Renovating old bird mounts

Wait for it, wait for it.....


..although I'm sure there is gonna be a reasonable explanation.

 

LOL Danny, I think you mean "rejuvenating" or perhaps "refurbishing" but I don't think you want to renovate them. Old bird mounts are best appreciated for what they are. Most suffer from oil leakage and mite damage on top of normal aging/disintegration issues. If you can't blow the dust off with air, then it's questionable anything would work better. Long ago we used trichlorethane tech,111 (computer dry cleaning spray or drum brake cleaner spray) and worked form the head to the tail. This WILL work but it removes any oils and will leave your bird dull. The old way of cleaning them involved taking a fresh slice of white bread and wiping the feathers in the direction of flow. The minute amount of oils in the bread picked up the dust and imparted oils back into the dull feathers. It worked to some degree, but nothing is ever going to make them new again.

 

Do you know it is prohibited to posses protected bird species? You will get caught and dropped on an island with 40 naked virgins!

 

Nothing directed at you Danny (Welcome to the forums by the way)...It's just a running joke around here about selling waterfowl or the archiac US laws concerning birds of prey, etc....I was betting you were from another country that allowed possession.

 

and i was joking because of the hysteria concerning protected species. I'm from Europe so no need to worry for me either!

 

Haha! Go for a Paradise parakeet next time, mate!

 

if you put up images of what you have and what you want to do then people can advise you as to perhaps best practice. Otherwise continue with MBTA lol

 

Hot steam from a kettle will straighten and allow the tail to be more easily adjusted by example. You might also want to use white spirit on the feathers to clean them up a bit. Beware of colour changes though