Things are a little dull around here, so I will give you an honest opinion, that im sure will provide some debate. Saying that tanning a skin, is a necessity of being a Taxidermist, is like saying you have to be able to rebuild a motor, to be able to drive a car. Yes I have a vested interest on this subject, but, knowing what I know, it is a waste of your time, which equals money. I would much rather wait for the UPS man, than worry about all the problems some of you guys face! I just dont get it! Pay $4.00 for chemicals per cape, plus your time, your loosing money. If anybody wants to, we can get into numbers. Do you think, the large Taxidermy shops, use the products yall ask so many questions about? NO! They know that their time is better spent mounting skins, not tanning them. I wont even get into the money, and time saved, by letting someone else do your prep-work, and tanning. Sub-contracting takes place in many forms of business, because it saves money in the long run. Many on this site are looking at yellow line in front of them, instead of looking at their destination.
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I do all my own tanning for a few reasons one being I have more control over each and every job I take in from start to finish and so far (knocking on wood as I type)I havn't had any problems with slipping, fleshing holes, missing ears, trashed tails ect. And I like the way the hides I tan turn out and mount up. I do however see your point about going with a commercial tannery if your taking in a very large amount of business and more importantly if you have a tannery with a decent turn around time that does a good job without any mishaps or troubles.
ago (in several businesses) that if you dont control your own destiny you're gonna get burned - i have never had a cut off ear yet cause i do all my own - never had a lost skin or one cut to pieces cause i do my own - i plan on keeping it that way - if i had to garment tan 50 coyote skins i would send them off cause i am not good enuf to control my own destiny in this situation - i dont hold any hard feelings for tanneries, per se, just dont see any need for them in my universe
Only been at this a few years, but I use a quality tannery. I hear this talk of controlling your own destiny and that, but let's be real here.
It's going to a RARE occasion that an ear gets ripped off, or a problem occurs at a REPUTABLE tannery as far as I can tell.
In fact, the tannery I deal with is extremely helpful, produces a great tan, and saves me from the overhead of all that entails home tanning.
I certainly may change my tune after a few more years, but for me personally, the time saving factor is something I have figured into my own busines plan.
Other than never having the cape out of my sight, I really can see no major benefit to in-house tanning, even though I've never tried it.
for me to get involved in. Let me explain; if you havent figured it out me & my son Rob operate Hog Heaven. We do WHOLESALE wold boar taxidermy & tanning. Nickles count in wholesale & I know how to count them. We tan using Liqua Tan & have for 14 years. As far as Im concerned its the best tan availble. I had the owner of a well known commercial tannery admit that it couldnt be beat by any other tan.
Any how any one can easily use this in house & you will love the results. Is it economicaly feasible for your operation? I dont know. you would have to crunch those numbers for yourself.
But quality is the big question here I think. We take in a goodly numberof boars that have been commercialy tanned. WE hate them I dont know how anyone works with them. Dry tans are the worst. In fact we have recently stopped accepting dry tanned hogs. Im not to crazy about wet tans either although Wildlife Gallerys wet tan is O.K. Im not going to get into all the shortcomings of the commercial tans but you cant get the same quality you get with a properly prepared Liqua Tanned cape. We have a number of repeat clients from the west coast (we are in New York) that send raw capes for tanning & they have a small fortune invested by the time pay the shipping. But they keep sending them. And again anyone can do it in shop. This is a personal call for each individual & his circumstances. But I cant put up with the shoddy condition most of these capes come back from the tannery in. I mounted a critter the other day that I had bought for myself. Commercial dry tan & a real piece of crap all tannery caused. In fact I found myself wondering how big a smoke cloud I could make with some acetone & a match added to the cape. If you have a tannery you are satisfied with go with it but you can probably do a better job in shop on most species. So now that I have convinced some of you to do it yourself instead of paying me to do it have a good day!
I have quality tanned capes for my customers when using Liqua-tan and the biggest plus for my customers-they don't have to wait a year to get their deer back.
I guess its all good to send stuff out 'to save costs' but what happens when they stuff the cape up, put an hours worth of holes in it or totally loose the cape/skin?
Over here we dont have the choice you guys do and I have had bad experiences with sending capes out.
I am onto another tannery now and I send the flat skins to them as i dont really care to do those, and i tell my clients i send them out for that reason, but i just cant risk the capes yet.
Mind you am am getting close to sending the boars thier way!
I guess i like to be able to have the capes pickled, tanned and frozen in my freezer asap. I use EZ100 but am looking at using liqua tan.
The tanning doesnt take alot of work. (except boars)If i get a cape in thats a bit 'iffy' i know i can do my best to save it where as some tanneries dont seem to bother.
Replacement capes are hard to come by, or damn expensive here.
Also as john W said - the turn around times.
Quite a few people who drop capes off to me are surprised by the turn around time.
Most, if not all, the guys i know with long turn around times dont tan themselves.
A few of my newer clients are disgruntled hunters with items still in other shops for over 18 months, or have been told thier skins have been lost!
We turn, flesh,degrease, pickle, & tan. And we SHIP them BACK the THIRD monday after we recieve them.
If you are going to split the eyes,nose,lips and turn the ears then salt to send to a tannery,why not go ahead and throw them in a pickle and shave and tan them instead of waiting 6 months to get them back? Just my personal opinion.