Understanding Fur: Types, Insulation, and Uses

Fur

Introduction to Fur

Fur, the hairy covering on the skin of certain mammals. Most fur consists of two layers–underfur, the short, soft, curly hair next to the skin; and guard hair, the longer, stiffer hairs covering the underfur. These two layers, together with the skin, make up the pelt. Fur keeps animals warm because the hairs retain a layer of air that serves as insulation against the cold. Fur made into garments provides warmth, and also gives some wearers a sense of luxury. Fur garments include jackets, coats, neckpieces, and hats.

Good quality fur is lustrous and is uniform in color, depth, and texture. The skin, or leather side, is soft and supple, but firm and strong. Buyers of fur garments are protected by law against mislabeling. The label must state the name of the animal, whether the garment has been dyed or otherwise altered, and the country of origin. Pile fabrics that resemble furs are usually made of synthetic fibers.

Animals grow heavy, thick coats of fur during cold winters and at high altitudes, and thinner coats in warmer areas. Animals in snowy regions are generally light in color; those in warmer, forested areas are usually of a darker shade. Changing seasons also affect fur. Animals that become dormant in winter eat heavily and have fur of excellent quality in fall; when they awaken, they are thin and their fur is faded.

The best fur is taken soon after an animal reaches maturity. Very young animals have thick pelts, but the hair is too soft and the skin too tender for use in garments. An old animal's coat is coarse and shaggy.

Sources of Furs

Furs come from almost every part of the world. The chief exporters are the Scandinavian countries, the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, Russia, and China. United States furs include mink, fox, raccoon, beaver, muskrat, sable, fisher, lynx, nutria, opossum, coyote, chinchilla, and rabbit. Leading fur-producing states are Alaska, Louisiana, Utah, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Iowa, South Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.

Animals are either bred for their fur or are trapped. They are seldom shot for their fur because of possible damage to the pelts.

Trapping

In colonial America, most of the furs were supplied by Indians and white trappers who spent their winters tending lines of traps. Today, most trapping is done by woodsmen and by farmers who operate trap lines to supplement their incomes. The most important trapping areas in North America are Canada, the northern United States (including Alaska), and Louisiana. Trapping is closely regulated by state and provincial governments.

Fur Farms

Approximately 90 per cent of the furs used by the United States fur industry are from fur farms. Mink, fox, chinchilla, nutria, and rabbit are raised there. The animals are fed a well-balanced diet. Animals selected for pelts are placed in individual enclosures, called furring pens, in the fall. Here their fur reaches its prime (best quality) condition.

Marketing Furs

Fur farmers generally sell their pelts at auction, but many pelts are sold at private sales. Trappers may sell their pelts to country stores that in turn sell to dealers, or trappers may sell directly to dealers. The dealers, in turn, sell to exporters or manufacturers.

Trade in certain furs, including those from tiger, seal, leopard, ocelot, and bear, is prohibited by law in the United States because these animals are rare or endangered species; that is, their numbers have been so reduced that they are in danger of extinction. Animal-rights advocates oppose the use of furs of any kind.

How Furs Are Processed

Dressing

of pelts includes scraping, tanning, and softening, and in some ways resembles the manufacture of leather. The fur dresser receives pelts that have been stretched and dried to preserve them. A pelt is first soaked in saltwater to soften the skin and stop bacterial action. Workers called fleshers scrape away bits of fat and flesh adhering to the skin. The pelts are then placed in a pickling bath of potash alum or ammonia alum and salt, to which hydrochloric or sulfuric acid is added to decompose the salts and make the skin opaque.

After the skin is rubbed with an oil compound, the pelt is placed in a kicker to be softened by beating. The pelts are then cleaned by tumbling them in revolving drums containing hardwood sawdust. Some pelts are washed in a weak soap solution.

Of many methods of tanning, one of the most common is oil tanning. The cleaned pelts are first moistened by being tumbled in damp sawdust. Next, the flesh side of the pelt is coated with cod-liver oil or other fish oil. After drying for a few days, the pelts are washed in a sodium carbonate solution, and rinsed.

After tanning, pelts are dried, then staked (stretched in all directions) over a stationary, dull metal blade to make the leather flexible. The furs are combed, brushed, and beaten with flexible rods or strips of leather to loosen the hair. The final cleaning is completed by tumbling the pelts in drums containing hardwood sawdust.

Dyeing

Furs are dyed for any of several reasons—to improve the colors, to eliminate the work of matching skins, or to make them look like more valuable furs. The furs most often dyed to resemble better furs are marmot, red fox, rabbit, muskrat, squirrel, opossum, raccoon, and lamb processed as mouton. Many of these furs can be made to resemble marten, seal, chinchilla, mink, or sable.

Before furs are dyed, they are put through preliminary processes to make the hair more receptive to dye and to improve color fastness. There are two methods of dyeing. In one, the fiber tips and guard hairs are brushed with dye; in the other, the entire pelt is saturated with dyestuff. The chief dyes used are wood dyes and tannin; mineral dyes, such as potassium permanganate; oxidation dyes, such as aniline; and coal-tar dyes, such as acid and chrome dyes.

Pointing

consists of gluing badger hairs (sometimes one by one) into other pelts, such as fox. The process is often used on pelts that are sparsely haired, or when better quality furs are to be imitated.

How Fur Garments Are Made

The first step is matching of the skins, that is, choosing skins that are as nearly alike as possible. The furs are then cut to the proper size and sent to the nailer, who wets the sections, stretches them into the proper shape, and nails them to a board on which the garment pattern is chalked.

After the stretched sections are sewn together, finishers install the buttons, tapes (reinforcing strips of cloth), and linings. The finished garment is then glazed by wetting and ironing the fur to increase its luster. Glazing from time to time throughout the life of a fur garment is recommended by furriers.