Before any one starts yelling at me to use the orange button, I did and I will be there until I'm 30 trying to find the answer I am looking for. I have heard to tan fish and birds to just cover the flesh side of the skin in 20 Mule team borax and that's all you need to do (besides fleshing and what not) to preserve them. Does it stand up to the test of time? Or is there a better way to do it? Sounds like borax works great but just want to be sure. Is that acceptible even for competition work? Thanks in advance! Jessica
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I wish I could use the archives and get to be 30 again. LOL
Birds have been dry preserved with borax for years now and they stand the test well. There really is no such thing as a bird "tan" in my book.
Fish will preserve that way, but borax or DP tend to clod up on the surface of the skin. YOu're better off to use a denatured alcohol or methanol bath with them. You can add DP or borax to the liquid but in my opinion, a liquid preservative is much more effective.
I've heard people so alot about DP but have never figured out what it is. Where do you get dentured alcohol or menthanol? Is that the liquid preservative or is that some other concoction that you can buy? Thanks for the info. George!
DP is dry preservative, can be bought from any supplier. Denatured Alcohol can be bought at the hardware store, by the gallon. Makes a great window cleaner!
authentic taxidermy makes a 30 min. bird tan. about 9 dollars a pound.this stuff is great and i will never mount anouther bird with out it. first--there is no white powder to deal with,sticky white sh-t if it gets wet, second- this product makes the skin tuff to the point were you have to work to get it to rip on a stitch, third - this helps to remove the remaining oils from inside the skin. try it i think you will agree! final flight taxidermy-rollie
your wasting your money. Stick with borax. There is no such thing as bird tan. After you have fleshed, washed and degreased you use borax to help preseve it to keep buggs out. I think that stuff is bs. Besides if your when doing birds you dont want the skin to be tough when setting the feathers. Use borax jessica.
if you have not tried this stuff, how can you you even think let alone say i'm wasting my money. if you like to have white sh-t falling out of your birds then thats you business.but please don't pass jugdment on a product that you have not tried.this industy is constantly moving forward and i'm only tring to do my little part to keep it going.