have a 50 year old bird mount ..how would I clean it and restore the feathers to a youthFULL state...Short of a time machine. Thank you for any & all help....
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i dont know how to, would like to know
I know that offends some of you more delicate personalities, but sometimes shift happens. Feathers are simple yet complex structures. A feather or pennae is one of two kinds: a flight or a contour feather. On most birds, the contour feather further break down into covert(covering) feathers and insulating down feathers. The colors of these feathers define the bird, but here's where it gets complex. From the rachis(quill) the vanes extend. Each vane is comprised of interlocking barbs and barbules (that's how a feather "notch" can be repaired by simply running your finger down the edge of the feather over the notch and closing it.) Each year, birds molt, thus changing their old worn feathers with newer, brighter ones during what most of us refer to as the "nuptial plumage" stage.
Having said all that, a feather has a finite lifespan (in nature is one year or less). What happens is that those aforementiong barbs and barbules dull and no longer hold a feather together. This process of aging tends to bleach or discolor the feather. On a mounted bird which attracts a multitude of dust and dirt particles along with microscopic mites can degenerate very quickly. Once that deterioration starts, you can't get there from here any longer. No repairs are viable and nothing can be done to reverse it's impact.
You can clean the bird, but once the color is gone its gone. Go to the archives for cleaning. The problem is that quite often feather deterioration can cause a cleaning to be nothing more then a destructive action. I cleaned an old snowy owl that was probably 50 years old covered with cigar smoke, but it looked worse when I got done. Some of the feathers just fell apart during the cleaning. When I got done I wished I had left it the way it was. An antique looking mount is better then one that looks like a rag. Im sure someone on this site has done it with more success then me. I wont even try it again.