Rehydrating Salted Dry Whitetail Capes?

You need to rehydrate the cape then pickle the cape 2 to 3 days you get the plumping from the pickling. You may be adding to much salt while rehydrating or in the pickling if the cape not swelling up well.

 

Some say no salt , but I like salt as a safety net kinda thing . Not quite 1lb salt to every gal of water mix well then as hide softens I push under , I leave them in till like a noddle , could take a few days , take out rinse and put in pickle . That’s what works for me .

 

No salt but add a relaxer, I use McKenzie relaxer degreaser rotating capes every so often and it takes roughly 4 or 5 hours from rock hard to ready, I then wash in a separate bucket using same relaxer degreaser, once to you that you'll see why and rinse and then into pickle.

 

Same as 3bears except, I added a bit of Rittel's bactericide.

 

How long is it taking you to hydrate them?
A salt dried cape can take up to 20 hrs in plain water.
Now I don’t add salt to salted capes ( never ever a need to) ( by adding more salt to it only slows down the hydration process)
It’s wise sometimes to add those chemicals to help speed up the process, but that’s up to you.
The use of a bactericide is another option that’s used if your not sure of how the capes were handled by you or the client but the thought here is salted capes which stops the growth of bacteria then is in water and being salted really shouldn’t promote any more damage that has already occurred. Again it’s your choice if you want to use it.
I don’t as I do write down my iffy capes and handle them totally different on a one on one bases and don’t mix with known good capes.

 

Frank do you salt dry coyotes and fox or straight to the pickle,thanks Rich.

 

I used to salt dry them but instead I like to on mine furs ( cause I get them in salted dried) I like quick wash to get them clean, drain and straight into a pickle .
I watched the guys down a tannery doing this , skinning etc and said no salt? Explained it to me and said try it, you’ll like it better. So I have and all mammals go straight into it . I use formic acid.

 

Ok thanks ,I get nervous rehydrating an animal like fox.