Am trying to figure out what went wrong with a red fox that slipped badly in the belly and hip area after wet tanning process...Briefly, after skinning partially thawed fox, I fleshed well, degreased and than I washed in a coldwater solution with some Malogon for odor. When rinsing "gently" I noticed slippage as indicated. Can someone tell me what went wrong? I have done 5 other fox this year without any problems however I did not soak them with Malogon for odor (cleaned with Dawn and Lysol, turned out great). I received this fox "unfrozen but cold" in February from the customer. He indicated he had shot it a day or so before. Could this have been an older kill that had frozen and thawed several times before getting to me and would that be a possible cause for slippage? Any suggestions would be appreciated very much. I am extremely anxious as to what process to use on my next fox...should I salt the hide to set hair and then rehydrate, degrease, etc.?
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Your customer my have told you that it was a fresh harvest..because that's what he knows he should say. Bacteria starts to go to work almost immediately. I can tell you this...always salt to set hair before submersing ANY hide in water, regardless if you have Dawn or other additives. Moisture sets the bacteria critters into full gear. Hope this helps!
my best guess is it happened in the degrease process. i'd say your ph got a little high and that alkalinity gathered in the infected areas you mentioned. your realy do not have to degrease a fox. if you need to degrease a fox. use the safest method and that is the acid bate method in your pickel. im sure bruce Rittel would have some available. or email me and i'll give you my formula.
eric
Both responses could be correct...will be more diligent in future on both customer info as well as PH level...One last Question: As a rule of thumb, can a person go wrong by salting every hide that comes in as a precaution for hair slip...I try to not handle the hide anymore than absolutely necessary and will probably do more cleaning after mounting versus "washing" prior to mounting.
.hi.
your absolutly correct in not handling the hide more than nessessary.
i would go directly into the solt brine when a hide comes in. of either 2 lbs salt per gal. for thick hides like buffalo. or 1 lb salt per gal. for fox ect. plus a little backterialside. and one once of fabrick softener per 5 gal of brine. then rinse, then get into the pickel as fast as possible.
rinse twice. second rince add two cups of vingar to netralize any remaining alkalie.
if you want to see my credentuals check out sengseal sellers list on ebay. i know how to tan but i'm still working on learning to spell
thanks
eric
My metod is to flesh as much as you can, rince well an put the skin in a mix og water, salt and acid. 60 grams of salt and 10 grams of acid pr. 1 liter of water. Left it in the bath for 24 ours. netralize with baking soda, do the rest of fleshing and rince in cold vater with a spoon of salt an Zalo (normal dishwashing (not the one you use in dishwashers) detergent). This metod have never led to slippage if the animal is fresh killed.
Aage