For a guy just starting out what would some of you old pros recommend tan at home or send to a tannery,self tanning seems like it would require alot of different products with varied results and alot of differnt opinions it seems pretty overwhelmingBut it seems in looking through the archives that tanneries have some pretty long turn around times...Confused and need experinced advice.
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Well Jonney, I'm kind of a newbie myself, only having about 3 years experience but I'll give you my opinion. How much equipment do you have? How much work do you do? Is the consideration a financial one, or a time constraint, or just for your conveniance? My advise is that if you have a fleshing machine and it's not a rug, do it yourself. You need the experiance and practice that it will give you. You'll also get your work done alot quicker, and you have more control over the product. For me, I don't do taxidermy for a living and I like to keep my projects going without having to wait 3 mos. or more, so I do it. With safe-t-acid and the tanning products that are now available, it couldn't be easier. So why not? Search the archives, crank up the flesher, and go for it! Carl
....is better spent mounting something. I also feel that the finished product is better. I have never found an old commercially tanned mount that had deteriorated on the inside. They may be very badly damaged by fire or smoke damage on the outside, but the inside looked as good as new. That says a lot for the durability of a good commercial tan.