Working and softening rabbit hides

I've been using this rabbit "stake" to soften the hides from the kits we dispatched in December, plus a backlog of stiff, dried hides from whole rabbits I'd purchased some years back.

I had heard that some people work their hides over the back of a chair but I wasn't having any luck with that, and doing it with my fingers (as the person who taught me about processing rabbits does) was a nightmare. Chase discovered this tool in a book. I was surprised, as I'd already read a lot about working hides online and had never come across this.

It was a revelation. The pointed edge is much more effective at scraping and stretching than anything I'd tried before. I can sit comfortably in a chair with my thighs over the base to keep it steady, and use minimal arm movement.

Now that I finally have an effective tool, I'm learning more about the proper dampness of the hide to soften it permanently. I'd definitely been working with the hides too wet when I first tried a few years ago - I would stretch them and then they would stiffen completely as they finished drying. Lately I've been erring on the other side with too dry. I've been using a squirt bottle and damp towels to soften just the hide and not the fur itself, and experimenting with various degrees of dampness. I'm doing one at a time instead of a big batch.

Here's a hide that dried out soon after I started working on it:

Here's the same hide a few days later, after I'd re-moistened it and was able to work it thoroughly:

24 hours later it had still stiffened a bit more more than I expected, but is still suitable for my primary goal (dog toys).

So far I've done seven and only one has come close to perfect. I'm guessing it will take 30 or so to really get this down.