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  #31  
Old 03-14-2019, 12:23 AM
HunterDave HunterDave is offline
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Last question......TIL the next one.

I’m going to be putting up this wolf pretty quick if I want to get it in by March 25. It’s been in a freezer for three months and I expect the ears, lips, etc to be dried out. I talked to one fella that knows his stuff and he suggested immersing the head in salt water to rehydrate like you would for tanning pelts. I’m wondering how this’ll work considering that it’ll be unskinned and the water would have to be absorbed though the skin for the ears. Has anyone encountered this before and have any other ideas (ie. injecting salt water with a hypodermic needle?).

I’d rather this wolf go to auction complete but i’ll Get it tanned for a wall hanger if things don’t work out.
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  #32  
Old 03-22-2019, 08:11 PM
TrapperMike TrapperMike is offline
 
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Marty had a long talk with Glen at NAFA about using vinegar on green bellies an he says they have never had a problem with it when the hides were tanned. He did say that the one thing that can cause a problem is the use of borax. He says it reacts badly with the tanning solutions. The more borax left on the hide the bigger the problems.
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  #33  
Old 03-28-2019, 07:55 AM
Marty S Marty S is offline
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I don’t recall that conversation? But I’ve had many such conversations. I wouldn’t do the vinigar thing. Beware of uncontrolled PH. It might dry just fine but will the hair stick after tanning?

The fellow to ask would be “Matthew the Awesome” from International fur dressers. About the vinigar thing... about anything. He is all knowing on tanning, in fact he’s even more knowledgeable than the odd all knowing individual on these forums that we like to read!!!

Think salt!!!

Salt is awesome stuff. If you are sending a skin to the dressers then pour the salt on it, especially to the ears and feet. If anything is carcassy then clean it down real good and pour the salt to it.

The best trick I know of to use on a carcassy skin is to clean it down 100% with your wire wheel fleshing machine, it grinds with water and literally grinds and washes the bad bacteria/enzymes/filth and makes it pretty. Easy as pie. No sloppy 1 hour put up jobs in this shop. I did a wolf the other night for a guy and we even ate some pie... Saskatoon pie!!! It was awesome!!!

Oh ya, green-ness carcassy-ness... pour the salt and if it is salvageable you will salvage your skin. We should be pouring the salt to the ears, lips, head, feet and DO NOT dry anything skin on skin, such as ears against head, legs against body, etc.
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  #34  
Old 03-28-2019, 08:32 AM
Marty S Marty S is offline
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Also, if you are sending straight to the dressers, don’t bother turning the skin.
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  #35  
Old 03-28-2019, 07:02 PM
Marty S Marty S is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HunterDave View Post
I’m going to be putting up this wolf pretty quick if I want to get it in by March 25. It’s been in a freezer for three months and I expect the ears, lips, etc to be dried out. I talked to one fella that knows his stuff and he suggested immersing the head in salt water to rehydrate like you would for tanning pelts. I’m wondering how this’ll work considering that it’ll be unskinned and the water would have to be absorbed though the skin for the ears. Has anyone encountered this before and have any other ideas (ie. injecting salt water with a hypodermic needle?).
I’m not sure how long you or your fella have been skinning animals, but if you thaw the wolf out you should be able to skin the head and lips, ears, tail as usual. Take a little care on the ear edges in case of light drying. We speed skin coyotes in 2-3 minutes every summer at the convention that have been in a freezer for 4 or 5 months without the aid of hypodermic needles, saltwater, massage techniques or even light meditation.

Now I’m not a big wolf guy myself so maybe you’ll have to go with fellas advice??? If you do and find that the salt water isn’t penetrating the skin for your desired effect, do try some scalp massage, deep breathing, followed by some deep meditation? Chanting???

Last edited by Marty S; 03-28-2019 at 07:08 PM.
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  #36  
Old 03-28-2019, 08:25 PM
HunterDave HunterDave is offline
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I was delayed in skinning the wolf for a bit due to a thumb injury but I waited as long as I dared and I skinned it on the hoist in the garage yesterday. Everything was way too dried out to do the head, tail and paws. Those parts are soaking in a salt bath right now and I’ll be finishing it tomorrow. It’s a really nice, big, black wolf and I’m hoping for the best. Worse case scenario is I’ll end up with a wolf blank to tan and a skull to sell.
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  #37  
Old 03-28-2019, 10:02 PM
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goose slayer10 goose slayer10 is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Marty S View Post
I’m not sure how long you or your fella have been skinning animals, but if you thaw the wolf out you should be able to skin the head and lips, ears, tail as usual. Take a little care on the ear edges in case of light drying. We speed skin coyotes in 2-3 minutes every summer at the convention that have been in a freezer for 4 or 5 months without the aid of hypodermic needles, saltwater, massage techniques or even light meditation.

