A while back when I first started tanning my own deer skins I had a cape that I put straight into the pickle after rough fleshing the hide. I did not salt it at all( I now know that is a mistake) Well my PH of the pickle kept going up and I could not keep it down to below 2 so after using a bottle of my pickle acid . I took the cape out neutralized it very quickly,washed it out with clear water,, finished fleshing it, then I brushed on JRTS and let it set overnight and froze it the next morning.
Well today I thawed it, washed it and proceeded to do the prep work on the hide, fix ear holes etc. While I was test fitting the cape on the mannikin with a trash bag over the mannikin to help the cape slide on the form easier, the hide bunched up under the chin like it always does. While I was taxiing the hide with my hand I pinched out alot of hair very easily. Now I am new at this but I know not to pull on the cape while it is still wet, But this hair came out very easy and it freaked me out. I have never had hair come out this easy before. So I went ahead and put the cape back in a new pickle to start this process all over again, Hoping that a ph below 2 will help lock in these hairs. Maybe my first pickle did nothing. I am hoping that this second one will help. Did I screw up by doing this after already having applied the JRTS? I know George and others use jrts without a pickle but they always salt first. I did not that was my first mistake . Should I leave it in this pickle or get it out? HELP!
Almost forgot ,, This cape was my whitest and cleanest looking cape I have had so far. Does that mean the hide was tanned all the way from the JRTS?
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Time before skinned? weather or not the skin got wet? The ph of the water? How long you washed the skin? In what? Hot water? way to many variables. It bothers me about the ph going up the whole time and you putting in more pickle. Did you keep stiringthe pickle?
What was the temp of the pickle?
Was the pickle old, or fresh?
Like I said, how can we answer the question when there is more to it?
swampfoot, Just to attempt part of your problem, putting the cape back into the pickle should not do harm. You must stay on top of the ph though as the skin will probably cause the ph to rise often. As for slipping the hair as you described, I don't think you would have had the problem had you used a taxi tool instead of your hands to move the skin. The Stout Rougher sold by McKenzie is excellent for pulling skins around on the manikin- comes in 2 sizes and though it is sold as a roughing tool for foam I like it for moving skin. Enjoy, Aaron H.
When i first learned to mount gameheads, I used DP. But then I learned (or discovered) wet tanning. I had lots of Questions about the process so I went to Arlington Cape A tannery here in Ohio and Kieth actually showed me how to rough flesh and split eyes, lips, nose, ears. He showed me how to salt the capes, which I do if I decide to wet tan a cape myself. The process He showed me required 4 days of salt, shake out after 1st then sit in salt 3 more days. The only pickle Ive tried is safty acid then baking soda 1/2 hour than liquid tan. Never had slippage problem. Too many variables like the last guy said, but the slippage is from bacteria Id say. Maybe get another cape. Good luck!
i use krowtann (i'm the poster child) - i have NEVER lost a single cape - have used it on roughly 150 deer, coyote, fox and bobcat