when mounting a turkey is the step after degreasing were the bird is soaked in solvent(i suppose to remove the water) neccessary? i recently mounted a bird and included this step however,my basement smelled like mineral spirits for a week. i was wandering if putting a fan on the bird and allowing it to drip dry and then afterwards tumble would be sufficient. thanks for any responses.
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Turkeys are very downy birds. In order to get a good mount the down must be perfectly dry. Anything less and the feathers will not lie correctly. You can skip the solvent step, but be prepared to spend an extra hour or more drying. There is a non-combustable degreaser from Epo-Grip.... Can't remember what it's called. but it still requires drying out water. I would recommend you do your degreesing and drying outside and the smell will be minimal. I think that goes for any toxic chemical we use in taxidermy. What ever you do, get it dry. Good rule for any birds.
Regards
Tony
acetone is a much stronger solvent, which evaporates much quicker than mineral spirits. As it evaporates quicker, the smell disipates much faster. After you blow dry the bird all you should be able to smell is the soap or detergent you have used in the wash process. Just be careful......acetone is much more volitle than mineral spirits.
It really seems to take forever to dry a turkey that is full of water. I rid mine of most of the water by hanging them upside down by the legs for a while. A lot of water will drain out and the feathers will separate and start to fluff. I usually put them into Coleman fuel at this point, but it isn't really essential. Due to past traumatic experiences, I don't use the tumbler on turkeys. I hang them up again, outside, after the solvent step and then blow them dry when they are barely damp. I rub a couple handfuls of tumbler mix on the inside of the skin first to keep the feathers from turning under and sticking, but otherwise the feathers are dust-free.
The end result is a very clean shiny turkey with minimum indoor air polution.
If you dry one without solvent, just keep the blowdryer moving so that you don't heat up any part of the skin too much. You can cook it!
Nancy M.