I have been searching tne archives (am sure it is in there somewhere can't seem to find it). Should you thin the face of a wet tanned whitetail before mounting? I heard you get a better look.If you should, how thin?
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Thinning your face may take a little longer but you will have less shrinkage around the eyes,ears,lip line and tear duct area. I thin my down as thin as i can, you want your skin to go on like wall paper, thin,clean and crisp. Also there is a white gland around the eyes that i remove. Thinning your capes allows you to stop any pulling or shrinkage in the areas that makes your mounts come alife.
Ive noticed that if I dont my apoxie cracks around the eye down the road 6 months or so.
Thanks for the quick replies. I am new at this- how much area of the face do you thin out? What do you use (tool) to do the thinning? I do not have a flesher. Again thanks for your help and advice.
Hi
I am pretty new to this too and don't have a fleshining machine either. I thin the face by putting a golf ball on the hair side and thin with a skife on the skin side. I also use scissors and a Dremel tool with an aggressive grit sanding drum. I will thin an area about the size of a baseball around each eye, the whole nose pad and the whole mouth area. The skife works well, but takes a little practice to prevent cutting holes. The rest of the cape is thin enough from the tannery and all I do there is sew any holes before mounting.
Have fun.
Steve
thanks for your advice Steve. I appreciate all who help the new people - again thanks.
Light bulb on the hair side also works great