Hi Guys, I am now learning taxidermy, and i really like it :)
My question is:
after you skin a animal, turn eyes, lips, nouse, and hears, and apply salt for 24 hour's and again, to salt dry the hide I just let stay in salt intel is dry rock? And how long can the hide stay in this stage before I keep going with the tanning process?
1 mounth ,2,3,4 one year, for ever? or is better to freeze the hide(...)? Thank you so much Paul
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Paul,
I'm just starting too. But, from what I have read, after a hide is salt dried it can be kept indefinitely as long as it is kept in the dry. I have also read that you should never freeze a salted hide.
Hope this helps,
Mike
After you salt, let them dry hard. Helps to promote hair set.
As far as freezing them goes, I have a small tannery outside of Minneapolis/St. Paul, and have had no trouble with frozen after salted. All the moisture is gone, so there should be nothing there to damage the hair folicle.
I dont let my hides set any longer than a year. I have it on VERY good authority that after a year the fibre structure starts to collapse, and can make the hides real tough to get through the tanning process.
Ron Z
Salted hides should never be frozen if they are not completely dry. Once they are dried hard and you want to keep them that way, they can be "stored" in a freezer. They won't actually "freeze" because the contain little or no moisture. They SHOULD be kept in a freezer if you live an a humid region of the country, the salt will draw moisture to the hide and partially(not completely) rehydrate the skin. This can be a great place for mold to grow.
it will shorten time to dry
and will give you a better all around product
I was told that if you put a salted hide in the freezer, it will induce moisture to go back into the pelt. I was recommended NOT to freeze a salt-dried hide. Maybe I was wrong.
Thank you guys for the help ;)