Self Tanning Deer Cape

Hello Everyone:

I would like to really understand the reasoning for each step taken during the tanning process after the pickle....After shaving and placing back into the pickle for a day, I pull the hide out, absorb excess moisture in a clean towel, place in a container to neutralize for 20-30 minutes, pull out and absorb moisture in a new towel, brush on JRTS tanning cream, let sit overnight under plastic, rinse in cold water in a clean container, absorb moisture in a clean towel, and mount or freeze. My question is this......Can I get bacteria growth to reoccur between any of the steps if my towels and or containers are not throughly clean? Does anyone rinse the tanning agent off with water and bacteriacide? Just wondering if bacteria/slippage is a concern after the pickling process is completed.

Thanks a ton in advance!

Joe

Return to Deer Taxidermy Category Menu

Just

DP the damn thing and be done with it

cleaning

I didn't see you mention washing the cape. Here's my process for handling capes: Skin (cape) the skull out. Freeze the cape for later use. I process capes in batches out of the freezer. First I hand flesh with a knife removing most of the meat. Then I salt overnight. In the morning I flesh and thin the capes with my mini-flesher and variouis knives and then pickle them over night (sometimes longer). After neutralizing, I wash them thuroughly using anti-bacterial Dawn or Azax dish soap. Then they get rinsed in a borax solution. Then they get toweled down and into the tanning solution they go. I've never lost a cape yet using this technique. Once in a while (1 out of 25 capes or so) I've had to use Stop Slip (which really does work)to lock in minor slipage.

Washing cape after salting

Hi Mike:

Thanks for the info. I usually use dawn soap/water after salting to rinse the salt, dirt, blood away. Then I rinse in cold water to make sure the suds are gone. Is the borax washing needed right after the pickle? How about using borax/water to rinse the tanned cape before mounting to rinse away the oil on the hair?

Thanks!

Joe

washing

I wouldn't wash the cape after tanning it because you'll wash away some of the tanning agents. Especially with paint on tans. I use the borax rinse to rinse the soap out. I put a little borax in the sink, fill it with some water, let it desolve, then dunk the hide in the soltion for a few minutes. I let the cape hang for about 10 minutes, towel it off, then I put it into the tanning solution.

Joe,

If you post your e-mail address, You may get lucky and have a smart one (Glen, Bruce, Mike, or even me! LOL) send you an email!
Your prossess sounds fine! The ph of a pickled skin is very low, and bacteria tends not to like a low ph. After tanning, the skin is "fixed"(stable cologen) and bacteria tends not to favor that.
In my shop, the towels get used till they no longer absorb moisture! they got all kinds of stuff on them! Have a good one! Joe

Thanks!

Thanks for all of the input....as usual, there are several opinions on the same issue. Is the borax/water solution rinse after the tan a good "moth proofer." Is a "mothproofer" needed at all, or is the tanned cape good enough to prevent future bugs? I don't want to spend extra time, money, steps on something that is not needed.

Thanks Guys!

Joe

Keep the borax away from the mounts.

a tanned or "fixed" skin should not need a moth proofer. If you can treat them anualy with a cleaner/bug proofer. Joe