How can you tan a rabbit skin using Non chemical materials and without brains?

Can you just air dry it?


I read that you can use oak chips in water.How can you tan a rabbit skin using Non chemical materials and without brains?
pee on it. seriously. native Americans have been using urine to tan hides for centuries. there is a chemical in urine called urea that is a preservative.


i have a moose hide jacket from northern British Columbia that was made using traditional techniques. and no it does not smell like pee.How can you tan a rabbit skin using Non chemical materials and without brains?
Put a thick layer of non-iodized salt on the flesh side of the hide. Let it draw out the moisture for a few days and then replace it with more salt and let the hide set for a few days more. By this time all of the natural moisture should be pulled out of the hide and it is ready to tan using whatever method you prefer. Yes. there is a way to tan using oak chips but I have never done it. You would have to do a little library research to find how it is done. The Indians used a smoking method that worked for them. Once the hide is tanned, you will have to work it to break up the collogin in it and make it soft. This is a lot of work. One way to do it is to use a baseball bat that you stand on end with the grip down. Work the hide over the end of the bat until it is soft. Use a motion like polishing shoes with a rag. Yes, it takes a long time and a lot of work but it can be done. As you work it over the end if the bat, put some leather treatment like Mink Oil or Neets Foot Oil on it to help soften it.
It is not as good as brain tanning or oak tanning, but you can try scraping the skin and packing it with salt for a week or two.





Then wash off the salt, and work the skin to soften it and smoke it over a fire. I've known of folks to hang them in chimneys but I never understood how the didn't catch fire.





Doc
Using the oak chips takes WAY too long. I've had great results by first fleshing the fresh hide, then salting it for a week or so until it's dried and hard (tack it flesh side up on a board and cover all of the flesh side with a layer of salt which usually takes about half a pound for rabbit hides). Then, take a knife and scrape all the salt off (it'll be dried and stuck to the hide) and then buff the hide with sand paper to raise the grain. Wash the hide with warm water until it's soft, then take about half a dozen egg yolks and work them into the hide the same way you would use brains. Keep rubbing it in and wringing the hide and working it back and fourth until the whole thing is dry. You have to keep it moving until it's dried (usually takes a few hours) You'll know it's dry when it's no longer cool to the touch. It works the same way as brain tanning (but it's actually a kind of oil tan). Now all you have to do is smoke the hide to make it water resistant.