I have done taxidermy for several years, nut never attempted to do a rug until now.
I tan my own hides using Liqua-tan using the directions described on the bottle. My question is, will the Liqua-tanned hide dry too stiff to make a nice Rug? Do I need to use a softening oil such as Liqua-soft? I am planning on Hot gluing the felt backing to the ;hide like demonstrated in the Diane Rinehart bear rug mounting video. Will the hot glue stick to this type of tanned hide? Answers to any of these questions would be greatly appreciated.
Return to Tanning Category Menu
Ron,
I started my taxidermy business 3 years ago. At that time I built a rugging table, bought a pinking machine, and a lot of glue sticks. My wife would hand sew the backing to the felt that was glued to the hide. I was fairly pleased with the product until I seen a "nice rug", .....sewn to the hide, quality upholstery type backing material, d-rings sewn in for hanging. From that point on, I have mounted the head and sent the commercially tanned hide to someone with the ability to do a truly professional rugging job. I price accordingly and sleep well knowing that my customer left my studio with a quality rug. Remember the Jimmy Dean sausage commercials...."I'd rather explain the price than apologize for the quality"!
Bill just gave you the best advice you'll ever get in this industry. Take it.
Some may choose their way and well choose ours, I have no problem getting a rug softenough for rugging. Just shave it even apply the thin coat of liqua Tan and about 12 to 18 hours later apply a thin coat of either Tanning oil #1 or the Liqua Soft. My skins come out fine I might work them a few min while they dry, and maybe 5 to 10 min when done and thats it. Yes the glue will stick to it once its dry. Plus you can sew on it as well.
I wasn't referring exclusively to the TANNING Process as much as I was that silly hot glue idea. In 46 years I've done a few rugs and I've been stupid enough to believe that hot glue would hold ANYTHING to a oiled hide longer than it took to get it out of my shop. WRONG! Hot glue is simply melted plastic and even some of the softer plastic "glues" still are "peelable". If a rug is rolled or folded periodically for cleaning, moving, or just for grins, the hot glue IS going to disbond, PERIOD. Only stitching will hold a backing and pad in place permanently. I use 3M spray glue to tack my fill and then my felt in those rare occasions I lose sanity enough to want to rug something. THEN I sew and tack every 6 inch square of the rugged hide to prevent disbonding or shifting of the pad. As Bill stated, I can tan a bear for about $120 and I get get it rugged for about $300 or less. Charging $150 a linear foot or increment there of, I charge about $700 per rug. My total involvement with the job never went beyond fleshing, salting, and shipping and I make almost $300 profit on each one. I don't do that well on deer hides.
I understand, SOMEONE has to rug animals, but I accept the fact that it doesn't HAVE to be me in order to make a good profit. If a person "specializes" it's one thing, but a "full service" taxidermist would be wise to same time and make money at every opportunity. That's all Bill and I were saying on that matter.