I bought a couple of whitetail capes from someone on this forum and they finally showed up. They were wet tanned. Now, I either send my hides to the tannery or tan them myself, so I know nothing about this wet tanning. It took the hides 8 days to get here (they came by pony express), and they were very dry upon arrival.
I needed to test fit them on mannikins, so I misted water on them to soften them up. One cape softened up okay but the other didn't (the drier of the two). I then placed it in a tub of water for a few hour to try to rehydrate it. When I took it out of the water, it had turned stiff and rubbery. I am assuming this is acid swell.
It is unmountable in this stage and I need to know if someone has a solution to make it more pliable and to get rid of its "rubberiness". I have some "Ultra Soft Relaxer" that is used for flint dried hides, but I wanted to query you guys before continuing on. Thanks for any and all suggestions!
Bob Mead
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Sounds like the hide needs to be soaked in cold water with baking soda to neutralize the acid.
Give Glen Conley a call at Whitetail Designer Systems and look at this web site..www.hidetanning.net
Glen is the Acid Swelling Professor
put it back in the soak but put salt in the water;i'd say never soak a taned hide in just water;salt water will fix it!