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Post by joanne2 on Jan 20, 2011 9:39:18 GMT -5
;D Gosh is this funnnn! It is considerably time consuming! I have one more of about the past dozen yet to totally skin..that one was rock solidly froze! Dang!! It's' been going in and out of the basement for the last several days while others have come in and been skinned ahead of it!that green belly stomach should be enough to turn even MY stomach. The feet take the longest, I think. .I remove all the toe bones.. and all the ear cartilage..ear cartilage removal is still on the list of things needing to be done with nearly all of these! and lips turning.. most still have their big snouts intact.. so All that has to go.. just starting on the fleshing and I've decided to go with the machine flesher this year and do things backwards for me but I would bet that the aboriginal people would have just added smoke asap after fleshing. NO WATER till the very end.. I'm going to p'wash these later.. lots of burrs that I know will ONLY come out with that washer.. seen how neat it unravels matts and burrs.. pretty cool.. but going to tan these first this year.. make it easier on ME. THis one has a Lassie face, isn't he pretty?? the one hunter wants this one tanned for himself. I repay these guys with several tanned skins. Really makes em happy.. they call me 'Squaw'. I consider that to be a great compliment . The machine flesher is doing a really fine job of removing the meat and fat. Have to be cautious not to remove too much skin as removing the hair roots would not be pretty! anyway the skin feels nice and dryish kinda and just stretching it open should allow the smoke to get in there right where I want it. Funnnn stuff! I'm really pleased with the way this skin looks and feels. I got the feeling I'm going to come out with some very nice brain tanned coyote furs this year. Would like to make something with most all of them as the hanging skins don't seem to fetch enough for all the work they are. Getting a little tired of giving all my hard labor away. Might change my user name to 2Crows or something as I seem to be seeing a lot of these 2 crows. Hope they like all these scraps I'm tossing them. Well the coffee cups almost dry.. coffee break is nearly OVER! Back to the grindstone. Hope ya'll like the pics!
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Post by Cody ( The Patriot ) on Jan 20, 2011 15:28:42 GMT -5
Joanne how many coats of brains you put on them ? Im working a beaver now and just have smoked it and brained it once so far ,how many more?
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Post by 2feathers on Jan 20, 2011 19:11:21 GMT -5
JoAnne very kewl info.2feathers
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Post by two bit on Jan 21, 2011 16:05:48 GMT -5
nice..................... I dont know whats wrong with louisiana but our coyotes are just straight up ugly and unhealthy looking
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Post by ThunderMoon on Jan 21, 2011 17:13:55 GMT -5
Man if i ever get my piggy bank filled back up,i'm gonna purchase some hides.
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Post by joanne2 on Jan 21, 2011 20:11:53 GMT -5
Joanne how many coats of brains you put on them ? Im working a beaver now and just have smoked it and brained it once so far ,how many more? I just work these things till they're softened dry and smoked Cody. Mileage varies on these and lots of factors come into play.. like say I had a badger one time that I was tanning and it was so thick skinned was like hair on leather, lol..so had to thin it down plenty as it really didn't need to be real thick..anyway chances are you'll need to do some thinning on a beaver skin to get it to accept the smoke and oil. You know this is kind of the point I am trying to make is that...I think if you can thin your beaver down and soften it and smoke it like it is perhaps the beaver's own brain is enough to tan it's hide. There really isn't a lot of info on tanning hides the way the NA aboriginals did it.. but somewhere along the lines that comment that a person can tan a hide with the animals own brains may have originated with the NA's. Possibly because the simple fact that they just most likely skinned fleshed..added smoke, softened and then perhaps cleaned them up AFTER they were tanned and added some brains to the skins to finish em off! Sounds reasonable.. doesn't make sense to go saturating a fur with water especially if one was living in a tipi in the dead of winter.. smoke was always instilled and maybe more so..but just don't add smoke to a skin that has had the oils removed as sometimes they can be extremely difficult to tan then so I'm a really huge fan of presmoking. Beaver sure smell like fish! They really have a greasy skin too.. the grease is like orange on those! So..hope your skin softened okay for ya. I found the beaver skins to be really tight fibered.. I was wondering if one shaved it down thin enough if the guard hairs would pluck easier..NOPE! anyway that was a year ago.. I plucked a couple of them that someone gave me just to make some yarn with the thinly cut strips. Pretty neat. anyway the beaver is some strong skin..It does go from real thick along the sides of the neck to super thin in fractions of an inch so this is where it's relatively easy to make a hole if you're going to while thinning at first. Maybe you know this! Was my experience when I first started messing with beaver skins.
