how long do you guys think a wet tanned cape is good for wrapped in a white garbage bag and placed in a box when its 95 degrees out?
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This one looks like the lucks been pushed a little. You can hope that the tanning is complete and efficient whereby the hair is locked into place, but that's only theory. I'd be very VERY careful with that one.
I have several scrap deer hide peices that were tanned with Krowtann that I saved for my sister who ties flies, well I had bagged up several (still wet) but I was going out of town so I left them in my old wood truck and told her to have someone come by and pick them up well I got in the truck monday (six weeks later) and they were still there I opened the bag and checked them out and they were dried out but were fine, I have a coon hide and a deer hide that I tanned with Krowtann right after it came out and I left them nailed to the side of the barn intentionally exposed to the elements and they still look like they did when I hung them there but it suprised me that the cape scraps were ok because I bagged them up wet and piled on each other and they sit in that truck with all the windows up for a month and a half with temps in the high 90's and they didn't stink or anything. I would bet though that a thinner or more fragile hide such as a bobcat or fox might have been different. If the hide isn't importand try it out and make your own evaluation based on the results but if your shipping it and your worried about it at all I would let it air dry first.
A tannery sent the items to a wrong adress and it has now been in transit since Monday. I will not name the tannery but the hide was a mountain lion and the other was a whitetail cape. Both of them were my own personal items and not any of my customers stuff(thank god) The lion was going to be used in my state competition and I purposely obtained a lion of the concolor stanleyana sub-specie of East Texas for the smaller frame and unique look. Now I think I am at a loss and don't know what to do if they are unusable. What should I do? What type of compensation should I expect from the tannery?
Talk to your tanner first. Do they use a freezer to store your hides before shipping or do they store them at room temp? The use of bacteriacides in the process will eliminate green mold and the need for freezers, thus protecting the hides during the extra transit time.
If the tannery is freezing for storage, then you may have a mold problem and nothing more. The tan should be enough to protect the hides. If you end up losing hair in places, then you have a problem with an incomplete tan.
Bottom line, either way, the worst you should experience is a little green mold on the leather side if you are using a reputable tanner.