Just wondering whats the best method for ducks a bath in dawn and then a soaking in fuel or vise versa, How long do most people let it soak in the gas. Thanks Brian
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paint thinner not gas.We let in the paint thinner about 30 mins. Then wash with dawn then tumble.
Kim Collins
Bubba's TAxidermy
FLAMMABLE liquids are INTENDED to be used to displace water and save the tumbling medium. If you need Dawn to wash out the smell of the flammable, why would you need a flammable in the first place. Brian, you desparately need to read the archives. Click that orange SEARCH icon and type in "washing with gas". Take a couple days to read it all before you burn your house down.
The best method is what ever works for you. I do just the opposite of Kim, I wash in DAWN to get rid of the grease and then wash in coleman fuel to displace the left over water that I can't ring out. Sometimes I blow out the water with my air hose before I rinse in coleman fuel and usually hang the bird in front of a fan for a while after the gas rinse. Ther are many methods that work you just have to play around and find what works for you. I have used regular gas, coleman fuel, mineral spirits, ascetone as well as laquer thinner, and all have thier own benefits. Some folks will tell you not to use any type of flamable liquid for obvious reasons, and other swear by them. You will have to make your own call on that. It is possible to wash your bird in nothing but dawn and rinse in clean water, it will just take a little longer to dry. Hope some of this helps.
I did and I am glad for it.
The gas , thinner etc does nothing! It will help you dry the bird faster, with rapid evaporation.
I use down, rinse repeatedly, and then squeeze the bird in a towel to get moisture out.
then I tumble
then i use a reverse shopvac/hairdyer combo (duct tape project) to finish drying.
I dont miss the unhealthy and dangerous spirits one bit.
It should be noted that I almost always skin, wash tumble dry and so on and then freeze. seems like you have to redry when they come out of the freezer anway. So...I dont get too carried away on the first drying anyway.
side note. When I was a spirits guy I had an "incident." I had a white pheasant that was washed, then saoked in spirits, then tumbled. Well I had a few tail feathers that need some steam. well guess what, that bitd went POOF in my hands as I steamed the frayed feathers over some boiling water. Just being in the vicinty of that burner made it go up in flames. Sure was fun finding a new white pheasant!
then you don't know to use or not to use the gas.
DON'T USE THE GAS!
Use dawn and Epo-Grip only. If you don't have Epo-Grip use dawn only. Wash and rinse the bird till clean. If you don't have a tumbler, put it in the wash machine on spin cycle. This will remove the excess water, then blow dry from there.
DON'T USE THE GAS, DON'T USE THE GAS, DON'T USE THE GAS!
listen to george
listen to george
listen to george
knew you wouid hit this one
listen to the old man!
George got a new Boykin pup
if coleman fuel does nothing but dieplace moisture then could someone please tell me what the other contents are in the bottom of my bucket after the ducks have been soaking? it is NOT water.also i am not questioning the dangers but some of the BEST bird folks i know use gas,coleman fuel etc and that list would not include the naysayers listed about.
stuff that is on the bottom of my tub of Epo-Grip, which is the same stuff that would be on the bottom of the wash water if you didnt pull the plug and send it down the drain. It's fat off the bird!
the fact that you can see it doesn't mean that it works better!
The reason that other peaple still use it is, old habits die hard, just like this topic.
I don't use it and I defy you to tell the difference between a gas soaked bird and a soap and water bird.
Let me ask you this, have you ever not used the gas process?
that folks are saying that it has NO advantages and the only thing it does is displace moisture. i call horse ¢rap on that by asking the question of what the other contents were because it is something more than water.i have not mounted w/o gas as i have been taught that way and the results are pleasing.aint broke dont fix it.i agree that the fuel has its dangers and should be used with caution.i never argued that from the beginning.i just have issue with someone saying that the ONLY thing that degreases is SOAP and that fuel ONLY displaces water.thats all.