Ok...here's the deal. On my doorstep, the day before yesterday, arrived a package from a tannery I was trying out. I had rec'd some other things from them that were decent, so I thought I'd try batch two. Opened up the box, and found the coyote cape I was expecting...with a tag attached to it that said they could not process it due to bacteria before they handled it. Now I know for a fact that this cape was treated with extreme care. Customer to freezer, freezer to flesher, flesher to tannery. No down time. I inspected the cape, which clearly had been in chemical vats, (because the hide was still sticky with chemicals, the coloration of products was evident, along with the chemical smell), and found no evidence whatsoever of hair slippage on it. The interior, hide part was falling apart. Now, to the best of my knowledge, bacteria will be most evident when you have slippage. Not an ounce of hair was falling out of this yote. My conclusion is acid swell, or detriment due to a chemical process. I have called one other reputable tanery, and talked with a manager there, and he agreed with my conclusion.
Please let me know what your thoughts are...I certainly appreciate the feedback.
Tory
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Well here's my take.
I bought a wolf, did the samething, acid swell or acid rot.
Big name tannery too. I too am tired of getting thumped over by so called tanneries.
Best thing I can think of, is dump the tanneries and do it yourself.
Yea, it's more time, but you have the QUALITY CONTROL, not some jerk who could careless about what your client has to say.
I have tried most of the big name tanneries, I use coyotes and fox for the test. These I trap, and are skinned and on a forced air, under air salt rack within two hours. I have yet to get an acceptable skin back.
Holes holes holes, or some kind of slippage.
My cure was to raise my mount prices, and put thm directly into a 2.5ph acid pickle. Add your salt and you will NOT GET ACID SWELL.
You can also flesh the thin skinned animals out in just a few minutes with a fine wire wheel on a 1/4 bench grinder, I use a 8 or 10 inch fine wire wheel.
Just don't over neutralize, before you tan, watch the skins close and as they rise on pH to 4.5 to 5.5 stop and rise, rise, rise.
Then tan either with a paint on tan or what you like best.
Another very good option is KROWTANN-2000, great for mounts just use a good hide paste.
I have read G.R.'s replies about Krowtan-2000, since he has not used it. How can he validate the product.
Like never driving a Ford and saying they are not any good.
I spend close to 60 hrs per week working for a tannery. QUALITY CONTROL, is basically all I do, not to mention all the hours put in by other departments. Our entire existance depends on quality control. Care less about what your client has to say? If you knew how many hours a week I spend on babysitting problem skins, trying to make them mountable, you would appreciate the effort alot more! You have little to no idea what goes on at a PROFESSIONAL Tannery, judging by your remarks. Try keeping track of one SUPER RUSH deer cape, along with a thousand other skins in process. Its done every day, by people that earn their living tanning skins, and HAVE to give a damn, to stay employed.
Never said I hadn't USED it. I used it the same time I was testing the McKenzie tan. Read the directions, smelled the fumes. Alum tans suck IN MY OPINION and I don't need the heartache that all too familiar with anyone who's been around taxidermy as long as I have. Alum tans carry excess baggage and though they may have changed, once burned, twice shy. The acid SMELLS like sulfuric acid. Don't need that. Use Safety Acid when I pickle.
And I certainly don't understand anything you said about a pickle at 2.5 preventing acid swell. Acid swell doesn't happen in a pickle that's been stabilized with salt to my knowledge. Best time to get acid swell is to neutralize the pickle and not add salt or letting it set in rinse without salt. That's what acid swell is. I keep my pickle at 1.0 up to 2 and when it gets to 2, I add acid to keep it below that.
...but what I am looking for is your input into my connundrum. If you care to address my original post...I would certainly appreciate your taking the time.
Tory
what do you want us to say? Your tannery is dicked up? Like O.S. said you don't know what they deal with. Don't send your skins there anymore or are you wanting everyone to agree with you so you can print this off and show them to prove they screwed up. I, and most every other taxidermist here has a clause that says if your skin gets screwed up during the tanning or any phase of the mounting process it's not our fault, a tannery is no different. Tan your own skins. Actually, I don't think there is a reputable tannery ( this is my own personal opinion) that wouldn't just replace your coyote with another one unless the one they recieved was screwed up to begin with. Sorry but a coyote cape isn't too hard to come by even if it's something special.
John broke it down best I guess, but canids are the toughest to tan anyway because they're prone to slippage. I've had several foxes and a coyote returned to me under the same circumstances you've provided. They were returned and I wasn't charged, so as John said, I got a replacement. Did you know that some tanneries won't accept these furbearers? I guess they tire of disgruntled customers wanting refunds for ears slipped.
Now, if I may, let me tell you where your scenario fails you miserably. You state the the coyote came from the customer frozen to your freezer and then etc, etc. Well nowhere in there did you validate what the CUSTOMER had done before it was frozen. Freezing an animal the size of a coyote is just asking for trouble to begin with. They don't instantly freeze and I've seen dozens of "greenass" coyotes, foxes, and bobcats over the years where the freezing didn't happen before gangrene set into the animal. You also didn't mention if it was shot, found, or roadkilled. I'd bet the tannery found the green or blue on the hide during the rehydration process and didn't want to take the chance on tanning this dog.
And as John stated, if you think everything was above board on your end and the tannery was just jerking you around, then don't use them anymore. But I always cringe when I hear "I have called one other reputable tanery(sic), and talked with a manager there, and he agreed with my conclusion." Is this guy desperate for work? How or WHY would he ever make such an assinine remark without actually seeing the specimen? Personally, I wouldn't use his services either. I don't know of any tannery who's first remark would be, "Well, I can't tell you about all that without first seeing the skin."