I got a grey fox in the other day so i skinned it out and salted it down. After the 48 hours of salting i rehydrated in a solation of 1 pound of salt 1 gal of water and 1/8 ounce of basacryl nb-ku. After rehydrated i put in a saftee-acid pickle for 3 days. I took out of pickle in put in a neutralize of baking soda and water. Towel dry started to flesh out. After fleshing i was ready to put in tumbler to get most of mosture out i saw i had alot of hair falling out ? Fox is junk! What went wrong? Had a red fox do the same thing but done a lot of other small game the same way with no trouble. Need your help. Don't know what happen.
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You can have a few reasons here. First off we have no idea when yougot the fox in. What this meens is how did the client handle the mammal before you got it?
Fleshing? You should flesh before you salt. Your meat and fat that was left on could cause you problems. Always flesh first then salt.
After I salt these critters I wait till there bone dry before I rehydrate them. Yes after two days of salting would be fine but they are notorious for slippage.
Then you say you rehydrated them Why? After two days of salt there not dried enough for a bath.
Then the pickle. What was the PH? Was it lower than 2. If not that's a mojor problem.
And finally your nuturalizing solution. How long did youlet it saok in this. On a fox 15 min is more than enough any longer and well it's soaking in a high PH and a High PH will cause a hide to slip.
So you see there are many reasons here. Follow your steps and see where you went wrong.
I never heard anyone mention only neutralizing a fox for only 15 minutes. I can only assume it's because they are so thin skinned. Thanks again, ya might have saved me a fox or two.
Thanks for the help. It looks like I need to salt till it is hard.When I get frozen game in I thaw it in my pickle then skin out then salt should I salt them till they are hard too? Do I tumble them to get the mosture out before i salt after i take them out of pickle?Ph of pickle i always keep below 2. Rehydrate for 15 min. Thanks for the help any more will help.THANKS
Dave I thaw all my fox in a fridge. Most generally I throw them in it, in the morning and by the next day I can skin them. Most of the time their still partially frozen but thawed enough to work on. Till this day (knock on wood, Ouch that hurts) I have never had a fox slip doing it that way. Plus the hair is dry. As in your case I would tumble or hang it and let it drain.
When you salt just salt for 24 hrs, shake off the resalt and let dry. You can speed up the process by salting it more but there's no need for that.
When you rehydrate a fox it will take more than 15 min. This is cause it's rock hard. It may take 2-4 hrs to fully rehydrate a dried skin.
The 15 min I spoke of was done after you pickle it and get ready for tanning. All hides should be neturalized before you tan them.