The first step of fresh skin treatment is to clean the skin plate, cut off the newly peeled rabbit skin (called blood skin), cut off the polluted parts such as head and limbs, and carefully scrape off the residual muscle and fat connective tissue on the skin plate. Otherwise, fresh skin is easy to breed microorganisms, resulting in mildew, depilation, rot and deterioration of the skin, which will also affect the next processing and tanning.
At the same time, in order to prevent the fresh skin from rotting and deterioration, and prevent the board from being eaten by insects during storage, it is necessary to carry out anti-corrosion and insect-proof treatment in time. There are two main methods:
(1) drying method
Reducing moisture in the skin and preventing bacterial activity is the simplest antiseptic method. Dry skin made by this method is called sweet dry skin or light dry skin. The specific method is as follows: firstly, apply or spray pesticides (any pesticide that can kill arthropods) on the skinned skin (rough surface) to prevent various insects from invading and polluting the skin. Then use bamboo or wooden bow (Figure 40) to spread the leather cover (hair inward) in time and put it in a cool, dry and ventilated place to dry quickly. You can also cut the holster from the belly line, arrange it into a rectangle, and stick it on the cardboard to dry in the shade. Do not stretch and widen the plastic skin to avoid skin deformation, resulting in sparse fur and uneven thickness. It is required to be as flat as possible and nailed firmly.
Fig. 40 Bow (unit: cm)
In the drying process, it is forbidden to overlap the leather surface and the wool surface to avoid exposure to the hot sun and prevent the leather board from cracking or being soaked by melted residual fat; Prevent artificial tearing or stabbing of leather board.
Fig. 4 1 rabbit skin drying
(2) salting-out method
This method is widely used, especially for mass slaughter and peeling in hot and humid seasons or regions. Its mechanism is that salt can create hypertonic environment, expel skin moisture and inhibit the growth and reproduction of bacteria, thus achieving the purpose of anticorrosion. Its advantages are strong corrosion resistance, simple operation, avoiding the adhesion and fracture of rabbit skin fiber in the drying process, not easy to rot after being wetted, and less moth-eaten loss during storage. Its disadvantage is that in the process of salt skin drying, collagen fiber bundles become shorter and salt particles remain in the skin, which has certain influence on the natural structure of dermis. The specific method is to soak the fresh skin in 40% ~ 50% salt solution for several days, then shake off the salt, drain the salt water, and put it in a cool, dry and ventilated place to dry or directly use it for tanning.
Fig. 42 Pickling method