Tumbling

[1stturkey]

Okay, I did my first full mount turkey this past weekend & was shocked at how long it took me, I have a lot of respect for anyone mounting large birds.  My question though is regarding tumbling.  I don't have a tumbler so I just rolled the skin in a plastic bucket with corn cob fines for 30 mins by hand - this was on Saturday & my arms are still sore.  I probably won't ever do enough birds to justify a real tumbler (even though I can see how ONE bird can justify it) but what might my options be?  The bag in the dryer thing?  Less time?

Thanks

[1stturkey]

I actually found my answer in the "old" forum but I do have another....

When I was pumping caulking in the neck area some of it oozed out a hole I had not seen & on to the feathers on the back of the neck, near the head.  I tried to wipe most of it off at the time but it dried before I could clean it.  Any thoughts on the easiest way to get those feathers clean & fluffy again?

[full fan]

I do around 12-15 turkeys a year. I don't have a "tumbler" so I use a 30gal. trash can & tumble by hand too. But I put my turkeys in the "spin cycle " of the washer to get a lot of the water out. Just tumble for a while then cover it up with the corn grit & go do something else for a while then come back to the turkey. Do this a few times & it should help you out.
I helped a friend do his first turkey this week end & we did it "ALL" in 2 days When I do mine I like to do them in stages, set the legs, paint the feet & heads all at one time,flesh &  wash a few skins, then I'm ready to just mount.

[1stturkey]

Thanks for the input.  I can see how less actual time manually turning the bucket would have been okay.  Now I just need to get that caulking off the feathers.  I guess just some nice warm water & gentle brushing?

[mikexnxike01]

I use a hair dryer. It only takes about 15 minutes for a big duck to be dried.
Mike

[Jimmy Rimrock]

Here's my two cents:

I am a tumbler on all birds, mostly because I built a top notch unit, 18 rpm, 55 gal steel drum, CC grit that gets changed often.  I wash, spin and then tumble, NO gas.  I still have to shop blo, (that's a shop vac on exhale mode) a few spots.  If I had to hand tumble, I wouldn't bother with the mess of the grit.  I would spin, blot/roll in good quality clean towels and then shop blo until done/ready.

As far as caulk boo-boo's: stop the leak/quit pumping in more, contain without affecting more feathers, sprinkle with borax, go for a short walk/play with your dog for about 10 minutes.  By then it should have "skinned up" a little and can be lifted off with a wig pin or other tool.  When you try to wipe it off you drive it into the feathers.  Or you can just remove the gooed feathers if there isn't many of them and it will not leave a big hole.

[Eric R]

i just did a blue phase snow and only used my vacuum to dry the feathers and i was very pleased with how it turned out. you just have to make sure that all of the downy feathers are fluffy. It was nice not having to pick all the corn cob grit out of the skin side and wing and leg sockets.

[1stturkey]

I appreciate the help, I like the idea of using the shop vac to dry the feathers.
As far as caulking on the feathers, unfortunately I did force it into the feathers it was on when trying to wipe it off.  I am getting most of it out but have lost some feathers & it is pretty visible, being high up on the back of the neck as it is.  I'm thinking of trying to replace some of the feathers with zap-a-gap.