A friend of mine had his whitetail cape at the taxidermist for 20 months before getting it back and turning it over to me. The taxidermist pretty much fleshed it, except for around the nose, mouth and ear butts. He then wrapped it up and put it in the freezer. Like I said, it was in there for 20 months.
When I got it, I rehydrated it and then set out to tan it. Using Rittel products, I pickled it for a couple days, finished fleshing and shaving it, and then put it back in the pickle for 3 days. I realize that it doesn't need to be in there that long. I kept an eye on the ph and kept it at 2.0 or under. Then I neutralized it, then put it in the tanning agent for 24 hours. Again, keeping an eye on the ph levels. Basically, when I tanned it, I followed the instruction to a "T", except that I kept it in the pickle for a couple extra days.
Now the hair is falling out very easily. Shame on me for not inspecting the hide well before I started out, but I didn't. I just threw it into the pickle.
Is there something that I have done wrong or that I could have done to prevent the hair loss?
Thank you.
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Without seeing the cape first hand. Twenty months in most freezers shouldn't hurt it. Of course it might have been thawed and refrozen a number of times.
You didn't mention salting the cape prior to pickling. Had it already been salted? How did you rehydrate it and why? If the taxidermist had simply fleshed the green hide and frozen it, why was it dry, requiring rehydration? What was the temperature and time in the rehydrate? Had the cape been salted and dried prior to freezing? Was there slippage when you fleshed?
There are several conditions which could cause slippage. I would suspect the lack of salt, as you describe, coupled with a freezer dried cape that was soaked in a rehydrate prior to the pickle......So many things can go wrong. I would suggest you locate and acquire another cape to finish the effort.
You mentioned, "At the Taxidermist"......what are you?
Thank you so much for your response. I don't consider myself a taxidermist yet, I am just beginning.
The cape was salted when I got it. The taxidermist who had it before said it had been tanned. I could not tell, since it was just a lump of frozen hide. I needed to rehydrate it to measure it, so I soaked it in water with a little downy (as someone on that forum suggested) and then sweated it in the frig overnight in a plastic bag. When I got to it the next morning, I realized that it had not been tanned, nor completely fleshed.
I am feeling really guilty, and hoping that I didn't do anything wrong. This is only my second mount, the first time I used dry preservative. But with all the controversy surrounding dry preservative, I decided to try to tan this one. I want to make sure that I don't make the same mistakes the next time, if indeed I did something wrong.
How do I go about finding another cape? Would you suggest EBay?
Thank you so much for your time. You taxidermists are terrific for helping us beginners out.
If the cape would have been tanned it would not have been salted. It can't be both tanned and salted at the same time. Sounds like to me you were given wrong information by the other taxidermists or you misunderstood him. Either way, like Cur stated there are numerous causes for hairslippage. You really have no way of knowing how the cape was treated in the field. How soon it hit the freezer after being caped out, how the other taxi treated it and so on. Don't beat yourself up trying to figure out what went wrong. I don't think it was one single event that ruined the cape but a accumulation of events that eventually ruined it. Just get another cape you know is fresh and in good condition, flesh it properly all in one setting and then salt it. Resalt it after 24 hours and let it dry. Then either rehydrate it and tan it yourself or send it off. It's not that hard and you'll get it done. Sometimes it just takes a couple of tries. Happens to the best of us.
Check out the For Sale and Wanted categories of this forum! All sorts of things are available.