I received my cape back from a tannery. After soaking it in water and a cup of salt for 45min I measured it and put it in the fridge to sweat. Then it went straight into the freezer the next day. During the mounting process, hair started to slip. It was my first mount. Is this normal?
Bisso
Return to Gamehead Taxidermy Category Menu
before putting into the plastic bag? If not that is your problem in my opinion. Letting a wet cape set around in a plastic bag even in the fridge has caused me slipping problems before also. Since that experience I now wash, tumble dry in an old dryer (no heat) with several old towls until the hair is dry. Then I sweat over night in the fridge. Water can be a taxidermists enemy. Good luck.
Hoss, Hair slips result from mis-handling which can occur anywhere from the day the animal died up till the cape dries on the form. Bacteria or shaving too closly can do it. If I were to mount the cape you describe I would not rehydrate it until the day before I planned to mount it. Now, I know lots of folks do as you did but to me it just ties up freezer space and the wetting and freezing and thawing offers too much chance for problems. My personal oppinion on MOST slipping problems is that they result from hair loosening before the first salting. This would be most likely from a spot becoming too warm possibly before skinning. Later, if given the chance, this area will be the first spot to lose hair. Then there are capes that have a tendency to drop hair all over- leaving a cape wet for several days in a refrigerator can give this result even after it is tanned. If I were to suggest one thing that you did that you should not have done it is "soaking" for 45 minutes. To rehydrate a cape I would soak ONLY the ears and nose area for about 15 minutes and then dip the whole cape till it was well wet. Then immediatly squeeze excess water out,roll up, bag it and refrigerate over night. Mount next day. I don't think the salt is unnecessary. Enjoy, Aaron H.
guys, I followed instructions right from the tanners mouth. The cape was never left in a warm area, or was it left in the fridge for more than 15 hours. I placed it in the freezer the next morning after measuring for foam. That is why I am upset. The only thing I did that may have been incorrect was soaking it for too long and getting it too wet as you said. Thanks for info. I have another one to mount that I prepped the same way. Will it help if I dry it with towels right after it thaws?
thanks
Bisso
What tannery are you using that requires rehydrating with salt,in 40 years in the business , I have never heard of such a tanning method , that requires salt water to rehydrate ,usually just fresh water is used for 15 to 20 minutes, then you wrap a dry towel around and squeezeing a turning motion ever so tighttly to force all the water out , then you wrap the ears and the inside of the nose with a very wet paper towel and let the ears soak so more water until they gey soft, put it a plastic bag and freeze if you need to, your mistake was the saltwater might have cause a chemical reaction that opened the hair folicles too much and you are getting slippage or you soaked too long and did not dripped all the water out, or the tannery thinned it too much and cut the hair root.
to rehydrate a dry tanned skin. Just a hand full per gallon of water, so as to avoid acid swell. Most tanneries will tell you to do this, especially if you have a dry tanned hide you don,t know who it was tanned by.