Deer cape - salt dried - rehydrated - pickled with saftee acid - nuturalized - shaved evenly and thin. Now for my question.The skin on this rascal did not "plump" up like it should have and was quite the chore to shave. Why did this happen? These are the steps i've used in the past with good results. Any ideas?
Thanks again
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It would seem that the problem either was that it was an old salted and dried cape (usually one kept longer than 1.5 years) or the cape wasnt fully relaxed when it was placed in the pickle - so it was difficult for it to absorb the chemicals and "plump" like they usually do. Old salted and dried capes can very difficult to rehydrate fully. This is especially true if they were exposed to heat. The fibers release the water normally retained (this also happens over time too) and they sometimes glue together, making a full rehydration, if not difficult - sometimes impossible.
In his post he states he neutrilized the cape before shaving, would seem the cape let out and made shaving hard, just a thought.
Bruce and Paul
Should i not nuteralize before shaving?
After three days take out of pickle, drain then shave, then return to pickle for an additional 24 hours. Then neutrilize, after that tan.