Is is more cost effective to send hides out or do them in house and if sendind out what steps should be taken to assure a save delivery ?
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Every taxidermist has their own opinion on the matter. But first of we must consider what one calls a tan. In all actuality the term Tan came about because tannic acid was used. today it is rarely used. So does anyone really tan a hide? And what about instant tans, or brush on tans are they truly tans? after all it seems inconceivable that a brush on tan can actually penetrate every cell of the skin. Even with a pickle. That being said here goes.
We tan in house. We do a full tan Pickle, neutralize, and tan the process averages about 6 days. Wet tanned hides are then frozen until they come up in the mounting order. Hides that are to be dry tanned for rugs, or delivery are oiled dried then broke on the scrubber we find this extremely economical. before bringing tanning in house we were spending 8300.00 annually for tanning. shipping was running another 1200.00 what is more important to us is control of the product. we are not at the mercy of the tannery. if we have something that truly needs or deserves a rush. we can move it to the front of the line. If we foresee a problem hide. We can treat it with kit gloves. and we and we alone are responsible for the outcome of our product. I like that.
With Tenbears.
I do exactly the same.
.....Is better spent doing the things that make me money! While Tenbears makes very valid points about control of product, your time is far better spent doing your profit making activities. Not to mention the space being taken up in the shop by a very messy process. And there are a lot of very good and experienced tanners, who will take care of questionable hides when you ask them to watch for them. Your finished product is usually a more consistant quality from commercial tanners.
I came to this conclusion many years ago when I did my own tanning. Not figuring the investment in equipment, I felt that I spent anywhere from 2 to 4 times the amount of time on tanning than I should have. For example if a tanner was charging $20 for a deer hide, I found that I had $40-80 in shop time invested in the hide. I could have been mounting something in that time and making a lot more money. While Tenbears was saving himself almost $10,000 in tanning expense, I figure I was making $20,000-40,000 for the same amount of time invested.