stuff.  Then I won't worry so much about taking my fleshing and what not.

[muscle20]

      Good for you! If you want to fluff up the fur some and get rid of the oil that is on the fur, and you do not have a fur drum, just get yourself a small pail that the fox pelt will fit into along with hard wood saw dust, and have enough room for the pelt to shake around with a tight fitting lid, then shake the pail, after 15 mins. not steady (take a break once in a while) remove the fox and shake and brush the dust out of it, That will clean and fluff it up real pretty! Or you can apply corn meal to the fur and brush it till its nice and fluffy! 

[Pinebear]

Nice job!

[Jenny from the Woods]

ooooohhh that corn meal did the trick!  thanks!