hi folks,
i thawed out acape and my god it smelled so racid i could not flesh it,so i trashed it..(it was a practice cape).well i just ordered some stop-rot,and thought maybe i should of refroze it and experimented,or did i do the right thing by trashing it.thanks tim
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I used stop rot on a few iffy capes before but if the thing stunk that bad I would have scraped it to. You can get capes cheap.
God Bless
Even if the stink was bad enough to gag a maggot, and the colors of the skin looked like those found in a kid's first coloring book, if the hair was not coming out in abundance, it could more than likely could have been saved.
The smell would have probably diminished cosiderably right after the STOP-ROT application.
If a cape were to have the shiny, bald patches from epidermal slip, that cape could probably be saved also. The bald areas are lost, but the sloughing should stop within a fraction of an inch of the edges of the slip spots once treated.
Part of REAL LIFE TAXIDERMY is that instead of a practice cape, it could just as well been a pied, double throat patch, from a 200 pound + field dressed, or an exotic some guy just shelled out big bucks for. A cape like Tim writes of would no doubt need more STOP-ROT than the normal three to five ounces per cape, but the price of a whole bottle is going to be considerably less than a cape replacement. Plus, you never know when your services as a "magician" will be called for.
Experimentation would have been good, as long as experimentation was done within the parameters of established instructions. Crossing chemicals, such as "bactericides", can cause neutralization of one or the other, or both products, so don't even try that one. Let the STOP-ROT do it's job, a job which is much more diverse than a simple bactericide.
Once you put the STOP-ROT on, as directed, and keep the flesh side exposed to the air, then you should find that the skin will air dry before it rots. It takes a good number of hours to air dry, that should buy a person all the time they need to flesh, split, and turn. This is a huge asset to those just starting out and are slow from inexperience, and doing all the work by hand.
Gary Beigh, with Van Dyke's, had called a few weeks ago with questions regarding some of their customer's statements. Specifically, carrying STOP-ROT in the field in lieu of salt. I told him that was true, and such had already been done on bear, and elk hunts, and in each case everything went well, or I would have been the first to hear if things went wrong. I also told him, half kidding, and half serious, that it looked like as if I was going to have to write an Operator's Manual for STOP-ROT because of all the new findings, and other people consistently supporting my findings.
I have been told that a lifesize bison bull will salt dry in half the time if STOP-ROT has been used on it first. Keep that thought in mind.
The name is STOP-ROT, but you can also read that as prevent rot. If you're not using STOP-ROT up front on green capes and hides as a pretreatment, you're missing a good ride, especially anything going into the freezer.
Here are some of the application advantages that are noteworthy for those using milder acids, and paint on tans. With warmer and more humid weather coming up, STOP-ROT use will be coming into it's own. Brush STOP-ROT on the flesh side of a cape, or skin, as it thaws, once you can get to the ears, eyelids, lips, and nose, brush it on the hair side of those parts also.
Many STOP-ROT users will have noticed a gooey, gluey, sticky fluid that will drip off a green skin that has been STOP-ROT treated. They also will have noticed that a skin will have a look to it like as if the skin had already been partially pickled. There's nothing wrong with the person's eye balls, the STOP-ROT is bonding with a lot of these soluble fluids found in the skin, which in turn is allowing them to drain away from between the collagen fibres, thus producing that leather fibre look.
When STOP-ROT is painted on the slimy membrane (hypodermis) of a deer cape there is an instant reaction that can been seen, and felt by hand. Give it a little time to air dry, and it can be shaved off a lot easier by hand, and will come off really well with a fleshing machine.
The STOP-ROT has actually done a similar job on solubiles that would normally be done by an acid, the difference being, bonding, and flushing, versus being burned up, or dissolved by an acid in a pickle. With those out of the way, the acid has less work to do in the pickle.
Now that you're in thinking mode, here's some more food for thought.
Once a cape or skin has been treated, and prepped, and it has been STOP-ROT treated for at least an hour, you can put it into a saltwater solution of one gallon of water to one pound of salt. For a deer cape, three gallons is enough. The salt water solution will clean up the hair side, and draw from the skin. Play this part by eye, swirl the cape to clean as needed, a few minutes to half an hour in this solution is all that is needed, it's going to depend on how dirty, and bloody the cape is as to how long it will take. Drain the cape.
Salt the cape. Personal preference is to salt, and roll the cape up with the head parts in, a cape treated like this is going to drain and dry pretty quick, and I would just as soon not have to rehydrate it before going into the pickle. It will not take very many hours for it to drain to the point of drying. The proteins that were there that would normally "hold water", they're gone. Once the fluids run clear, it is ready to go in the pickle. That simple.
Here's another part of the quo that you should see will have changed. The pH of your acid pickle should stabalize quicker. If your pH did stabalize quicker than you are used to, and the cape has the uniform white look, after three days in the pickle, then you are probably ready to finish the cape up without having to return it to the pickle.
I've got tons more accumulated data, I was once again about half serious about the Operator's Manual. Give me enough time, and I'll get it done.
Glen
Glen,
so you are saying that when using Stop Rot you are NOT supposed to use
any type of bactericide? Is this on the bottle, if it was I must have
missed it. If the Stop Rot and the Bacteriacide would neutralize each other,
that would explain some of the problems I just had with an "iffy" cape.
Please elaborate further on this aspect.
Thanks, Hovice
Denatured alcohol will kill bacteria on a hide. As long as the hair is not already slipping. Give the hide a good soaking in some denatured alcohol. Works almost the same as Stop rot, Hope this helps.
Michelle W @ Michelle's Taxidermy
your bottle should have had a label on it with some very basic instructions. This bottle in turn should have came to you in a plastic sleeve that also contained a flyer with more instructions yet.
No where on these instructions does it say to use WITH a bactericide.
The preservation properties pointed out for fish and bird use should be a pretty good indicator that a bactericide is not called for.
To better understand, let's take a look at Michelle's post, and use it as an example. "Denatured alcohol will kill bacteria on a hide." She just made what is called a "Kill Claim", I mean to tell you, she even used the kill word! A word ending in "cide" means the same thing. She went on to say, "As long as the hair is not already slipping." There's two claims. She further states, "Give the hide a good soaking in some denatured alcohol. Works almost the same as Stop rot", there's a third claim.
In this society, use of "cide", and the "kill" word comes at a price. Submissions must be made to the FDA, then an independent testing laboratory has to confirm EACH of the claims made. Once that is done, everything goes before the EPA. Then if everything gets the "set to go", the kill word, and cide can be used, BUT along with that will be one of those lables that says, "It is a violation of Federal law to use this product in a manner inconsistent with it's labeling."
Now, let's pretend that Michelle is the manufacturer of "her" product, and has all her red tape in a row. She figures out that there is a larger market place for her product as a solvent for orange shellac. Now things can get real tricky by getting into gray areas of the law, there's a kill claim in place. What to do now?
Now, Hovice, the above should help you to understand as to why I write the way I do. You will see a lot of words like should, probably, more than likely, in all proability, and so forth. I do not do that totally by choice, I don't make the rules, I just try to play by them.
Old saying, if all else fails, read the instructions.
Michelle, how in the world did you ever come to your conclusion?
STOP-ROT is a registered trademark of WHITETAIL DESIGNER SYSTEMS, INC.
What do you mean? " Michelle, how in the world did you ever come to your conclusion?".
Michelle Wilson @ Michelle's Taxidermy