a customer wants a skin mount cat fish done. says its 28#'s, caught in MI. i havent seen it yet, but told him i would check into doing it skin mount for him, but did suggested a repo. i havent yet done a repo, so i have no idea how much to extra to charge for one yet. any tips or suggestions, either way are welcome. thanks in advance.
bob
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(which also have thin skins)
Think you can cast the head and fins of this fish?
How good are you at carving?
If the answer to the above questions is at most luke warm I would either turn it down or go with a repro.
I've do catfish skin mounts but I've had a lot of experience with them.
As far as painting a repro catfish it's a piece of cake if you have some painting experience. Not a lot to them if you have a picture for reference.
Is it a channel or flathead?
i believe he said it was a flat head. what is the difference because i really dont know so if i see it, i want to get the right one.
i have done 2 steelhead and 1 lake trout. they both turned out good.
never carved a fish or casted one, but would be willing to cast it for the experiance of it. you folks here can help with that right?
i have a little experiance painting, but i have trouble seeing what colors to use. i am getting better on the guessing of that part. time doing them is helping, but i need a lot of work on the figuring out end. i have gotten lots of help with colors here tho. yes i ask for paint schedules, but i do usually change colors or amounts of colors to achieve the look i think i need.
thanks again for the help.
bob
I wouldn't do it. Catfish have a lot of oil locked deep in their skin and they will deteriorate in time. Go with a custom made replica, you can use bondo or plaster to cast.
DaveT
Skin mounting a 28# catfish would be like a sixth grader jumping into a calculus class.Play with a small one on your own that you catch first if you want a taste of this. My advice...get a repro that is "ready to paint." As Cecil said, that will be easy. I have never agreed to skin mount a catfish, no way, no how. After the head is cast, all you have is a very uninteresting skin draped over a carved form...which may well deteriorate. Lou Wynia has 2 30 # flatheads that might fit the bill...and you will enjoy painting them.They are indeed, ready to paint.
I skin mounted a catfish one time...it was about a 16" channel cat and it was mine, not a customers. While I wont say it turned out bad and actually held up pretty well over the years, it was no fun and not worth my time to do commercially. If someone wants a skin mount, Ill have to pass (of course, there is a price for everything!). I did mostly custom casts on catfish through the years but there are more blanks out there now than ever.
At the risk of pissing someone off that has a short fuse I've never had them deteroriate if properly skinned, scraped, and degreased. The skin is so thin I'm having trouble figuring out what Dave says about "hidden grease pockets." Maybe Dave can elaborate?
I've done channels up to 26 lbs. and will be doing my own flathead of 48 pounds in the near future. I'm not concerned about "hidden grease pockets" or any deterioration as long as I make a cast head and fins, and properly skin, scrape, and degrease.
Two more pointers. Although thin, the skin is quite strong but had lots of connective tissue that needs to be removed. I use several fresh scaple blades for that. You want a skin that is clean with no extra connective tissue to ball up under the skin and you want your carved form as smooth and as hard as possible. I would suggest coating the carved form with with latex paint a few times with sanding in between coats to get a smooth hardened form. If by some chance you do end up with some minute depressions or rough areas simply coat with magic sculpt and smooth.
Bob. with your lack of experience at this time I would strongly suggest you turn this one down or do a repro. Otherwise you are asking for a headache. Like Dennis said you will probably regret it.
Even Dave T who says he has "God Given Ability" doesn't want to tackle these. LOL
now im curious and i think im going to have to find some time to go fishing and catch one of these buggers and give it a try. boo hoo what a chore that will be. but from what you all are saying, i think if i take this fish i will end up doing a repo, so i may be back here for tips on repos. thanks for the advice.
bob
I have done them both ways and they can be skin mounted but they are no easy task. I usually cast the head and fins and carve the mannikin out of styrofoam. Problem with cats is the shrinkage in my book. The body has to be nearly perfect and darn smooth or you will see every imperfection. I'm in no way advocating that they look better because these days I would go with a repro instead I'm just saying they can be done. As far as grease goes I am also puzzled about the grease pockets but its been a few years since I did my last skin mount catfish. Good luck, Mark