Formaldehyde question?

[ocontoflash]

Had a customer drop off a whitetail in velvet. The velvet is hanging in some spots, dried in others and he wants that look. He soaked the antlers in formaldehyde(in fact the hide too.) It was frozen when he dropped them off. I skun the hide and washed the antlers in water. Then I used the antler in velvet tan. Is this going to be an issue later? I was also wondering about the hide, it's pretty stiff and a little colored. Can I wash out the formaldehyde some how? Thanks

[3maytaxidermy]

Its hard to get formaldehyde anymore. My dealings with the stuff is that you only get it on what you want it on. I inject my velvet antles with it, but it is after they are knocked off the skull. I am not sure about the hide. Its probably a unique early hide with reddish hair that is hard to replace. Is the coloration on it any different than it should be? I think you could work the stiffness out, but once again not sure. Very interesting question!

[Nancy C]

I'm surprised that nobody else has answered this yet, especially since a lot of very knowledgeable people frequent this forum. I will try, and hopefully someone else can add to what I say.
Formaldehyde changes protein and stiffens it permanently. The way it was explained to me is that it is like hardboiling an egg. Once the formaldehyde bonds to the protein it will be locked into whatever position it is in and that is the end of the story.
That would be okay for velvet antlers but if it is on the cape you have potentially got a very serious problem. You *might* be able to thin the hide enough to stretch it into position, maybe, but if the hair has set in a weird configuration I don't know what you can do for it.

[joeym]

My suggestion is to throw the cape away...it probably qualifies for toxic waste.  There is no amount of money worth inhaling that crap during the fleshing, tanning, and mounting process.  The fumes are carcinogenic...get rid of it ASAP.  The antlers should be OK if you allow them to air dry outside for a few days.

PS:  I spent plenty of time dissecting frogs and fetal pigs in biology and anatomy over a formaldehyde preserved specimen...the thought of the aroma makes me nauseated now!

[Steve Rotramel (Witchbane)]

Yeah Joey we did that too - and we had a bottle of mercury that we played with, dumping it our and gathering the BBs.  Wonder we survived.

The smell of formaldehyde is something I don't miss.

[ocontoflash]

Well the antlers seem to fine but the cape is a different story.  The hide and hair seem to have some memory to them.  I have the hide soaking in a salt, soap, and water mixture. It seemed to help a little, but not what I'm hoping for.  The only plus side is that the hide was only skun and not fully fleshed. My next question would be if some type of relaxer would work. I really don't want to spend the time on this hide if it is all for nothing. Am I wasting my time? Thanks

[joeym]

You are wasting your time on that hide.

[cyclone]

Nancy has it correct. 
Formaldehyde is a "fixing" agent, also known as a tan...

It's crosslinked the proteins..  I'd try to go directly into a pickle with it..the change in pH may help...

[PA]

Assuming the hide is worth saving, the first step I would use would be to soak the hide in several changes of just tap water over a 24 hour period or more. If it was soaked in just 10% formalin (1 part 37% formaldehyde and 9 parts water), the hide should be able to soak for a couple days without ANY bacterial action. I would then try fleshing it and if that works you just use some form of rub-on tan and apply the hide to the form. If it is still too stiff to flesh properly, e.g. the hide has so much memory that it can't be successfully fleshed, then try a soak in ordinary household ammonia which you buy at the Grocery store diluted to about perhaps 25% overnight (one part ammonia and three parts water). This should relax the hide sufficiently and the basic solution should not be high enough to cause slipping. Weak ammonia does loosen up formaldehyde material and also plumps the hide and meat. If then it is able to flesh, do that next, and as before I would use a rub-on tan and apply it directly to the manikin. You may need to wrap the hide with cheesecloth to keep the hairs in position when drying.

Joey, most of the carcasses that biological supply companies sell for dissection are fixed in formaldehyde, but they add certain "smells" to mask the odor. Way back when they used some phenolic type material. The smell I remember from the fetal pigs, cats, sharks, clams, rats, etc. back in the 1970's is NOT the smell I use when fixing vertebrate specimens with formalin for the fluid collection here. They probably did use phenol many years back but I doubt anything close to it now.