What's On You Workbench 2020

It’s saved, not by much. It was a greasy mess. I had to spend a lot of time washing and rinsing. Then trying to get things seen together while feathers are wet and match feather patterns is difficult. I spent hours yesterday seeing them had to bag it and put it in the refrigerator overnight. Today had to wash it again. Largest mallard
I’ve ever done plus that thing seemed to have a neck like a snow goose. I measured it and remeasured it.

 

Looking forward to the after picture. We've seen the before!!

 

those wings .....

nicely done Brooke
You are getting really good! (for a girl.)

 

I've had it happen with a Blue Wing (really rare back then in Ca )had to pay for a pin raised bird to make it right for the client .... It happens to the best of us once in a while .... That one would go in the trash if it were me ... Salt the hide it you want it to toughen up a bit , and with really fatty birds I basicly wheel the bird twice ... Take off a layer , put in in the freezer for a bit then finish it up the 2nd round ...

 

I had a honker end up in seven pieces once. It took a long time to piece it together. I finally got it sewn up. It was all breast that got ripped up. Of course they wanted it landing. I finally finished it and grooming it. It came out decent. Then I saw it! Another piece of skin and feathers about 1 1/2 by 3”. Oh well. Kinda like working on a car and ending up with an extra bolt.
This was one of our local geese. It was horribly thin skinned a ultra fatty. I was working in a cloud of vaporized fat. It I tried to hold the goose by the skin it ripped. I never wanted to do another. The next one was a true wild one. The skin on it was tough. Maybe eating bread causes them to be thin skinned.

 

Prepping my next wholesale order

 

My first eider

 

something different for what's on my workbench. this guy killed a huge whitetail. He wanted the sack mounted on a panel. the nameplate will read, THE RACK WASN'T THE ONLY BIG THING ! the things we do for money.....that's an 8x10 panel by the way.

 

Sometimes the cash comes easy, sometimes hard. I'll take the easy every time! This was one of the easy...

 

Well, here it is...my first turkey. A friend donated this Jake for me to practice, and eat! Not real pleased with the fan, but overall I am pleased.
In this pic, it looks like he’s looking down, but his head is straight up. I may pull it back a bit tomorrow.
Y’all have a blessed Easter.

 

I see some minor issues, but dang, that's a hell of a first turkey. Yes, you might want to tilt the head back just a little so the snood is perpendicular to the ground as if gravity was acting on it. This is really better than a lot of professionally mounted turkeys I have seen!

 

Will do. Thanks for your input. I knew the feathers on the back would be a challenge. I used liquid nail on the back and groomed as Tim Jordan instructed. Now I reckon I will be preening all week.
I got a much later start today than I intended after going shopping for parents and skinning another turkey for a friend, so I didn’t remove the legs on this one. Jordan doesn’t mention injection or painting in his video, so I still have to investigate leg painting.

 

There are other videos out there that include the injecting and painting of the feet with their mounting procedures, however, I believe that some offer feet and head painting segments from their mounting video. I believe Harry Whitehead does this for Taxidermy Training Unlimited.

Your saddle feathers look nice.