Roger I have cured bird skins using borax. Clean the skin of excess fats and flesh then strech it and tack it in place and coat it with a generous amount of Borax. I have bird skins that have been cured in this fashion that are several years old. Mel
Roger Cotner wrote: > Greetings! > I've not tried my hand at curing and dying a hide before but find > myself in need of doing something with a relatively small piece (6"x6") > of animal (peccary, aka javelina or wild pig) hide. I'll use use the > bristles, dyed red, for tails for a Halliday Stone pattern Al Rockwood > taught me. > I've searched VFB messages here at my home computer and found a message > from Feb '01 from Kevin Kirkelie (I'm not sure Kevin's with us any more > as a worm or virus got the better of him) that had some hints on curing > an elk hide, and I'll include that below. > Unless someone tells me otherwise, I plan on defrosting this piece of > hide (it's been in the freezer for about 4 months), rubbing it with salt > (Is Borax better?), leaving it for a few days, drying it, soaking it and > cleaning it. I'll then dye it with Rit to the desired hue. > I welcome any and all suggestions as to how best to turn a peccary's > hide into a (silk purse) fly. > Regards, > Roger Cotner > Grand Haven, Michigan > > PS Material swappers, don't fret! I have an envelope full of (readily > available) bristles off the hide that I intend to use for this swap. > > Kevin K's 2/01 email follows: > > Hi John, How are things in Madras ? We haven't gone fishin' yet, and the > big > dollies are hitting big stuff hard and fast. Anyway, to help you with > your > question on elk hides. The best hides you'll find, are those that have > been > properly taken care of by scraping them clean of all flesh and fat and > then > cured with either salt or borax powder. Two things happen here. #1- All > the > natural oils on and in the hair stay there and actually add to the > floatibiltiy of the hair. # 2- The stiffness of the hair remains the > same on > untanned hides, and the hair doesn't become so brittle. I worked with a > taxidermist for many years, and he was kind enough to show me some of > the > secrets of hair. Something to remember about untanned hides is that, > since > it is still, generally speaking, in its natural state, bugs are more > prone > to get into it , so you should cut it into smaller, easier to handle > pieces, > and put the pieces into plastic boxes or bags with some kind of > non-toxic > bug killer, especially since you have kids. I used to tie about 700 to > 750 > doz. elk hair caddis each winter, along with different styles of dry > stone > fly patterns, and I used alot of elk hair, and the better care the hair > and > hide received, the better it looked on the fly. I hope that the 2 cents > worth helped. Drop me a email, and let's go hit the > river............Take to > you later.................Kevin > ----- Original Message ----- > From: John Martinez <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2001 6:24 PM > Subject: RE: Whole Elk Hide > > > Joseph- > > > > Perhaps someone on the list will correct me if I'm > > wrong on this, but my understanding is that it's > > better for the hide to be scraped and dried (using > > salt and/or borax or similar), but NOT tanned. That is > > tanned using chemicals to make the hide soft. I > > understood that tanning damages the hair for tying > > purposes. Once again, I hope someone will correct me > > if I'm mistaken on this. > > > > -John > > Oregon > > > > > > --- Harry Mason <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > The hide _tanned_ sells for about 13.00 sq foot. > > > Whole washed and cleaned > > > raw hides are 92.00 each > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: Harry Mason [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > > > Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2001 7:27 AM > > > To: Harry_OK > > > Subject: FW: Whole Elk Hide > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Harry Mason > > > www.troutflies.com > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of > > > Joseph Bergel > > > Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2001 6:14 AM > > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Subject: Whole Elk Hide > > > > > > > > > Dear Listers, > > > > > > A friend of mine who is a geneticist raising red > > > raindeer and > > > elk whants to pay me with an elk hide for some > > > graphic design I > > > am doing for him. And thus a have the following > > > questions: > > > > > > 1. What would be the worth of the whole hide. (after > > > tanning > > > expenses of 1.99 per sp.ft.) > > > > > > 2. Are there any "tanning tips" that I should tell > > > him of > > > before he takes it to the local tanner? > > > > > > 3. Would anyone like to trade for various parts of > > > it. (I am > > > open to just about anything). > > > > > > 4. Would anyone like to purchase all... or parts of > > > it (at > > > freindship rates of course). > > > > > > > > > Thanks in advance for the wisdom, and responses. > > > > > > > > > joseph. > > > > > > > > > ===== > > The River- > > You passers-by, who share my journey, > > You move and change,I move and am the same; > > You move and are gone, I move and remain. > > > > __________________________________________________ > > Do You Yahoo!? > > Yahoo! Auctions - Buy the things you want at great prices! > http://auctions.yahoo.com/
