1. How does air drying work? Looks like bacteria would eat it up before it dried hard. 2.How do you extend you working time without refreezing over and over? Some competition mounts take from what I have heard up to two years to complete. 3. Do they tan and just rehydrate a section at a time until all is perfect? 4. Can you say if you skin out a deer and don't have time to finish the rough fleshing put it in a pickle and just keep working on it and putting it back until you get it ready to set in the pickle for 3-4 days and then shave and tan? or 5. Would it be bad to let something sit up to 2-3 days in a refrigerator until ready for the pickle?
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Thanks, in advance for any good advice.
John
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about a deer cape? Let's say for example that you are. First of all, if you have these questions, I would probably advise you to send you capes out to a reputable tannery to have tanned. That being said, when you get your cape back from the tannery proceed with it if it is wet tanned, or rehydrate it according to the tannery's instructions. At this point here are your answers:
1. Air drying takes about ten days here for me. This varies of course with conditions. I like to make sure the hair is mostly dry before mounting the cape to prevent possible slippage and to speed a long the drying process. You can alter the drying environment to suit your needs, by dehumidifying and using a fan to speed the process or by actually bagging the whole mount in a plastic garbage bag to slow the process down. During dry winters here, I usually bag mounts, especially competition pieces to slow the drying down. And if you have a good tan, then you don't have to worry about bacteria.
Even before mounting, I need to final flesh my capes and remove the ear cartilage and sew up any holes, typical prep work. I only work evenings and some weekends, so I have the cape in the refrigerator between work sessions, if I know it will go longer, I will freeze the cape and just thaw it again. This is after it is tanned of course. If you are really concerned, you could just rehydrate the head, final flesh this area, and then rehydrate the rest of the cape after you've finished the head. When I use a dry tanned cape, I do not get all the hair wet on the body, I soak the head and ears to rehydrate, but then just wet the hide side of the rest of the cape good with a spray bottle. I may do this several times between refrigeration.
2. If the mount is taking two years to complete,it may be other aspects of it, not the actual taxiing of the skin, that take so long. Example, if I do an open mouth deer, all the detail work inside the mouth is artificial and can be done anytime prior to the actual mounting process. Dido for any habitat or art incorporated with the piece. Again you can bag a well tanned cape for several days after mounting to slow the drying time which allows you to work a little longer.
3. I believe I covered this now.
4. WHen I started and got several deer in at a time, I just caped them out and froze them. Then I could work on one at a time when I had the time to complete the fleshing, splitting, etc... Now that I am faster I can do many in a day and rarely freeze them unless I am really swamped. I don't like to freeze and thaw raw capes at all, I like to get them in, cape them out, split and flesh everything and turn the ears. Now sometimes some things can wait. I may wait overnite at times to split the lips and nostrils and eyelids, but flesh and turn the ears and salt that all down, without getting salt on the lip and eye area, then I finish in the morning. But, my skinning room is in an outdoor building and usually it is cool enough that I can do it. When it is warm in the early fall and I get in a bear, I don't screw around with it, I do it up right now. I may even lay it out in a freezer for a few hours to cool it down before I work on it, but I don't freeze and then thaw it. If something comes in to me frozen , well then you have options.
5. Would it be bad? Has it been salted? How long on the salt? Ideas varying here considerably. Some guys only salt hides a day or two and then it goes in the pickle. Others recommend salting the hide dry, rehydrating and then pickling. But I would not let a cape sit green three days unfleshed, in a refrigerator and then put it in the pickle. I would flesh it and salt it first.
I had the same questions when I started and the answers will come with time and experience. YOu will get faster fleshing and it will make life easier. My schedule is, and I am still pretty slow, CApe out the deer, 20 minutes, flesh the base of the head to the back, 15 min. with a draw knife on a fleshing beam, turn the ears, split the lips, nostrils and eyes and flesh the face, about an hour. So usually about an hour and 45 minutes for the job.(I take measurements and possibly a photo or two) Again, I am still slow.
Hope this helps and use the orange search if you have other questions.
Not talking about a mount drying time. Talking about air dried capes. Say from Africa for example.
My deer cape example was probably a bad one I meant that sometimes I get in a bind and have over estimated my abilities or my wife has to interupt the process, or have to get the kids at school and my time runs out. Can I put a cape in a pickle to hold it until I can get back to it and finish the rough fleshing.
My brothers all trapped and air dried their skins in our cool basement. They always fleshed them first and then stretched them on stretchers. For taxidermy, I wouldn't air dry ever if given the choice and I would send out any African skins that were air dried, to be tanned if I ever did any, which I haven't. I always use salt.
Now you could check into Krowtann, because it does not recommend the salting step, just mix up the solution and add the skins. It has been written about on here over and over and over again. I could see this as a solution for you. It is sold by Ozark Woods, but I have never tried it, but many others have with good result.
If you are commerically tanning your capes, then you have to salt them. Most places won't take an air dried cape.
Air drying works great for pelts because the skin is so thin that a stretcher and a cool breeze dries it out before any bacteria sets in.