Folks,
Just received my bear hide from tannery. They did a great job, but it's a lot smaller than it was. What's best way to stretch it back to origional size?
Thanks for the help.
Spike
spikefrb@aol.com
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Tanned hides are always smaller when they return from the tannery. As George said on the earlier post, "sweating" the hide with a little salt in the soak solution is the way to go. The salt helps pevent "acid swelling" (see archives). One technique I use after sweating for rugs and full body mounts is to use a flat (1.5 - 3") metal home made tool that is smooth and free of sharp edges to "scrape" or "break" the hide. It's hard to explain, but you lay the wet (sweated) hide out flat and use the tool to scrape (push) from the centerline to the sides; then from the center of the legs to the edges. Sounds confusing, but it's pretty easy. The net result is a significant gain in stretching the hide back to (close) original dimensions. E-mail me or call at 907-696-3611 if you need more details. Good Luck.
Dave--Lone Wolf Taxidermy
over to the left and when the rectangle shows up type in "sweating tanned bear hide". When the page opens up click on the very first one, "commercially tanned hide". Now scroll down. Read each one but be sure and read the response from George. I think that should do it for you.
Contact your tanner and find out how they recommend rehydrating. I see a lot of recommendations for adding salt, but none of the tanners that I use recommends salt. A couple say absolutely "NO SALT" when I have asked them specifically about it. Do what "YOUR" tanner recommends for their tan!