Post by paulette on Feb 24, 2012 13:31:29 GMT -5
Boy this place is rather 'dead'.. excuse the pun.. but anyway here's my latest tanning project! I can't wait to get this coyote out of the tanning solution and get him done.. poor thing was shot by my evil coyote hunting friend, Mike. His dog ran him for like 4 hrs and when the hunt came to a close, this yellow coyote was walking up the lane to him with Mike's dog biting into his back.. chee.. poor thing..Danger of shooting his own dog when the chase with dogs ends up like this. He's quite a nice, young, beautiful coyote. I'd pretty much sworn off tanning any coyotes this year but I can't resist some tanning requests. I was just totally overwhelmed with the volume of coyote skins coming my way last year.. one needs a tannery when so many are needing tanned! Love the fur.. but they're a LOT of work to do a great job on in your home or backyard! I definitely used the power washer to flesh this coyote out(as usual). Gets the fur and skins so clean.
I pickled him in some citric acid and salt and water (oh AND a couple of degreasers) for a day,
then I detailed his face.. shaved his thickened skin just a bit on the Dakota Pro (electric fleshing machine). I was thinking to take a picture of the volume of excess skin that I removed from it's face, ears and paws and body.. weighed what felt like about a lb.. good couple of handfuls at least! All that 'stuff' keeps the pickle from penetrating real well so I just dropped the skin back into the tub so the pickle would fully sink into anything that all the extra skin was keeping it from for another day.
Today I neutralized the pickled skin in some baking soda and water. I then mixed up some Lutan F.. I have learned that there's some other product available for wall hangers.. or project material.. figures.. always something to BUY, isn't there.. LOL. Better start investing more in the LOTTO!
So... this is kinda what it's looking like today after I neutralized and rinsed and ran it through a rinse and spin cycle in my washing machine;-)
I can't wait to take it out of the bucket I have it tanning in tomorrow... maybe later on tonight will be long enough.. Supposed to be 16 hrs minimum..but perhaps that's for a deer cape.. I dunno.. not exactly rocket science here so maybe by tonight it'll be fine to remove and get on with the softening process. I know the fellow Mike will be real happy to see it hanging on his wall.
I plan to remove it from the bucket then give it a shampoo and condition with some hair product before oiling the fleshside and sweating rolled up near the fireplace in a bag for a couple of hours, then softening. (till dry).. may not make it till dry dry.. so it may end up in the fridge until morning to finish out.
try to get a finished soft wall hanging coyote out soon! stay tuned!
Paulette
I pickled him in some citric acid and salt and water (oh AND a couple of degreasers) for a day,
then I detailed his face.. shaved his thickened skin just a bit on the Dakota Pro (electric fleshing machine). I was thinking to take a picture of the volume of excess skin that I removed from it's face, ears and paws and body.. weighed what felt like about a lb.. good couple of handfuls at least! All that 'stuff' keeps the pickle from penetrating real well so I just dropped the skin back into the tub so the pickle would fully sink into anything that all the extra skin was keeping it from for another day.
Today I neutralized the pickled skin in some baking soda and water. I then mixed up some Lutan F.. I have learned that there's some other product available for wall hangers.. or project material.. figures.. always something to BUY, isn't there.. LOL. Better start investing more in the LOTTO!
So... this is kinda what it's looking like today after I neutralized and rinsed and ran it through a rinse and spin cycle in my washing machine;-)
I can't wait to take it out of the bucket I have it tanning in tomorrow... maybe later on tonight will be long enough.. Supposed to be 16 hrs minimum..but perhaps that's for a deer cape.. I dunno.. not exactly rocket science here so maybe by tonight it'll be fine to remove and get on with the softening process. I know the fellow Mike will be real happy to see it hanging on his wall.
I plan to remove it from the bucket then give it a shampoo and condition with some hair product before oiling the fleshside and sweating rolled up near the fireplace in a bag for a couple of hours, then softening. (till dry).. may not make it till dry dry.. so it may end up in the fridge until morning to finish out.
try to get a finished soft wall hanging coyote out soon! stay tuned!
Paulette