I have been using Epo-Grip for my last few mounts. I took some scrap pieces of a cape, and spread some Epo-Grip on it. I then stuck a piece of foam on this glue. I then tried gluing two pieces cape together. After three days, I was able to just pull these apart, and pull the hide off the piece of foam. Am I missing a step? Do I need to wipe the leather down with something before mounting? I use a professional tannery by the way.
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(1) Which TYPE of Epo-Grip did you use? Epoxy or Waterbased?
(2) Did you wash the excess oil off your cape?
(3) Did you prep the mannikin by scratching or sanding or sandblasting the polished surface and it's mold release agent?
Regardless of #1, if you didn't do #2 or #3, it won't matter anyway. No glue holds oil and no glue can hold a slick form with mold release on it.
If you want to glue two pieces of cape together for some reason, a fabric glue or supeglue will work better though a good epoxy WILL hold them together once all the oils have been removed from the surface.
rd, Tests like this are of very little use really since the test is not comparable to the actual purpose of the product. Many, and probably most, adhessives would do no better in this test but would perform well on a mount. When removing the capes from old mounts in my shop to do remounts I find many which are still holding fine. Often these were mounted with caulking- not known as a super strong adhessive but adequate for mounting well tanned capes. The capes can be pulled from the old mounts but haven't slid on the mannikins for the several years they hung on the wall. True, often the old mounts have drummed a lot and the old hide pastes released with humidity and poorly thinned capes also are a main reason for failure. The Epo-Grip epoxy type adhessive is a fine product when used as intended and can prevent many common problems of gamehead mounting. Hanging in my shop about 12 feet off the floor is a deer I mounted in 1990-the last one I mounted with real hide paste and a poor topical "tan" product. It's there to remind me of what my mounts used to look like-NOT great! The mount on the wall having hung for many years is the only good test that I can think of for determining the quality of a taxidermy product. Enjoy, Aaron H.
George, I used the epoxy based type, I soaked the capes in water for a few hours before mounting, but I didn't use any kind of soap to clean them, and I did go over the entire form with sandpaper, to scratch it up. In my test the paste held good to the form, but not to the cape.
yes George there is a tannery out their that even Epo-Grip won't work on unless extensive carding everywhere!
Lots of them, Lady. Many tanneries use a water INsoluble oil that only soap will will wash out (and then only on the surface). Try the soap first.
One thing I have found out, forget sanding the form! What you must be kidding, right?
No I now sand blast every form, takes all of 10 minutes, removes 100% of the slick surface.
Try this, to see what you did wrong in your test.
Repeat exactly what you did with the tanned skin.
Now repeat with a washed cape.
Do the same with a topical tan.
Do this with Borax, since everyone thinks it works.
Dp this will a raw hide hair on.
When you do this mark the foam with a fine lined marker, so you know exactly where the hide was glued. make sure the edges are sealed down well with all the glues.
Let the test set for one week. Cut them in half and try your test only on half of them. then try the test at two weeks on the 2nd batch.
I did and what I found was most glues work very well with everything except the oily cape and boraxed capes.