When relaxing A deer cape that has been salted and dryed hard how soft does it need to be? I will be using safty acid pickle. does it need to be as soft as raw cape or just enough to be flexable? Thanks. Randall
Obviously, it usually never gets as soft as the freshly skinned raw cape was - but you should have it flexible and slightly plumped, or full. This means the fibers are open and will easily accept the pickling chemicals after its rinsed and placed into the pickle. In the pickle, the chemicals will do the rest. Once fully pickled the cape will fill out and the epidermis will firm up so you can work with it.
Some guys say you can pickle a small mammal skin after salting fof a couple of hours.Some say to let the skin dry hard, in John Belluci's video he salts the skin for a couple of hours then pickles it. I have some small mammal skins,ringtail,possum,chipmunks,and was wondering which way to go with these.Any suggestions.Thank You ..Rick.