Information about the tanning of our customers Hides.
A personal word about my work and the tanning that I have done on every mount I do is below.
I don't mean to offend anyone by this there is something that is becoming a serious problem for me. I have lots of people bringing things into my shop that others have worked on, expecting me to repair their mistakes. It has grown into such a problem that I no longer work on, or even want to see any thing done by anyone else. I just don't have time! MY customers come first!
I have all of my customers hides custom tanned by the worlds best tannery out west. They come back nice and soft. My finished mounts and rugs tanned this way will last several life times easy! It is not cheap to have them tanned this way, and the cost of shipping is no longer cheap. In fact it is quite expensive.
Due to the tanning and shipping expenses, many other taxidermists have gone back to "In House Home Tanning". I refuse to do this because the hides tan up brittle, these hides will go to pieces on you in just a few years making them completely worthless. It is almost impossible to repair them as any socking them up usually results in the destruction of these poorly tanned hides and skins. This is a major reason I do not work on other taxidermists projects brought to me for repairs. Please take them back to the one who did the taxidermy work!
Below I am showing a couple pictures of a quite nice bear rug that a customer had done some where else just a few years ago. This hide was tanned in house and went all to pieces on the customer. It could not be saved. He went away very, very upset with the other taxidermist and his guide for sending him there. In fact when he left he called this piece trash and asked me to throw it away. Now that was a major price to pay! That rug must have been costly.
Due to so much of this taking place now. I no longer do ANY repair work on ANY piece of taxidermy work that was NOT done by ME!
Below are a couple of pictures I place here of a in house tanned hide done by another taxidermist that didn't last long enough for the customer to really enjoy. I cannot be expected to fix such hides.
The choice you make is actually quite simple. You can go the less costly route above by In House Tanning, or you can go the more expensive route and get the worlds best tanning. The difference in price is not that much different, especially when you think about how much longer the best tanning, and your mount lasts! There really is a reason why some taxidermists are cheaper than others!
You really do pay for what you get in this world!
The above picture is a shipment of tanned hides the tannery has returned to me via UPS. Those four boxes of tanned hides and shipping fees cost me $4276.00 to get tanned. Yes it is expensive to get hides tanned right. But It's worth it!
I allow all my bear and deer customers to come back and visit my shop when I get the tanned hides back from the tannery!
Then if they wish, they can see and feel there own tanned deer hide before I mount the animal. They always go away impressed with the tanning! All my professionally tanned hides are nice and soft and flexible. They are beautiful, come and see for yourself. I have lots of hides here for you to look at!
Lets take a closer look at a nicely tanned deer cape.
The above is a whitetail deer cape which I had my tannery tanned for me. What you see is a large battle scar that happened to the deer while they were fighting. Unless fixed this battle scar would really show on the finished mount. So, let me fix this.
Above I have cut the damaged scar out of the deer cape. I will sew this scar up using my best technique. The cape has been placed on the deer form and you can see I have applied glue to the form. In fact the glue has been applied all over the complete form, not just what you see here.
What you see above is the finished deer cape. The scar has all been sewn up and does not show at all. It never will. Unlike home tans my nice professionally tanned capes do not shrink when drying. The glue I use actually sinks into the hide and sticks the hide fast to the form. It won't ever move. Not only will this hold the seam closed, but my nice professionally tanned hides won't shrink around the eyes, ears or mouth or nose. I can get a perfect job this way.
All my customers mounts hides are professionally tanned, then glued onto the forms. These mounts last and last, your grand kids will have them!
It is just like putting nice soft flexible leather onto the forms. These hides don't crack or shrink away from the eyes, nose or mouth. You'll never find any wax on my mounts.
I Don't even have wax in the shop! I personally guarantee my work! I have been doing taxidermy work since I was 12 years old. After all these years I really do know what I'm talking about.
On the other hand, home tanned hides dry up hard and stiff and they shrink a lot, and glue just won't stick to them at all. That's why the hides shrink away from the eyes and ears and mouth leaving open cracks which have to be filled in. And why the back seams crack open and split apart.
Put it another way, You get what you pay for in this world.... Spend a little more and have it done right the first time. Please don't bring me repair work from another source.
My taxidermy studio is a very large shop devoted to taxidermy work and includes a really nice small museum which many people visit each year. Please feel welcome to visit but always call before coming!
I will most certainly repair any taxidermy work that was done by me. It's because I have always had the best tanning done by the worlds best tannery even though it does cost more and I CAN fix my mounts.
