I have just given back some work that I had taken on and can not complete do to unforseen circumstances. I had one cape tanned and one cape salted and dried. The owner called two other taxidermists that said nobody salts and drys their stuff any more. Is this true? My animals always seemed to come out better after salting drying hydrating pickling shaving and so on. Have I been doing it wrong? If you can cut out steps I guess that would save time and time is money!
Craig
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Your customer ran into two guys who use dry preservative instead of tanning, that's all. Salt hasn't been replaced and that "no one ever salts anymore" is just a flimsy excuse for a less acceptable method.
ALL" of us certainly weren't asked.
Craig,
Sombody's pulling your leg, keep on salting and drying,it's good insurance,just ask Bruce Rittel,and any of the tanneries,unless the "other taxidermist"are doing there own,even then I would still salt and dry!Lock the hair in.
Good Luck Jeff S.
if your useing an auto tanner you do not salt
"ALL" of us don't have auto tanners either, though I'm sure Steve would like to change that. LOL
Thanks for the reasurance guys! I recently lost my place to do my work so I had to turn some of my friends stuff back and these comments came from two other taxidermists in my state which is Maine. I am not always one to speak up because I still consider myself new to the trade. I have been dabbling with this for three years and I have done alot of reading and I was certain that salting and drying was still a common practice. The dry preservitive would make sence I have seen some of their work and they have the big streak of appoxy around the mouth and tearducts, that must be to cover up shrinkage from not shaving it thin enough, probably because it was to hard to work with from not doing the proper steps! I don't know!
Is there anyone in the Montana or Wyoming area looking for a young guy to take under their wing, give him a job, teach him some good stuff? I am a very fast learner and I have a little too much ambition at times. I am considering moving out that way and I am looking at several different job fields and if it were financially feasible I would love to do Taxidermy for a living. If anyone has any suggestions shoot me an e-mail.
Thanks again guys,
Craig
Salt works. Think you gots the cart before the horsie....should be paying a Taxidermist to teach you by letting you work for him...LOL.
Check THIS site...NO SALT...www.whitetailsystems.com
Glen Conley's Revolutionary Tanning System...also his STOP ROT. Read and print out every page link...study the pics...entire training system there online for you.
~ ETCC
Salt works. Think you gots the cart before the horsie....should be paying a Taxidermist to teach you by letting you work for him...LOL.
Check THIS site...NO SALT...www.whitetailsystems.com
Glen Conley's Revolutionary Tanning System...also his STOP ROT. Read and print out every page link...study the pics...entire training system there online for you.
~ ETCC
I do recommend salt (sodium chloride), I personally do not salt until
dry, never have, and probably never will. If I had to store hundreds
of hides or capes, I would change my tune.
Below is the page address and the description of the way I handle
salting.
http://www.whitetailsystems.com/productline/green.php
"Salt down flesh side. Roll up with head parts in and flesh side out.
Allow to sit 12-24 hours. Unroll. Re-salt. Roll up again. Proceed to
Acid step after another 12-24 hours."
Salt is a tool. It is a cheap tool. It is probably the most fool proof tool available to the tanner. Granted, a person can produce
a respectable tan with out using salt, but the expense and the labor
intensity does not make it practical to do so.
Here is another address and quote off the website, this was an extreme case, but I just had to save this cape for the guy.
http://www.whitetailsystems.com/productline/STOP-ROT.php
"Six hours later the cape was already starting to get stiff from salt
drying. I'm darn glad I checked it, I had mental images of a dried
out coil of a cape that might have been hard to rehydrate. I once
again rehydrated with plain old water until soft, and then put it
into the Leatherizing Acid pickle, just eight hours after salting.
At that point, the rotten dead odor was ALMOST gone, but the skin
still had a green cast."
Not only will salt "dry" a skin, but it can also be used as a "draw".
It will draw acids from the skin that can otherwise work as catalysts.
Some time when you have nothing better to do, check the pH of the
drainage from a skin to which nothing has been done.
Not all acids share the same chemical properties, nor do they have the
same effect on skin and hair. If there is one thing that they all probably have in common is this, salt, as sodium chloride, is not going to screw with the efficiency of the acid.
ETCC, you've been making me have to do an awful lot of thinking lately. Bad thing about that is, once I get in that mode, I start trying to put those thoughts into practical application. Since we're here.............
STOP-ROT definitely changes the quo when it comes to handling green skins. If you prefer salt drying, it has been known to speed up salt
drying considerably on thick skins, even in higher humidities, BUT
you will notice too, that it allows a skin to air dry a lot quicker also.
I'm not a salt dry kind of guy. I'm a freezer kind of guy. I see the freezer as another tool, over looked by many. Maybe after taking
the pH of the drained affluent from that skin that you were playing
with when you had nothing better to do, pour it into a clear plastic
cup and put it in the freezer. Check on it and watch it really closely, every few minutes, until it freezes. Then take the cup out,
set it on the table, and watch it's contents thaw. Sound stupid?
Shake up a bottle of STOP-ROT, pour some of it into a cup and repeat
the above procedure. Notice any similarities? Coincidence? I think
not.
If you want a more obvious eye opener, put a STOP-ROT treated green cape into the freezer along with a green cape to which nothing has been done. Check on them once a week for a few months and make some
comparisons.
Well, ETCC, I hope you are proud of yourself, you caused me to start
thinking. One thing that I haven't done is to take a cape that has been frozen with a STOP-ROT application and put that straight into
the pickle. I guess I'll be buying a few extra capes this coming season to play with.
TIME IN!
Wow that was alot to type and very helpful thanx ......keep it commin