Now I’m not a big wolf guy myself so maybe you’ll have to go with fellas advice??? If you do and find that the salt water isn’t penetrating the skin for your desired effect, do try some scalp massage, deep breathing, followed by some deep meditation? Chanting???
X2 With emphasis on the chanting
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  #38  
Old 03-28-2019, 11:24 PM
HunterDave HunterDave is offline
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I want to skin it not make love with it.
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  #39  
Old 03-29-2019, 07:58 AM
Marty S Marty S is offline
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Well Dave, we are most certainly very happy for you that it worked out. Sounds like the day was saved! Soaking in saltwater... who’d have thunk such a thing... Awesome!!!

While we are at it, would you be interested in buying some land down in the Antarctic? I inherited 30 townships many years ago and I’d be willing to sell it to you cheap!
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  #40  
Old 03-29-2019, 09:55 PM
HunterDave HunterDave is offline
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The fella that advised me of the salt bath is a taxidermist. Maybe you want to sell your land to him.

For anyone that may be interested in how things went......

The taxidermist recommended soaking the paws, tail and head in a salt bath for three hours and recheck. Rather than fart around checking all day and night, I soaked them for approximately 16 hours.

Tail - I had split the tail to the end and although it wasn’t completely rehydrated, it allowed me to skin a little more on the sides of the cut and pull the tail off intact.

Mouth/Lips - It worked great rehydrating them and I had no problem skinning it so the lips could be turned. There was still some hardness on the edges of the lips but nothing drastic.

Paws - Due to how dry the bottom of the legs were, I had cut the leg bones approximately 4” from the paws. The lower legs rehydrated well and I could skin right down to the large pad fairly easily. This was the show stopper for skinning for taxidermy. Turning the large pad was like trying to turn a hockey puck inside out......hard as a rock!

Ears - Forgetaboutit. Totally dried out. I ended up taking the cartilage right out.

No good for taxidermy at auction but I have a nice 3XXXL black wolf for a wall hanger to sell.

Last edited by HunterDave; 03-29-2019 at 10:19 PM.
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  #41  
Old 03-30-2019, 05:09 AM
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South west trappin RG South west trappin RG is offline
 
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Are you going to use the orange bottle of tan that you recommend to everyone. Let us know how it turns out Dave
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  #42  
Old 03-30-2019, 11:19 PM
HunterDave HunterDave is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by South west trappin RG View Post
Are you going to use the orange bottle of tan that you recommend to everyone. Let us know how it turns out Dave
I’ll be sending the wolf through the ATA to International Fur Dressers in Winnipeg to get professionally tanned.....$225 shipping included.

All those pelts going to Winnipeg that you could be tanning and you are concerned with an orange bottle of tanning solution. Funny stuff.
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  #43  
Old 03-31-2019, 10:44 AM
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South west trappin RG South west trappin RG is offline
 
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I was asked to do the ATA tanning but I have way to much work as it is.
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  #44  
Old 03-31-2019, 11:48 AM
HunterDave HunterDave is offline
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The orange bottled tanning solution is a great product and I have no problem recommending it to other Trappers. Obviously, some items are worth more and it makes sense to get them professionally tanned, like this wolf for example. I just used it last week on three coyote blanks that will be used for parka hood trim and on several fox and coyote tails that would have otherwise been discarded. I also use it on all of my beaver that are smaller than Large to make beaver hoops. Ermine is another one. They cost $35 to get tanned but you can buy a tanned pelt at Halford's for $30.
To me, it's a great product to turn low value or worthless items into items of value. To each their own though......
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  #45  
Old 04-03-2019, 07:26 AM
ptlfmx ptlfmx is offline
 
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If you or anyone else needs any professional tanning let me know. I can provide quick turn around with a high quality product. Also provide full taxidermy services.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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  #46  
Old 04-03-2019, 10:45 AM
pikeslayer22 pikeslayer22 is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ptlfmx View Post
If you or anyone else needs any professional tanning let me know. I can provide quick turn around with a high quality product. Also provide full taxidermy services.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Price list and location?
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  #47  
Old 04-03-2019, 09:11 PM
Marty S Marty S is offline
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Do you do a garment quality finish?

I like a garment quality finish.
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  #48  
Old 04-04-2019, 08:09 AM
Marty S Marty S is offline
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(That was an oops)
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