A Stop-Rot Test Series

Submitted by Unofficial Field Tester #669 on 11/12/2003. ( ) 64.48.134.4

Stop-Rot (and Preserve-It) Reviews and Successes:

Turning Fox Ears
Injected Stop-Rot 1:1 dilution with plain cold tap water, 10 to 12 cc per ear on picked, rehydrated fox ears. Foxes were air dried ranch skins in great shape. Stop-Rot made the ears so incredibly easy to turn that I was using a butter knife and gloved fingers. Very happy with results.

Preserving Small Mammal Feet, Ears, and Whisker Pads
This test is still being conducted. Diluted Stop-Rot 1:1 with a spent tanning solution, basically saline sol. Immersed frozen, thawed paws, ears, and whisker pads in the container. Left them in there overnight. I am looking for flexible, pliable, easy to skin or easy to tan feet and whisker pads, and non-slip ears. By the way, this WILL turn them yellow, but it's just a test for test's sake.

Saving An Iffy Skin
Painted Stop-Rot on the leather side of a road-killed small domestic mammal during the skinning phase only. Especially the ears and more bloodied areas. MOST of the pelt did not slip but a couple areas still did. The pelt was not salt-dried, but placed in to pickle/tan that day. The face, feet, and 99.5% of the backskin, and 98% of the belly, are perfect though, so I'd call it basically a success. This pelt also had Preserve-It injected in to the feet and ears, which came out great.

Tanning Auxiliary on Mammal Skin
Added a little Preserve-It to the tanning oil and painted it on the skins as usual. Just a little bit, a capful to 10 oz. oil. Overall tan was EZ-100. Was unsure if skins were undertanned. Now am sure they are perfectly tanned and extra soft, with no excess yellowing!

Saving Ears on a Trapper Skin
Painted Preserve-It on both sides (fur side, not leather side) of a mammal (canine) ear which arrived with a big bare spot. Done before anything else. Let dry 1 day. The ear was NOT saved. The skin dissolved on both sides of the bare spot, which I guess is good because I removed it (area is ready for patching). So this product product can have failures, but it's not the rule.

Overall Rating for Stop-Rot: 9 out of 10. Very cool and odorless! 8.75 out of 10 for Preserve-It due to the odor, which is pleasant and fruity, but very permeating. Both have same indications and same ease of use. If you haven't tried this stuff yet, do so.

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