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Post by joanne2 on Jan 21, 2011 20:14:14 GMT -5
JoAnne very kewl info.2feathers Thanks 2feathers, glad it wasn't too much information! My carpal tunnel kicked in in the middle of the night and I could hardly carry the new grand around on my left hip for the reminder. So tanning coyotes ain't all that funnnn, I LIED!! LOL
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Post by joanne2 on Jan 21, 2011 20:20:33 GMT -5
nice..................... I dont know whats wrong with louisiana but our coyotes are just straight up ugly and unhealthy looking You would really like the yote hunters right up the street..These are generations of fox and yote hunters here and wow.. to see the excitement of the young men is pretty neat. One of these coyotes was shot by like a ten year old.. tanned his brothers first last year..he's like 12. Glad that younguns like these guys are getting the skins I'm tanning. Makes it a lot more worthwhile. think the kids are learning something too that will be a valuable asset in years to come.. damned russian looking boars that the future might hold hmmm scary just what kind of a world will be left to future generations. Your folks are teaching you the right path.. no doubt in my mind. Glad you enjoy my posts as I put a lot of time and effort and $$ into all this! I hope they're Some helpful to you!
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Post by joanne2 on Jan 21, 2011 20:23:00 GMT -5
Man if i ever get my piggy bank filled back up,i'm gonna purchase some hides. Least you HAVE a piggy bank! LOL.. My trucks gas tank takes all my free change.. either that or the kids did it out of my purse for candy every time I stop at the store! Spoiled them kids are.. Mine wouldn't even think about tanning a hide but boy they sure like the stuff I can whip together and then they want some for themselves!
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Post by james on Jan 21, 2011 21:44:04 GMT -5
Looks great and alot of hard work.
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Post by 2feathers on Jan 21, 2011 23:36:20 GMT -5
Hey JoAnne 2Crows ;D I have my pennies all saved & ready
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Post by two bit on Jan 22, 2011 21:00:01 GMT -5
the yotes down here are a mixed with dogs so they just dont look right i want to go trapping up north or out west ......but that still doesnt mess with how good it feels when i beat my dad trapping haha
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Post by ThunderMoon on Jan 22, 2011 23:24:38 GMT -5
You are a great teacher Joanne,i would love to be there and learn the craft from ya.If they don't stop taxing and feeing and pricing us out we will surley have to know these things again.Around here they are killin us.Gas is 350 or more and goin up..Gonna have to stay stocked up on a few good sharp knives,the right shooters and ammo to get by with. Do you have to have any type of license to do coyotes and smaller fur bearers?I know around here taxidermist have to have them on bears,but they dang near put them all out of buissness about ten years ago,used to be a guy down the road a piece and he just gave up,had the fleshers and a everything.Use to be a nice country town here,now it's a dirty city.
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Post by joanne2 on Jan 23, 2011 0:06:44 GMT -5
Just have to have a fur bearers license. Yes, I agree gas here is getting really unreal. Food, everything. Yeah the 'skills' will be very important to 'own'. If one can 'tan' their own skins like the aboriginals did there's a good way to survive really. Sewing, knitting, weaving, everything one can do with their hands will be really helpful. Leather will never go out of style. It's strong and made to last. Soapmaking..one could tan skins with handmade soap..sounds like a better use for lye than bucking. I don't have a clue how to make soap, lol! Wished I did. Sometimes folks, taxidermists can't make ends meet...no one wants to pay a lot and the taxi folks are getting shafted, plus all the bookwork. Better to tan your own, IMO. Sell a few skins if you can, or better yet, make something with it and sell that. Guess these days you are either a have or a have not!
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Post by ThunderMoon on Jan 24, 2011 0:20:03 GMT -5
Yea you have the skills to do it or you have not ;D I gotta get of my butt and go see my buddy soon and get back in that direction.
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