Ladies/Gentlemen
I may have wrecked a very good cape today! I washed a cape in Dawn dish detergent(anti-bacteria type) and relaxo after fleshing. Then I bondo the ears and froze. It is going to be a DP mount. My concearn is hair slippage. The cape was not salted. After washing I blowed dryed the hair side. The cape was in very good shape. What do you think? Are they're anything I can do when the cape is thawed to prevent slippage Or just mount and see what happens? Yes,I did look the archives (washing) and see that I need to add some type of anti-bacteria stopper next time! but really didn't see anything related to this situation. Any suggestion will be good. Thanks
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It sounds like you're mixing apples with oranges. First off, why the Relaxo if the hide was fresh? Dawn is OK, I guess, but I like Knobloch's Pro-Tex Pre-Soak for my hides for it's bug repelling action. Bondo ears ain't my favorite discussion anyway, but I certainly wouldn't Bondo them and then freeze them. Bondo only takes a few minutes anyway and can be done right before mounting. If you are using DP, you should NEVER EVER SALT. Salt dries out the cell structures that you're hoping the DP saturates. Anti-bacterial should not be a concern IF the hide is fresh (and it should be even if you were tanning it). DP was designed for simplicity and you seem intent on making it difficult. With the steps you're taking, you may as well use the quick tans on the market.
An alum bath. I doubt you need it. I agree with George about the process used. Freezing shouldn't hurt the green hide, especially after it had been washed in the dawn solution.....Relaxo? That is a new one on me too. Freezing can hurt the bondo if there were any interstices that had filled with water prior to freezing. The water may expand and crack the bondo. I also think that using the bondo that far in advance may cause fitting problems later.
My advice is to buy a manual or video and follow the instructions. The archives are a great source for detailed information and specific solutions to rare problems, but a manual or instruction video will give one the basic knowledge required to assualt a project.
thanks for the response,I used the relaxo because I read that it has some of the anti-bacteria stuff in it. The reason I bondoed the ears was because the rack doesn't belong with the cape;it was a pick up and I may have to spend a great deal of time closing the cape around the bases. I built the base with bondo but not sure if everythings in place. The rack is huge. I just hope I can get the cape closed around the base. So the ear bondo was just an effort to save time. I just realized that I didn't put DP in the ears before I bondoed. Damn! I will mount next week. Thanks again!