I just want to say thank you sir for sharing your knowledge. I’m starting taxidermy myself and the only place I can get any help is from taxidermist like yourself who are passing on the craft and knowledge from years of experience.
Thanks for your awesome videos. I'm kind of new at taxidermy. I've done squirrels and waterfowl but now I want to practice on whitetail. I have 3 deer that were donated to me to practice on. This is what I definitely want to do for a living one day. I've tanned deer hides in the past. Hopefully I can get a whitetail mount under my belt here for long.
I’m new to taxidermy as well. I’ve only taxidermied one thing before. A squirrel. I’m about to take a big step because I think I’m ready. Im taxidermying a shoulder mount of a whitetail when I raise up the money.
Thank you for the video! Now what are the benefits of a larger machine rather than the small one you have here? Is it just the size shaving or are there other things considered with a larger one?
Thanks for sharing! In the video you said you started out using a necker knife (which is what I’ll be doing). My question is how did you flesh the face? Thanks.
Hey thanks for watching! I would use a fleshing ball and scalpel and pair of scissors to flesh the face and nose area. I still use a fleshing ball and scalpel now to do the final fleshing of the nose and nostrils.
Your video are very helpful. My question is on a deer cape measurement exp. A 7 B. 19.5 C. 22.5. If the form measurement at C. 21.5. When adding clay to make bigger. Where will you start at and finish at? Thank you.
Hey thanks for watching! I prefer to use epoxy sculpt when I have to do adjustments on a form. I will generally sculpt the form at the atlas of the neck following the muscles down the sides and blending it in as I go down. I will add epoxy to the muscles on the front of the neck starting at the throat and blending it in as well to get to the size I need.it will not take very much epoxy to increase the size in this area if you follow the muscles contour.
When you tale it out od the pickel do you let it dry any amount of time before you flesh it and what is your neutralization process, thanks for the videos
Hey thanks for watching! I drain the hide and squeeze any solution out with my hand and take it to the fleshing machine and after I have it fleshed I will return it to the pickle for another 24 hours. Then remove the hide and mix a solution of 5 gallons of water to 5 TBS of baking soda per cape.let soak for 20 minutes to neutralize. Then hang up to drain for about two hours. Then roll in a towel skin side out and then you are ready to apply your tan.
I may not have been accurate when I asked the question do you wash your hides, do you wash the hides in any type of soap or detergent to remove blood or dirt after the salting process or the pickling bath, or after neutralizing or tanning? I am using krowtan, and as per instructions I wash the capes in liquid tide after neutralizing, rinse and hang until thirsty then apply tanning oils, when using Mckenzie ultimate acid I use a neutral ph shampoo and conditioner for a fluffy finish on small mammals. I was inquiring about your washing or maybe you use a decreasing solution in your pickling process. Thanks again for any feedback
Hey thanks for watching! I will use McKenzie degreaser as needed if I have hide that is really dirty or if it is a animal that is really greasy. If you use the McKenzie tanning system the hide goes through several rinses through out the process so normally everything comes out clean in the end product.
Do you use McKenzie Taxidermy Supply or something different, or do you make your own forms? Edit: also your videos are amazing. You’ve taught me so much. Thank you!! I’m subscribing right now!! :)
Hello, thank you so much for your videos! I am about to start the pickling process of my first hide!! For the next hide I have to work on I want to make a nice buckskin leather out of it without the hair. Do you have any tips for removing the hair or do I need to do a different process for the tanning? Do you think you would make a video on something like this soon? Thank you for your work!!
Hey thanks for watching! Yes you will have to add a couple of more steps to make buckskin. You can get hair removal chemicals from the taxidermy supply companies. Such as the hair off system by knobloch. I will try to do a buckskin video in the near future. So be on the lookout for it.
Question for you what do you put on antlers to preserve their color or are they ok to just stay on the mount? I have a nice moose mount and want to preserve the color of the antlers
Hey thanks for watching! There’s several different things that can be applied to antlers to help them keep that deep rich natural appearance. I like to use WD-40 or Lin seed oil but keep in mind that it will attract more dust. I will apply a generous amount to a cotton cloth and rub it on.
Thanks for sharing your fleshing video. Can you make a video on cleaning and lubricating your fleshing machine to along with your fleshing video. Thanks again and keep your videos coming.
Hey thanks for watching! You can flesh the hide with a knife on a fleshing beam or use a scalpel. Also you can get a fleshing knife/ beaming knife and use it on a fleshing beam. You can purchase these knives fairly cheap from a taxidermy supplier. The main thing you are going to need is the fleshing beam no matter which type of knife or scalpel you use.
My dad has a friend who is a taxidermy and I’m going to see if he will be willing to do an apprenticeship. Any ideas of things that I can taxidermy as a 14 year old at home
That would be awesome! I would start out by getting the serious sportsman taxidermy course from McKenzie taxidermy supply it will teach you all the basics of taxidermy. And the type of things you could work on at home would be anything from small game such as squirrels, raccoon, and fox to fish like bass and bream.
Hey thanks for watching! The way I set my guards is to have more blade exposed at the bottom than the top. The measurement from the blade to the guard is about 3 1/6 of a inch. This is going to change as you sharpen the blade over time causing the lip of the blade to get shorter. You will have to readjust the guard.
Hey thanks for watching! Yes you can flesh with the pressure washer to remove a lot of the meat,fat and membrane. After you finish you will need to flesh around face with a scalpel or a pair of scissors to thin down these areas so it will make it easier to mount and show better detail.
Hey thanks for watching! I have heard of people using a mixture of sorts but I never have so I don’t know how it works. I have always used some type of tanning chemical. I would recommend getting a quart sized bottle of McKenzie safety acid and the quart McKenzie tan to do a deer cape it is a really good tan and easy to work with. Also if you go that route make sure to get some PH test strips 0-3 to check the PH of the pickle.
Hey thanks for watching! Yes after I tan the cape I will rinse it in plain water then drain and roll up in a towel. Then it will be ready to mount or freeze and mount at a later time. Be sure to hit the notification button so you will know when I have more videos available on the channel. The tanning video will be up hopefully tomorrow and I will go over the process.
It is the Dakota 4. It’s considered a detail flesher but I have used on big game animals from elk, bear and deer and lots of different small game. I have been running this one for about 15 years now.
I’m still starting out and my shop is super small. Not much room to do my own tanning let alone taxidermy itself. Do you have any thoughts on the “tumbling” type tanning? What is the purpose of it?
Hey thanks for watching! I think you are talking about a pressure tanner. If so the purpose of a pressure tanner is to force the tanning agent into the skin to get a faster and more even tan by pressurizing the tank. I have researched these tanning machines over the years to learn about them but I have never used one because I don’t think it fits the needs of my operation.
@@ClearCreekTaxidermy Totally understand that, I’ve been looking into starting my own tanning. It takes a lot of research and time, but thank you for the information! Love your videos! Your time in the industry and awesome explanations of the topics are very appreciated over here!
Thanks! If you ever have any questions about taxidermy feel free to hit me up here in the comments. I may not know the answer but if I don’t we will figure it out.
