BESIDES displacing water, is there any other benifit to using white gas after the washing/rinsing of a bird skin?
James
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None.
After soaking in gas you will, most likely, find your birds are easier to blow dry. Acetone is the quickest evaporator and so results in the quickest drying. Soaking feathers in any petroleum product (gas, acetone, mineral spirits) seems to help put back that "sheen" that you washed out with the detergent. Once dry, you will notice the feathers, especially that the downey underfeathers, have a soft fluffiness that is difficlut to achieve without gas of some sort.
Since George will jump all over me for this post let me say that the use of solvents (of any kind) is inherently dangerous and they should be used with extreme caution. You know, complicated things like not smoking a cigarette over a pan of Coleman fuel or squeezing acetone out of a goose in a candlelit basement.
Try doing birds with a petroleum solvent like mineral spirits or acetone and then try one without anything and decide for yourself. In either case make sure you rinse the bird very well.
Good luck!
I have always used white gas on all my birds. It's just the way I was taught. I am very pleased with the way my birds turn out. I have read a few posts saying that there is not really much benifit other than displacing water and am aware of the controversy. I "spin cycle" out my water on a washing machine and only get a small amount of water displaced-so I was wondering if there is really ANY benifit at all to keep doing this? I will stick with it. If it aint broke-don't fix it.
James
Is this the same paul that is a teacher,judge and tester of taxidermists? Shame on you.
Wilson, shame on me for what? James asked for an opinion and I gave him mine. An opinion based on 25 years of experience. That's all.
Paul, I see it in the same lite as telling my son, that driving my truck at 80 mph is better then driving it at 60 ; it runs smoother, gets better gas miles, gets me there faster and feels better to me......but sometimes you need to think about safety; WHAT'S YOU SHOP OR HOUSE OR FAMILY worth ;;;;;10 minutes?
Weather I like to use formic or sulfuric over a safer pickle or gas or acetone for a safer degreaser should not be indorsed here.
NOW, I'm over 50 and have more then 20 years experience and that's my opinion.
be safe every chance you get ,life is long.
I know it works for you, I just eschew the easy things that could cause pain in the long run. I DO have one question however. You said to be sure and rinse the bird after using it. What do you rinse it with?
The rinsing (with water) occurs BEFORE immersion in gas. Soap/detergent residue tends to defeat the purpose of the fuel which is to disperse the water and make drying quicker and easier.
As far as being painful "in the long run" lots of things we do and use "could" be painful in the long run. Filling your truck with gas is far more dangerous than most people realize and filling a boat with gas is even more dangerous than that. And just about everything "has been determined to cause cancer by the state of California".
This argument could go on forever but the bottom line is that you use what gives YOU the best results and that is how I do my birds. You don't HAVE to do it that way. James asked for an opinion and I gave him mine.
Wilson, do you use acid pickle in your tanning? Formic, citric or saftee acid? They are ALL deadly, you know? What about dry preservative? Ever get it in your eyes? Or nose? Do you paint with lacquer? Use any casting or scenery resin? I could go on and on but, hopefully, you get the point. If you want to learn how to do birds "the BAD way" I do give lessions for $350 a day....LOL!
George, are you going to announce Jim Kimball's seminar next month by saying you don't approve of or endorse his way of doing things?
Arguing over methods of doing something is silly and petty. Let's get back to the REAL issues between Dave T and Cecil.
One last word before I go to Cecil;s post;I have a problem with dipping something in gas and using something that shoots hot air and sparks to evaporate the gas from 3 inches away, but then I still have hair on my face and head I'd like to keep.Must just be me.
I KNOW what results you and Jim Kimball get from your methods. I'd never argue results as I'm fully aware that your WORST birds look much better than most of my best ones. The only thing I try to do is give these "beginners" a safer alternate method. Even DP is very dangerous to the skin and to the lungs if ingested. You're absolutely correct in taxidermy as a whole being inherently dangerous to our well being.
And thanx for the explanation on the rinse. The way that I read it suggested those steps might be reversed and I was sure they weren't.