I've mounted numerous ducks and have gave each one a 30 minute bath in gas after I completed degresing them. I was wondering what would happen if I skipped the gas step?
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I think on my next mallard im going to do tommorow im going to skip it and just blow dry it like PJ stated on the post right before this one. Try it you wont hurt it uless you tumble it for ever trying to get it to dry out.
I know many of the bird gurus swear by gas, acetone, MEK, mineral spirits, whatever, but I do hope the see how that method is going to kill someone someday. I hope one day these "experts" will wise up.
PP, NONE of those solvents is going to degrease your duck PERIOD. They only dissolve grease, NOT FAT, and they are only used to displace the water that you washed your duck with. All it takes is a few seconds, squeeze it dry, and then tumble. Soap disperses grease, solvents dissolve it. Dissolving it only makes it thinner, it doesn't eliminate it. Use Dawn if you can't afford the commercial soaps recommended in the archives here and stop endangering yourself and your family with open vats of gasoline setting around.
gas and all the other crap does nothing except displace a little water and save drying time...........so does a light towel patting
besides all the gas , colemanfuel ets STINKS and it's dangerous
listen to him
just my 2 cents
Controversy continues on this subject. There are many points that seem particularly prone to debate. In taxidermy, many of the debate points are opinion only, with persuasion factors directly propotional to the intensity of the person doing the persuding. In the case of petroleum products there are a few generally accepted positions: 1; petroleum products are flammable - don't expose fumes to ignition instruments - if you exercise reasonable judgement, this argument looses some of its teeth, 2. Breathing petroleum fumes is a hazzard to your health - wear a protective mask and gloves - if you do, this agrement loses much of it's persuasion power, 3; petroleum products displace water causing a shorter drying time - generally true, however, if time is not an issue this arguement loses some of its bite 4; Petroleum products degrease bird skins - generally false - petroleum products do not degrease bird skins - degreasing is accomplished by mechanical means (wire wheel) and soap and water. Haveing said that, and if one can separate the various zealot positions, the bollotm line is whether you personally think it is beneficial - I believe that the down of the bird fluffs better and it comes out of nthe tumbler better. I also believe that tumbling a water wet bird will require much more rotation and replacement of tumbling medium. There are a lot of ways to get things done, drying birds is no exception Good Luck
I can't stand it any more. I am so confused on this issue that its almost stressfull not quite but almost LOL. I want to start mounting ducks some time soon. I just can't seam to get my hands on any tumbler saw dust or cob grit localy yet. The tumbler issue is even more confusing. I see some have stopped useing tumblers and blow dry there birds. Now after 250$ and much used, needed shop space I have my tumbler built and I am thinking what for. George if you read this and I think you will. I am wondering about the degfreaser that WASCO sells for birds. Sallie Dahmes used it on a wood duck in her video. Is this stuff a soap? and is it safer to use and will it take for ever to tumbel dry a bird?
Im just throwing in some thoughts. My tumbler is a reconditioned dryer about $75 dollars. The heating element is removed and a toggle switch replaces the control panel. I use a hardwood sawdust for mammals. The smallest particles get seperated from the "woodchips" of the sawdust and end up under or behind my dryer. It is this sorted dust that I use to tumble my birds. I do use paint thinner on my birds. Just my technique, Im sure somebody will find something wrong with it.
This subject has been beaten to death..You do not have to gas anything...I stopped gasing my birds a year or so ago, and there is no difference...If safety and health are important to you, than you should think about it...The extra 5 minutes of blowing, isn't really that big of a deal!
BTW Clewis, exceptionally good post.
When I work with a bird, I defat it on the wheel, then I wash it in Epo-Grip Bloodout/Degreaser.("Eliminator" from Van Dykes is another especially good degreaser SOAP). I'm unfamiliar with what Sallie used, but most of the older "degreasers" were simply solvents.
As far as the tumbler goes, I'm still an ardent believer in the drum type tumblers. I KNOW a clothes drier can be used and I rue the day John Rinehart ever started putting plans for their conversion in with his sawdust. I like the sealed drum like Van Dykes sells because I don't like any extra dust in my already dirty shop. I don't like the side door drums because to change the sawdust, you again start making messes to fix it. The sealed drum can be taken off the drive cradle, taken outside and just dumped. But that's MY OPINION.
I used to use square cut hardwood sawdust. It dried much faster than corn cob flour but it was a bear to get out of the primary feathers as the splinters held on to the feather barbules like glue. I started buying corncob flour from McKenzie and I'd never go back to hardwood. (BTW, I always put a washed and rinsed bird in my old washing machine and spin dry it before I put it in the tumbler. This "displaces" most of the water anyway and reduces the saturation of your tumbler medium)
Personally, I'd never dry a bird completely with a hair dryer. Though I know it would work, I have other things I could be doing as birds already are time intensive enough for the piddly prices we charge for them.
Justin, I know there are LOTS of bird taxidermists out there using hazardous/flammable chemicals with their birds. To each of them I have but one question: WHY?
Is it "the way I learned" or is it "that's what the World Champions suggested", or was it simply, "I never tried it any other way." Whatever the reason, more and more "world champions" are finding out that it's just better for your long term health and there's really not that much difference in the final product to do it safer and more efficiently.
What most concerns me is the newer beginners who read such information and then start substituting other chemicals "they got FREE from work". Taxidermists already live on the edge of the Dark Ages alchemy world, and I just see this as a dangerous practice that could and should be eliminated. But that's JUST MY OPINION.
It is "generally" accepted that for a bird to be tumbled with less damage and better drying, that your drum should be half full of medium. It is almost virtually impossible to fill a drier drum half full of medium. So birds take a pretty good beating in one of them. They also rotate about twice as fast as a good tumble will turn so that the medium gets less time to actually soak up any moisture. That means that it takes longer to actually dry a bird in one of them so the beating it gets from the drum is extended because of its efficiency.
i dont use a tumbler. i have a mixture of corn cob grit and borax in a plastic tub about 36 inches long. i work the mixture in by hand for several minutes then use compressed air to clean and dry. when almost dried, i finish fluffing with a hair dryer. works good for me. ive used tumblers in the past, but i prefer working the bird by hand.