hey there, How would you go about rehydrating a wet tan bear cape? It has been in the freezer for a couple years and is a bit stiff possibly a little freezer burnt.Just use water or is there a chemical or something. thanks fo the help.
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with a capful of *Downy fabric softener and you should be alright, I've had them frozen that long and been akay doing the above
usually if you soak a hide that has been pickled, you need to add some salt to the soak to prevent acid swell. That's what my tannery recommends, The Wildlife Gallery.
Cam;
Whenever your rehydrating a hide add a handful of salt per gallon of water. And never put a hide thats just been pickled in plain water. You will get acid swelling.
Coyote
comimg from? He quoted he had a thoroughly tanned bear!
NOW you tell me. I jest tooked me first bath...sat in the water...and now me ass is swelling. WHY didntcha tell me bout the Salt before?
[Buy the Weigh...didja git me E-Mail yesterday?]
~ ETCC
You haffta furgive Mike. You see...he jest got hit by a train yesterday. (See "THE HUNTING TRIP" Post on Taxidermy.Net Forum).
~ ETCC
.....I prefer sponging the skin instead of supmurging. You can controll just how wet you want the tanned skins to be. But I will always sweat them over night.
Plus,it will prevent the hair from getting soaking wet as well.
And Mike is correct in a sence. You'll never really get rid of the acids in a pickled skin entirely. And more acids are used in the Tannins themselves such as Lutan or Ez tan. The salt that you put into your tanning solutions during the taning process is there simply to stablize the acid in the tannins.
Hopefully,Glen Conley will read this and help us further on this subject.
Have a great day to ya's,
Dave
PS....Mike,I thought you were hit by that train the other day!LMAO
that if the hide is tanned, it has been pickled. Since the practice is to pickle and then tan, the interior of the hide may still remain acidic from the pickle and therefore acid swell can occur if salt is not added. I know the hide is neutralized after pickling, but that is a brief soak that only neutralizes the surface of the hide, to prevent "surface tan" and the interior remains acidic from the pickle and will still attract water and cause acid swell. So that's where the pickle comes from.
you must have just beat me to my post, could've saved you some time but its always nice to hear I'm right, that's never happened before.
......you've really been doing your home work my friend !
I have had exctensive conversations with Both Bruce Rittel and Glen Conley over the years. and have learned tons from these great guys. Seems as everyone has the same questions.
I had an extensive e-mail from Glen just this morning and we can probably expect to see a post from him here soon.In his e-mail,he told me that there was no need to add salt to any Neutralizing solution because there is not going to be any Acid swell during the process. I never did but was really curious to know. Its always interesting to hear what Glen has to say.
Coyote......are the people dancing in the streets near you?
Have a great day to all,
Dave
kristoph said to use Downy.Do I put it in a pail with a water and Downy mixture, and for how long? Can I get this mixture on the fur?
Do I wash the cape off with water or something after.
Or do i use salt and water or salt/water/and Downy or what.Thanks again.