i recently bought a silver and a cross fox from a game farm.i skinned them minutes after they were gased.i then salted and air dried and shipped them to a tannery.the problem is the called me and said they didnt flesh them but went ahead and wet tanned them.the problem they said they had was thet the epidermis was weak.when i received my skins they had holes in them the size of footballs and several of them.i dont think it was something i did .so the question is what makes epidermis weak?>i know fox skins are thin and tear easily but these were rediculous.any thoughts?
Farmed foxes generally have thinner skin than wild ones ( except Alaskan foxes, which are just as thin). The epidermis being weak should be refering to bacteria eating the epidermis and the hair being "slippy", which I would find hard to be happening if the skins were fresh and you prepped them right away. Basically it sounds like the tanner is not any good at thinner skins and just messed up and is giving you a BS story. I also don't like that they told you they didn't flesh the skins, thats downright lazy.You can do thinner skins on a wire wheel. I hope they didn't charge you anything ( rejected the skins). In fact they should be replacing your skins! Check their disclaimer, you might actually have a case against them depending on what it says. I personally tanned a silver fox pup skin that was a farm raised fox, now thats some thin skin! I didn't tear it either, used the wire wheel very lightly where it was needed.
Poor tannery techniques, fleshing any fox is tricky, unless the shaver has the skills and a very good machine.
Rasing foxes for coats for the rich and famous is out of touch with reality. Although I am not against the slaughter of animals for their fur or hair, I just don't see the reason of continuing a market that for most part people are turned off too. Why not turn to Rat and cat hair? Just think, raise rats to feed cats, skin the rats for fur, feed the cats, raise the cats for fur, feed the cats to the rats and vis vesa. Make some big profit off both critters! NOw if we can just find a market for all of thoes pelts!