How do you know if your form is too small....the form I have matches the caped out deer hide less 1 "....but it seems loose compared to others I have done in the past In the past I felt like the forms I was ordering were a bit big..and had trouble getting the cape over the form.
So I order a smaller on for this deer and now I wonder if its too small.
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I normaly order a form that is the same E/N as the deer but 1/2 to 1 inch smaller on the neck. I measure the neck after tanning. this works great for me. (it feels like I am pulling the neck incision just good and snug when the two sides meet not too tight) Have fun Joe
Im sure some will disagree, but every customer wants as big a neck as he can get. I measure the tanned skin and order a form that it should fit. If its a little big it doesnt take long to rasp it down a little to get a good fit and you still get as much size as possible. For me its just easier to cut one down a little than it is to build it up. Steve
Sure they all "want" big necked deer, but they should kill big necked deer. Nothing looks worse than a sausage necked deer mounted on a form that was too large. I measure the deer when they come in the shop and then I order that form. When I'm ready to mount, I don't even consider what the customer might "want", but rather mount it to the specifications of my measurements. I don't stretch the tape or the skin. After a hide is shaved and tanned properly, it does have some extrastretch usually (otherwise that hide stretching invention would have never sold), so the hide may be a little loose on the mannikin. I love that so that I can taxi it better and have much better detailing. I don't shrink the deer and I don't stretch the deer. It is, what it is.
I didnt say I stretche it. I said I cut the form down to fit it.
the measurements off the actual deer and base my mannikin on that, like George. If your skin is shaved properly and you can sweat the skin overnight it should fit. If you sweat the hide overnight in a plastic bag you can get alot of relaxation in the skin. Also, to help taxi that hide after you've sweated it be sure to use a good slippery hide paste.
the EXACT SAME SIZE -no problems so far
Ben, A couple of ideas on this. All models of all deer forms do not fit the same. Some poses will just fit better than others so if you are comparing say the full sneak to an upright there are some small differences. Deer are all different as well. Measuring the neck of the deer can give you false measurements if the deer is say frozen with the neck squashed together or flat on the throat side. Flesh thaws out but doesn't go back to original shape. As for your question, I like a cape that once you have streatched it widthwise fits the form easily with the edges of the incision coming together with minimum of pulling. If the edges ovrerlap easily by as much as 1 inch then I say the form is too small. You want to give the hunter back the size deer he/she got but going bigger is not worth what you lose in quality of the mount. The key to it all is thinning that cape for better streatch (not to go bigger, to get it back to original size). In this way you can get good fit without going with forms smaller than your measurements. I would order forms the size of the meat measurement and thin well for a good fit. Enjoy, Aaron H.