What's On Your Workbench? February 2023

Hey Brooke , Love the Can pair … Awesome work .. Do you plump , dry and paint your feet prior to mounting them … ? I used to and still do when I have time but lately I’ve been plumping duck feet with formalin , let them dry on the bird and then painting later .. it is a real pain painting feet on the bird vs in your hand … Just faster on small ducks for me to leave the feet in paint later when they’re an easier color ... Buffleheads and Teal are really the only ones I do like that .. the formalin works great on the small duck feet .. but the bigger feet you need Masters Blend . I’ve found that The formalin allows way too much shrinkage on bigger feet like snows and specks and honks of coarse so don’t bother . .. Bad shrinkage .. almost like using nothing ….
Anyways thanks all

 

Holy . . . WOW! RDA what kind of Quail is that?

 

RDA do you inject the feet and legs on your Quail? I see something shiny on those last ones

 

The first 2 pics RDA posted are blue scale quail. The last one is a mountain quail.

 

It’s turkey time in my shop.

 

I have only mounted a very few Turkeys. I have to figure out how you guys and gals pull off these strutter mounts . . . Jim yours looks really nice.

 

I like that idea , freezing them after the first shoot up gonna give it a try .. I used to remove the feet when I’d skin them out but for me I found it’s easier to work on the wheel having the leg bone to hold when wheeling the fat off the inside of the legs . I remove them after I wash , before drying and I always put something in the leg holes before I dry so they don’t get stuck closed.
So does the Glycerine help fill the voids in the feet ? Must be something to it cus formalin alone works at first but after a few weeks shrinks up almost as bad as if they hadn’t been done at all .. Do you use the 10% formalin or the 37% ? I tell ya one thing I sure don’t go thru syringes like I do with MB .. and I’m not against MB cus it works pretty good , I’m just messy and that stuff and me dont work well together .. I use it when I have too and get great results I hate mixing stuff before I use it , I like a one shot deal ..
.. so I guess theres really no efficient way to speed up the drying time prior to painting feet especially when it’s winter ..
Thanks Brooke ..

 

Yes. It also changes the cellular structure and the formaldehyde preserves. It really is a good way to go. On upland birds, and especially turkeys, you can leave the needles in the foot/toes, removed from the syringe and then later attach the syringe back to the needle and add more solution over a day or two if necessary.

 

Glad I ordered the 37% this time , I’ve been using the 10% so could be why they shrink up more not to mention without the Glycerin the important part .. I like those sm needles cus like you say the holes close up easy . Never thought about a dehydrator to dry feet but it makes sense .. I’ve used a small toaster oven once and it worked but it’s not something I do regularly … if you tape your wire to the bone it’ll melt away in a toaster oven … What I tell people for the most part is you can’t rush taxidermy … I just need to remember it myself ..
Thanks ..

 

Thats a Mountain quail the largest of the quails..

 

Yes i use masters blend-- and havent painted the legs yet- they are shiny from being cleaned with laquer thinner..;-)

 

In my neck of the woods, mountain quail are everywhere. We do have a fair number of valley quail as well.