I just got my first two capes back from the tanery. After I rehydrate them will I have to shave them down more, or is this a judgment call depending on how they fit the form? These will be my first deer so be gentle I'm new at it. Also one of them has a cut about 1 1/2" long right on the muzzle.I can just sew this back up right? Thanks a bunch.
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You need to sew the muzzle. Sew it from the flesh not hair side. I sew all holes with a transparent thread from the craft store. As for shaving the hide it is a judgment call for the most part. If you are doing competion work you will want the hide to be thin to show muscle detail, veining, and such. Since this is your first I am assuming you do not own a fleshing machine so you can't shave it even if you wanted to. Many years back we would rip the hide off a deer and flesh it the best we can with a beam and knife. Then the magic dust borax was smeared on the hide. That"s it! They looked ok for what it was. I am glad to see you tanned the animal and are utilizing the most current method available. There is another tanning method that you can do your self. It is called Krowtann. It is a simple method. I like it the best but that is my opinion. You know the old saying..Oppinions are like @ssholes....We all got one! By the way the little orange button to the left that says search will be one of your best friends in this business!
God Bless
Steve I had a whitetail come back from the tannery a couple years ago that had a rip from the left upper lip to over the nose. I was going to throw it away spoke w/ my customer he told me to try fixing it if it dosent work throw it away. I layed it out over several layers of cardboard cut the edges so they butted nice. Then i used some zap a gap and a dryersheet cut to fit the tear pinned the sheet in place into the cardboard applied the glue to the dryer sheet heavily. then repeated w/ another piece of dryer sheet. This left a stiff spot in the cape but after drying on the form there is no way you can see it there. Customer accused me of using a different cape. Also I pinned and carded this area really good while it was drying. Good Luck
worked for me
I'll give those suggestions a try. Thanks again