# REAL FUR repair help



## SGRedAlert (Dec 1, 2011)

As much as I hate taxidermy and the like, my older  brother had bought a real fur shawl for his girlfriend this Christmas  season but it came from eBay and it was torn up. Since there are no  returns and he doesn't want to trash it, he gave it to me to make things  out of since I sew plushies and I've been bitching about never being  able to find faux fur where I live.

There are large spots of untorn fur, so it's not like it looks like it  ran through a war zone, there's just one or two large holes in the shawl  and the skin behind it is extremely dry and just a very slight tug will  tear the holes further.
My mother was thinking mineral oil might help but I'm not sure. I can't  find anything online except how not to treat real fur, and this fur  looks like it was dried using a blow dryer or something else that would  dry it out fast.
The fur itself seems clean and such, but the leather is the problem.

It's mink.

I was wondering if any of you could possibly give  me any advice on this since as much as I despise real fur and taxidermy,  I certainly don't want to waste it. 

Thank you, 
     SGRedAlert


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## Bir (Dec 1, 2011)

You could try using actual leather oil. My hubby who's worked in a leather shop is telling me that once it's been dried to the point it's either flaking apart or ripping, it's been too damaged to turn back. The skin is not alive so even adding Olive oil won't help rejuvenate it. 

To be honest, you should just throw it away. If you try to make anything with it, it's just going to flake and fall apart, and you don't want to sell something with that sort of life span. Perhaps you can lay it outside inside a box so some stray cats can have warmth this winter.


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## Volkodav (Dec 1, 2011)

> There are large spots of untorn fur, so it's not like it looks like it ran through a war zone, there's just one or two large holes in the shawl and the skin behind it is extremely dry and just a very slight tug will tear the holes further.


Sounds like a very old mink shawl.



> My mother was thinking mineral oil might help but I'm not sure. I can't find anything online except how not to treat real fur, and this fur looks like it was dried using a blow dryer or something else that would dry it out fast.


Personally, I wouldn't risk dampening it at all cause it could literally just fall apart in your hands.
Mail me it lololol 

Aint much you can do with a pelt that's falling apart that easily.


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## SGRedAlert (Dec 1, 2011)

Yes, it's flaking apart and it's like paper. Is there nothing I can do?


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## Bir (Dec 1, 2011)

There is nothing you can do. Sorry, man. : /


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## sunandshadow (Dec 1, 2011)

You can discard the skin part and use the fur for something.  It's harder to work with that way but you could use it to make eyelashes, mustaches, paintbrushes, and I think I read somewhere that loose fur can be needle-felted or glued to a mesh backing.


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## SGRedAlert (Dec 1, 2011)

I was planning on perhaps trying to make a backing for it. I'll be going to the fabric shop on Friday, maybe I can clean and rehydrate the leather a little to the point where it's still brittle and paper thin but at least somewhat better, and glue it somehow to a different fabric.


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## SGRedAlert (Dec 1, 2011)

I am a -genius- folks.

I tediously and gently cleaned the back leather of any flaking and dirt and then took some non-elastic material, denim, and hot glued it to the leather with my low-temp glue gun.
It absolutely refuses to tear and since the denim doesn't stretch, the leather won't be pulled on.

Thank you all for your help! <3 I would have spent all this money and time trying to hydrate it if it weren't for this forum. Thank you all very much!


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## Ad Hoc (Dec 1, 2011)

SGRedAlert said:


> I am a -genius- folks.
> 
> I tediously and gently cleaned the back leather of any flaking and dirt and then took some non-elastic material, denim, and hot glued it to the leather with my low-temp glue gun.
> It absolutely refuses to tear and since the denim doesn't stretch, the leather won't be pulled on.
> ...


That's an interesting fix, I wonder if it will work in the long term. Neat idea.


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## dinosaurdammit (Dec 1, 2011)

Dude if you have fur slippage you need to can it because the leather is now unable to keep moisture out. Mold will take hold and mold that grows in furs is deadly. It will shed and it will be horrible. Contact the seller, he sold you something bad and torn up. I would only recommend you use it for fly tying. Crack open an ebay and paypal dispute and make them refund your money because they cheated you or your brother knows NOTHING about fur and shouldnt never buy a fur product without touching it. DONT GIVE IT TO HER, human sweat can cause mold to start growing and that mold is DEADLY


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## Volkodav (Dec 1, 2011)

SGRedAlert said:


> I am a -genius- folks.
> 
> I tediously and gently cleaned the back leather of any flaking and dirt and then took some non-elastic material, denim, and hot glued it to the leather with my low-temp glue gun.
> It absolutely refuses to tear and since the denim doesn't stretch, the leather won't be pulled on.
> ...



yep, seconding what DD said

Thoguh it may work ATM, that fur will end up shedding and falling out. 
I would open up an ebay/paypal dispute against that person [unless they stated the condition of the fur]

Give it to your cat or something


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## dinosaurdammit (Dec 1, 2011)

Clayton said:


> yep, seconding what DD said
> 
> Thoguh it may work ATM, that fur will end up shedding and falling out.
> I would open up an ebay/paypal dispute against that person [unless they stated the condition of the fur]
> ...




only problem with giving it to cats is that cats can ingest it. While cats can usually puke up hair you run into a problem of him getting too much fur at once and getting his gi tract blocked or worse if the chemicals they used to tan it were older then it still contains heavy metals used in fashion fur tanning that can kill him. Your best bet is to throw it away because its dangerous to house pets if ingested. If it doesnt hurt him right away he can get TERRIBLE cancer.


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## israfur (Dec 2, 2011)

Don't get anything like that from online, my goodness. D: 
This is a VERY strange home remedy for pelts but it's still a solution none the less; Take a brain from a freshly killed deer and rub it all over the fur scarf. Brain juices and all. It's what the Native Americans did to preserve their leather shoes and coats. I doubt that you'll find a fresh deer brain with all it's juices in a store, so you'll need to personally hunt a deer for yourself.
Hope this helped.


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