Ok, something went wrong. A few post ago I posted a question about pickle times and a badger, well I didn't hear anything so I went ahead and degreased in the polytranspar for an hour and then put him back into the pickle. I checked the PH right after putting him in pickle and it was about 1.2-1.8. I came back an hour later and the PH was at 6.0! I washed him before putting him back into the pickle so I don't know what went wrong?
So after freaking out :-) and reading a post from Bruce Rittle (I think that was his name) about salting hides until they're rock hard, which I didn't do, I decieded to resalt and salt until he's rock hard. Am I running the risk of hair slipage by doing this, given that he has already been in a pickle for a day or so? I wouldn't think so since the salt draws the mositure out and the acid was neturalized by whatever the polytranspar.
I I'm going to throw out the polytranspar degreaser, it stinks and is hard as hell to get out of the hide. I'm going to order degreaser from Bruce Rittel, what dose everyone suggest? Bruce? Since this is my first badger and I didn't realize how much they stink I'm going to order a smell eleminator as well :-)
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Got nothing to do with it. What did you wash the skin in after degreasing? Sounds like a load of detergent went in with the hide.....I don't think a short soak in slight alkalai Ph would do any damage. You didn't use any soda before putting it back in the pickle, did you? Sounds to me like you diluted your pickle or introduced a neutralizing agent or an alkalai like detergent..If your "pickle" is a small volme of liquid, it wouldn't take much to tip the scales away from the acid side of things.
Yeah I didn't think salt had anything to do with it I just thought since I didn't do it to start with and I was in a bind and wasn't sure if I'd loose the hair or not I figured that was the safest thing to do :-)
Now that you mention it about soap, yes after the degrease I washed it off with Dawn and rinsed it well, guess not well enough. I didn't think dawn had the ability to neturalize the PH level. I'm learning something new everyday just hope it isn't at the expense of a 50.00 badger :-)
the safety solvent works good in the pickle, not sure if you can use as a wash as you did with the dawn, the kemal works great as a wash type degreaser without raising your ph. its about 10 times more potent than regular dish soap and cuts grease way better. you will find theres not a whole lot of cut rate items out there that work as good as the products developed specificaly for this trade. good luck
Don't take this wrong, but you need to learn a LOT about pH. Acids are at the low end, soaps are at the high. Acids lock hide. Soaps are at the "Base" end and they destroy protein (that's how they degrease) but in so doing, loosen hair. Lye is the harshest of bases and is used to dehair hides for leather. Acids go down to 1, bases go up to 12. Water is considered "neutral" at 7. So if you have an acid reading 1 and add lye to it, the pH is going to try to divide the difference. Baking soda is a base and to neutralize acid, adding baking soda simply turns sulfuric acid into water. Any time you play with pH's you 'd better know the results that will follow.
That's a flat, a dark or off, or a small.
A $50 badger for L/S is a deal. Most are wholesaling about $120 dressed right now.
Try ruining a $185 bobcat, now that sucks.
Polytranspar sounds like it sucks too. Use Super-Solv, Kemsol, or the stuff Rittel's sells.
BTW an hour in a 6.0 pH won't hurt a badger skin, ok maybe the ears or feet but not the pelt... their pelts are as tough as nails unless really well shaved and fully fleshed.
Remember to drip-dry the pelt between baths. That way you don't transfer 1/2 gal of degreaser/neutralizer to your pickle, or 1/2 gal of pickle to your tan!
Good luck, you're well on your way to learning more about taxi.