I was watching some fur handling videos on YouTube the other day that were put out by Alaska Fish & Game last year and there was some great information in there. One of the things that was mentioned was freeze drying your pelts after fleshing and boarding, instead of hanging them in a typical fur shed environment at a moderate temperature. They were saying there's multiple benefits to this, including the leather turning out "whiter" (obviously dependent on the species) in the final product. Because it's Alaska, I guess I'm assuming that they're talking about hanging these boarded pelts outside in freezing temperatures, but I suppose if you had a walk-in freezer and were so inclined, you could go that route as well.

I've never heard of doing this and I'm wondering if somebody can elaborate a bit - both on the benefits and if there's anything else that should be mentioned, such as leaving pelts too long and risking damage, the difference between freezing temps and REALLY freezing temps, et cetera. I tried to run a search for it here but all the results are just about freezing pelts for storage, either before or after the whole fur handling process is complete. I'm just curious what information this will turn up as this is a new concept to me. Thanks

As a kid I discovered by accident that my b’ver furs left outside for a long time in very cold dry conditions (N WI)turned out lighter colored on the skin side and tended to grade better. I still do this sometimes but it does take a lot longer.

Will have to try this on a beaver this year

Well at least I know there’s some validity to it, then.

Nobody else has any info on this? I was really hoping somebody was doing this regularly and could speak to it.

The James Bay Cree are the Masters at frost drying fur-especially beaver.



You need long periods of very cold weather to do it correctly.

And if there’s a brief warm up with high humidity it’ll absorb moisture and set the timing back a ways.

That’s very interesting and makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the response.

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Just to give an idea of the creamy color on the skin side. November b’ver from this year full of holes and bites. Caught for bait. Freeze dried outside on a hoop for about 6-8 weeks