i am so frustrated right now i am about to lose it. this is the 5th hide that has slipped on me, yet it is always around the ears sometimes the face. maybe it it the salt im using it has yellow prussiate of soda added to it, which im using to dry the hide out and in the pickle, however no slippage occurs during the drying and i check the pickle 2-3x's a days and stir it up for a ph of 1.8. slippage is always occuring or is noticed after the hide is cream tanned and is ready to mount on the manikin. heres my situation on this incident. skinned out coyote turned ears, lips, etc put on salt, used fan to help dry shoke off salt after 5 hours, put new salt on for overnight. then i put in brine solution w/ tide to clean out blood, then into pickle. after 1 1/2 days fleshed face eyes nose lips. into pickle for another 1 1/2 days. neutralized, hang dry 20min, laid out on table cream tanned overnight in plastic bag. froze for 2 weeks till today discovering hair missing a quarter size spot just in front of the ear and the inside of both ears had skin peeling off and missing. right now i put it in the fridge. and am not sure what to do besides cutting the part out and stitching back together and painting the inside of the ears. im using saftee acid and jrts cream tan, i believe i am doing things right and following directions. why the face and ears? are all animals going to have this or just coyotes and coons? this last one put me over the edge and my head is killing me. i know i can send things out to be tanned but i dont want to wait forever to get them back. i want to do this myself. if you dont want to post answers on email me. -what should i do with the coyote, it is still damp.
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You haven't told us how the animal was thawed or how it was handled before you got it. It sounds like you are doing things properly to me, though I've never used jrts.
brine solution w/ tide to clean out blood, then into pickle
Its fine to wash but I always wash the hide and tumble dry it before salting.
Are you allowing the skin to lay in its own fluids?
A hide has to be one a rack so fluids will drip thru or on a slanted table with head upthe slope.
actually all of the animals i got were from a nuisance trapper and am not sure what time of year he got them. he had them stored frozen in a freezer. i had taken the coyote out and let it thaw overnight maybe a good 10 hours before i skinned it. i dont have the hide slanted i had them laying completely flat over milk crates, its not lying on the floor. hope this helps some more.
Paula, I use James Edgar's "one hour tan" from Authentic Taxidermy Supply. You dont have to mess with all that salting, pickling, cream tanning and crap. All you have to do is skin coyote, soak 72 hours in denatured alcohol, soak in "one hour tan" for an hour, flesh and then mount. We do all our mammals this way and have had great results.
First off, can the salt for whatever reason you're using to continue using it. Buy table salt. Since you're using JRTS, follow the directions. Salt heavily overnight, rinse, flesh, paint on JRTS let set 6 hours and then mount or freeze. If I'm freezing mine, I leave theJRTS in place until right before I mount. It doesn't allow the hide to freeze solid. When I wash it off, I usually reshave the hide. For you fuzzy critters, I don't use Mike's DP in a bottle, but I do use the real stuff. DP'd fuzzy critters look just fine and last a lifetime. The faster they're mounted the less trouble you have with them.
Coyotes are notorious for slipping around the ears...when working with coyotes,fox,bobcat, and coons it`s best to let them dry like cardboard before ya put them in the pickle....let them dry hard and get that moisture sucked out of there...especially coyotes and fox.
Or---try Krowtan---get rid of the salting process all together..in my opinion that`s where most people`s problems start..high humidity doesn`t help the salting process either...After I started using Krowtan I seriously doubt I`ll ever switch tanning solutions again..split and turn-degrease---and put it in the tan for 3 days...couldn`t get much easier. Great stretch too...But if ya don`t switch tans I would seriously dry them out rock hard before rehydrating and going to the pickle..
www.travistaxidermy.net
Paula, now do you see why youre having trouble? You have people from all across the country telling you different things about technique and product. Theres more than one right way. Personally, I have some trouble with many opinions posted here already. But Im in a tough situation. If I mention any, Im looked at as going against someone, and sounding like Joe Know it All. Lets say this. The additive in the salt wont bother the skin, its for moisture when storing salt itself. You didnt mention a good degreaser. Predators need to be tightened up quick before they slip, and all the work done to them while stabilized, salted or pickled. Theres reasons why we dont skip steps, too. I didnt remember you getting the moisture out of the hair prior to sweating the skin either. Lots of us are actually pickling the ears and face prior to skinning, just in case the animal was "iffy". Also, we use StopRot with great results.
Again, nobody is wrong here, just many opinions, and mine is just another. Best of luck.
Paula, I think the problem is your "Tide degreasing". I would NEVER (and I rarely use the word never) degrease any skin before pickling. Pickling is done after the skin is dried down using salt. The pickle further sets the hair and once pickling is complete degrease as needed. Properly pickled skins are very durable and simply will not slip assuming the skins were not spoiled early on. In my shop, when I have a bloody skin to tan I rub salt heavily into skin side as well as hair side. Salt will absorbe most of the blood yet not increase slippage risk. The pickle will usually pull out other excess blood. Enjoy, Aaron H.
i have mounted 30 coyotes since november (no exaggeration) and i have had minor slippage on only one ear in that time - i had one brot to me that the lips were dried out badly and i have handled them all the same - krowtann - you cut down many of the steps that you mentioned - if you have less steps and time you will have less time for things to go wrong - i believe if you will give this a try your problems will go away
im printing out this page and am going to do a little more research on each persons responses. if anyone else has more to tell me let me know. thanks people