I took Cur's advice and searched completely through the archives without success. Sure, I've done many ears by turning the last 1/4" or so after the hide gets back from thew tannery, but never the entire ear. So here goes my question:
I have a commercially tanned black bear hide that was put through the entire process without the lips, ears, nose, or eyes turned. Amazingly enough, the hair didn't slip, but of course it's now "hard dried" leather. The customer wants a rug or possibly even a full body mount. I've warned him that it'll be really hard to turn the ears and trim up the other areas at this stage, but I'm willing to try. I also warned him there's no guarantee the hair/epidermis will stay on once fully rehydrated. Question: Do any of you have any tips for relaxing the head/ear cartilage well enough that I can carefully and successfully turn the ears at this late stage of the game? Any ideas appreciated!
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If the tannery did a good job there is no earthly reason why the hair would slip during or after complete relaxing or rehydration. If it was to be a rug, it should have been rug tanned and broken so that the hide was supple and not hard.
The first step is to rehydrate. There are probably a dozen recipes for solutions on board the archives. After the skin is relaxed, you can split the lips and eyes out with not much problem, so long as you have a sharp scalpel blade and good hand/eye coordination. The ears are a bit more problem. You will have to slice the cartilage free one snip at a time until you split the ear cores. You may or may not be able to reach the ear tips and edges, but again, that depends on your hand/eye coordination. You can use a syringe to shoot relaxing fluid into the ear ahead of the work to soften the skin and cartilage as much as possible. Adding a little alcohol to the water may aid in the wetting process.
I can only hope for your sake that the toes have been split and turned and that the pad cartilage was thinned prior to tanning. The hardest chore where the ears are concerned is getting them wet enough. If some slipping occurs, you can douse the area with acetone to set the hair a bit, but I see no reason why that should happen if the tannery did a good job.
WASCO and other suppliers sell quality relaxing chemicals. Personally, I brew up my own concoction, but I would recommend a commercial product ahead of experiment. If I gave you my formula and the hide slipped, I wouldn't want to be part of the blame. Just be patient as you work, give the fluids time thier job, and work behind the wetting as you progress.
I really appreciate the advice. I'll take it nice and slow!