Just needing some opinions. Is it better to tan everything myself when Im just starting. I don't have alot of work right now, so I have the time to do it, the only thing I need to do is buy a fleshing machine. I was taught how to do both ways, but recommended to send off. It just seems that right now I could be doing the work and having it done that much quicker. How do you all do it? Thanks in advance.
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Do it yourself, if you have time. It gives you more control over your final product. If you get busy, then I would say send your tanning off. Also, no matter how busy you are, I would send all my bears off. You will get a much better tan on them. Just my opinion.
A commercial tannery is always a good sharp knife to carry in your pocket. If you can do your deer yourself, do them, but if the workload starts to pack in, then take that knife out of your pocket and use it.
When I was just starting out (not that I'm really much past the beginner stage right now), I sent my capes off to an outside tannery that did both the fleshing and tanning. It saved me the expense of having to puchase a fleshing machine. At first, I was getting a really fast turn-around and the quality was pretty high, I had pretty much decided that it would never be worth the hassle to do my own fleshing and tanning. But, as time went on, the quality was slightly less than at first, and turn-around time become less than what I was willing to accept. I am now doing my own fleshing and tanning, and I have complete control of both the fleshing quality and the turn-around time. However, I tried not to burn any bridges with the tannery I was working with, as George said, "It's nice to know you have that sharp knife in your pocket, just in case".
I appreciate it!