I ripped a red fox pelt trying to get it off the wood stretcher a little bit. A few inches on the belly.

Now I'm wondering ...

1.) Do I make a nice Larger "window" although I know they don't use the window for fox to make it neat? AND that would prevent it from ripping more of that line that ripped.

2.) Leave it alone.

I would rather do #1 to make it nice and neat but I don't know if I should.
Thanks for your advice

Wet it to make it pliable, sew it and re-dry it.

x2, belly fur isn't very valuable.

Interesting, thanks. Would something like this work?

1.) Dip it in a bucket but just up about 5 inches, let sit for 20-30 minutes.
2.) Take it out, turn just-the-wet-part inside-out. Sew.
3.) Turn that little piece back fur-side-out and dry.....but I don't have to re-stretch it on the board.

Would that work or would I have to re-stretch the entire pelt?

That should work fine

Thanks! I will try that.

i would retack the wet part to keep it from shrinking up. Also to avoid that in the first place when you can't get any pelt off a board take a bath towel and soak it in hot water ring it out and warp it around the whole pelt in a few minutes it will be soft enough to take off with out ripping.

Thanks! You guys are the best.

X3

Garry-

I always polyurethane my boards. It helps to keep pelts from sticking to the boards.