Shrinkage

I have a whitail cape that I have rough fleshed salted and placed in an acid pickle.
I do not have a fleshing machine to thin the cape. when I lay the wet cape out flat on a table it measure 8" across the neck to the outer edges of the skin, just below the bottom of the ears. how much has the cape shrunk? how much should I be able to stretch back? and what size neck should I order on my manikin?

thanks!

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Billy

You need to fully neutralize the cape in a mixture of 1 tbsp baking soda per gallon of water before measuring. Let it neutralize for at least 30 minutes. Then, stretch the cape and measure. This will give you a pretty accurate measurement. When the cape is in the acid pickle, it draws up. When you neutralize it, it lets back out.

You can get by without thinning the cape, but all the membrane and fat must be gone or you will have problems. As a minimum, I would thin the facial areas by hand with a scalpel or skife knife. Otherwise, you will get a lot of shrinkage around the eyes, nose, and lips.