I have a dry tanned white tail cape and was told to re hydrate for an hour in cold water and put in plastic bag and place in fridge overnight to sweat. well, when i took this out the next morning and tried to mount it tore apart like wet tissue paper. is there any thing i can do with this hide now? where did i go wrong? please help me. thanks , tom
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Tom,
I use just about the same procedure for rehydrating my capes. The only difference is that I add a pound of salt to 2 gallons of water for the soak. It sounds to me like the acid used to tan the skin was not neutralized completely. I have seen hides that were not completely neutralized "fall apart" when handled. I doubt there is anything that will save the one you have. My friend JOhn C. is very knowledgeable about this sort of thing, if he's reading this post....eh?
Luck to you Tom.
How old was your tanned cape? Anything that you have tanned that you are not going to mount within a year should be stored in a freezer, especially if you live in a humid climate. Tanned skins deteriorate with age and loose their workability(stretch0. The type of tan used is also a factor in shelf life. I personally do not care to rehydrate in a salt solution. In my humid summers the salt rehydrated skins will draw moisture, so the rehydrated skins need a very complete rinsing to eliminate the salt.
All skins contain naturally occuring amino salts, which will combine with moisture(humidity) and form amino acids in the skin. With time these acids will deteriorate the skin. Canids(dog family) are especially prone to this problem. This is the reason that expensive fur caots are kept in cold storage in the summer, colder conditions are dryer conditions and the coats will last longer if stored with proper care. This is something that taxidermists are a little careless with, and "yes" I have some hides hanging here in the shop that should be stored for the summer, but they are mostly cased stuff to sell to tourist, not something waiting to be mounted.
Exactly why your cape went bad, I can't say. You will have to look at the tanning(who tanned it), if it was properly nuetralized and how old it is. I always try to determine where a skin was tanned and how long i has been tanned before I will buy a tanned skin of any kind.
That can be a bummer for sure! It doesn't sound like you did anything wrong. Its possible that the cape was old. Also maybe it had already been soaked before a time or two.
If you bought this already tanned I would contact them and ask for a replacement for sure! You did nothing wrong. Best of luck Al