I have a customer that wants me to a do a black bear rug for him. I have a few questions about this..
First of all, is it feasable for me to tan it myself (I have a flesher and usually tan my own hides), or should I just send it to a tannery?
I would like to mount the head myself, but I'm not a bit excited about the thought of sewing on felt.. not to mention I don't know alot about that, anyway. Is there anyone out there that will accept tanned bear rugs with the heads already mounted, and simply put the felt and padding, etc. on?
If anyone has alot of experience with bear rugs, please email me as I have a few more questions I could use help with.
Thanks!
Amy Ritchie
www.AmysTaxidermy.com
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Amy, you know Mary Hilliard. She does rugging exclusivively.
Tony
Amy-The answer to your question is a definate yes. It is very feasible for you to tan it yourself. It really is not that much work-especially since you have a machine.
Flesh it by hand the best you can, then salt it/dry it/wash it/pickle it/...............then use the machine to shave it down and get the rest of the fat off. Then tan it.
If you have never shaved a bear, they have very thin skin and you will be shaving down to the roots. After you shave it, tan it, then mount the headshell and stretch the whole skin out on a board. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me via my email. As far as sewing the felt, forget about it. I have a better/stronger way to do this. Skullboy.
Amy I do all my own tanning but when it comes to bears I leave it up to the pros to do it. Yes you can do it yourself but going through all that trouble of getting it degreased properly is a haselment I don't care for and the cost is preventive to me. Just like some say tanneries are there to save you time and well this is time they can have.
I will say this all my tannery does is just rehydrate my hides, pickle, degrease, and repickle, then tan. I have them shaved so well that when they get it I make sure it's a clean hide with just about no fat left. If you leave fat on a bear hide and think that it will came back with out any hair missing there wrong. If fat dries on the hide and then they get what they call fat burn those areas are the ones that are prone to slip. So try and remove all the fat off, then salt and dry it.
Like I said before yes you can do it but I rather let them do it, plus you have to break it to get it soft for a rug. They can tumble it and make it softer than you can. I do a lot of rugs and I hand sew all my felt on, no such thing as hot glue or any thing else. This way I know for a fact it will stay there or send it out to who Tony recomened. It's just our advice, it's up to you on how much you want to do?
Amy,
Here in CA I get a great deal of bear rug requests. Last year I decided to tan the bears myself. What a disaster! They came out incredibly greasy. After I degreased them then I had to go through the horrible ordeal of softening them. They tanned up perfect for a mount, but were definately not soft for a rug. I spent hours on the belt sander trying to get them soft enoug so that the rugs would not stand up on their own. After sanding off all of my fingernails and fingerprints all of that sanding wore down my patience. Putting a 7 foot bear on a belt sander takes around 3 hours to get it soft for a rug. The easy part was mounting the head. I turned it upside down on my special rugging table and stretched it for 3 days. When i was sure it was dry I took the staples out and evened up the sides to match and cut out my darts. To my horror I realized that when it dried it was STILL not soft! I had to put the thing back on the belt sander while trying not to sand off the mounted head. Then I still had sewing to look forward to! Let me tell you, I will never again tan a bear that is meant to be a rug! Tanning a bear for a full body or shoulder is fine to do yourself. However, I HIGHLY suggest that you send off you bear to a pro tannery. You will save yourself a great deal of misery (and fingernails!). There are also some great ruggers too that can save time and money. Troutmans Rugworks is fantastic. Good luck and if you need anything just lemme know!
-Jeanette
jeanettestaxidermy.com
P.S. I have some squirrels saved for you if you still want them.
Amy, Here's my two cents worth. (1) I highly recommend sending your bear to a commercial tannery. They do a great job on these. Bears are greasy specimens and I personally love the beautiful suade leather for rugs as they come back from a commercial tannery. It can be some work turning the lips, eyes, nostrils, ears, etc., fleshing, salting and fan drying these for the tannery. (2) I Also recommend the use of professional rugger. They have the commercial sewing machines and they do a very nice felt application. Many of the top taxidermists in the country use this service for all rug work. Keep in mind that the hide needs to be dampened, stretched and stapled to a large plywood grid and trimmed for symmetry. Something many do it yourselfers don't do. These companies are set up to do this professionally and are very efficient at their work and worth every penny they charge. (3) I mount my own heads prior to sending it to the rugger. Once the head is mounted and dry, I box the bear up carefully and mail it to the rugging company. When I receive it back, I complete the head finishing work. If you need a recommendation on a tannery or commercial rugger, email me. I have had great success with some and one in particular that I would not recommend based on my experience. Have fun with your project. I know you will do a wonderful job for your client.
MS
Thank you for all your help, guys! My decision is clear now.. I am going to send the bear to tannery, mount the head, and then send it to a rugger. Some things are just not worth the trouble to do them yourself! Jeanette -- your story sounds exactly like what I might have done. Thank goodness I decided to ask before I took action!
Amy Ritchie