Smoking Small Skins

There are several ways of going about smoking smaller skins. If you have only a few and you aren’t interested in smoking the fur too much, this kind of box is a good solution.

First you make a fire. It’s easier and safer to move the box to the fire than to attempt to light a fire inside it. Make a properly hot one. Burnt stubs doesn’t matter, you’re going to suffocate the fire with chips of rotten wood anyway.

When you have a proper smoke going, drape the skin over the box and keep it down with the lid.

Periodically check if the fire gets too hot and put more rotten wood on if it does. The minimum smoking time I consider to be one hour, but more is better.

For those who wonder, smoking makes the skins uninteresting for moths, a huge problem during the summer months. It also makes it possible to more easily soften the skins again if they get wet. I smoke all my furs, even if I don’t expect them to ever get wet. Simply because of the insect repellant qualities.