Borax

[carpetman]

I mentioned using 20 Mule Team Borax in curing things and you could brush your teeth with it. Was told it preserves steelhead eggs to be used as fish bait. Maybe other ideas that could be added? Was asked about a turkey fan. For the plaque, I cut a mesquite tree about 7''diameter and about 1" thick. On backside I cut a rabbett just about the top half of the block. This is so the tail can be mounted and will be flush. Last year a son in law got his first turkey and unfortunately I messed up. The fan was very colorful and well shaped. After I had soaked it in Borax(when you soak a turkey tail,it's best just to put the fleshy part in the soak) I was letting it dry on my neighbors screened porch. A darn squirrel got in and demolished it. So I am now thinking about--haven't tried it--a better way might be to spread the tail onto the plaque,staple it down real good,then cut away the fleshy part,if that works--Borax wouldn't be needed. The staples would be on the backside in that rabbett I mentioned and wouldn't show. I did save the legs and beard from my son in laws turkey. I cut the spurs off flush with the leg. I drilled a blind hole into the backside of the spur where the cut was made. This hole was size of the stem of a poprivet. The cutoff stem of the rivet was glued into the hole with part of the stem sticking out. I then cut a mesquite limb about 5/8" diameterX 3"long.. That size limb usually has young smooth bark. I left about 1 1/4" strip of bark in the middle and whittled out each end to a taper about 1/2" diameter on the end. On the end of each taper I drilled a hole--same size as the hole in the spur --rememeber I said I left part of the rivet stem sticking out? It gets glued into that taper part so the spur is flush against the end of the limb. This is to give the effect of a miniature set of mounted bullhorns. This unit in turn gets mounted to the plaque that the legs or fan tail is mounted on. The beard is tied with thong lace and the loop is hung over the spur mount. On son in laws I used a couple pieces of old weathered privacy fence picket. About 16" long,tied the two together where one hung below the other. Mounted the foul finger legs on the top board and the spurs centered on bottom board---rustic. Well ok would be rustic if it graduated up from crude.

[carpetman]

When mounting antlers,I find it easier and better looking to leave the hair on the skull plate. From the back of the antler saw towards the nose and leave a generous piece of the hair. In other words saw down several inches. This will have brain and other fleshy stuff (fleshy stuff---scientific term for stuff). Remove as much of the stuff as possible--wont get it all--well guess you could in an ant bed or some such. Doesn't matter. Soak this hairy part in a Borax solution---cup-to cup and half per gallon of water. Don't soak the bottom of the antler as it will stain them. An empty plastic 3 lb coffee can works great. Thought it was 3 lb but my Folgers is only 2 lbs 7oz. Anyways place them so that the skull plate is in the soak and the antlers arent. Soak 3 days and rinse. From the brain side drill a couple holes and you can use small headed screws to attach the antlers to the plaque. The hair will hide the screws.

[waksupi]

Ray, if you leave that hide and hair on, can I assume you don't have hide bugs in your part of the country? Around here, they would be destroyed in short order.

[Ricochet]

I'd think the borax would kill the bugs when they started to chew.

[waksupi]

Maybeso, Richocet. I've seen commercially tanned hides destroyed by them. I've never had any problems with smoked brain tan, but they will attack unsmoked, or rawhide. Carpetman will eat anything, so I figured the bugs in Texas would, too!

[carpetman]

Waksupi---I think those hide bugs thrive on lanolin. If the people near the hides have high lanolin content it's about impossible to get rid of them. In my house hide bugs are no problem. My son in law has a set of antlers that his grandfather mounted 50-60 years ago that still look good.

[RugerFan]

I had a set of caribou antlers in velvet that was treated with formaldehyde by a taxidermist. Still has some weird bugs get into the velvet and tear it up (in Wisconsin). Maybe the same "hide bugs."

[BD]

Borax is a useful preservative for hides so long as it's in contact with the hide itself. I never knew anyone to use it as a "soak" for a mount. We generally applied the powder directly to the hide. It discourages mold, rot and vermin, but doesn't really make any chemical change in the hide. Wash the borax back out and the hide will rot. A smoked brain tan is much better as it does "fix" the tanable protiens. Gluteraldehyde is more effective yet, and easy to do, but it will stain the hair orange if you let it get on the hair. Amonium Alum works well if the hide is well pickled, then basified, beforehand. Mercury worked great, but it was poisoning the planet. Dermestid beetles, (hide bugs), live on the outside of a lot of hairy beasts, sheep and buffalo come to mind. The larva will hatch on the skin and eat through to the fleshy side if nothing is done to kill them. If you're getting them on hollow haired species like deer, my bet is they stopped by from a different host for the free lunch. Insecticides will kill them. I used to use "Bug-Be-Gone" in the tannery on any hide that looked questionable, until they went in the pickle. The pickle would kill all of the muti-celluar critters. We used specific chemicals to control bacteria.
BD

[Slowpoke]

When I was selling fur, when I was thru fleshing I rubbed a little Borax on the flesh side of the pelt, mainly to stop blow flies untill it was dry, salt dries the pelt to much and makes it to stiff for best show at a fur sale. A well handled dry case skinned pelt will feel and sound like a couple sheets of newspaper.

One year I gave a nice X-large Greyfox skin to a friend that wanted to send it off to get it tanned, but he never sent it off and by the end of the following summer the bugs had gotten to it and the fur was slipping, I looked close and I could still see the Borax on the flesh side of the hide.

Good luck

[PatMarlin]

I've got a deer hide rolled up in rock salt out in the barn and drained dry from last year. Is it any good?

[carpetman]

I soaked an emu skin in Borax and it came out stiff like rawhide. I made a wallet out of it. The dye I used is a penetrating dye and the skin was glazed and would not accept the dye--just stayed on surface. Wore off quickly and you could actually see the bills in the wallet through the back of it---sorta like glazed over Scoth tape. As the guy continued carrying it,the surface roughed up and you could no longer see through it. Had I dyed it again at that point it would have accepted it like a tatoo. The guy got several years of usage out of it and was still usable when he started carrying another one.

[carpetman]

Pat Marlin---I have a deer hide with rock salt in it any good? I'd suspect you could still use it to make a batch of ice cream.

[Greg]

I mentioned using 20 Mule Team Borax in curing things. Was asked about a turkey fan.

Last year a son in law got his first turkey and unfortunately I messed up. The fan was very colorful and well shaped.

Carpetman-

here’s how I dried a turkey fan:

I took a piece of 2" styrofoam about 8" by 20", and a large piece of aluminum foil, along with some 2" stick pins with ‘T’ head.

Fold the aluminum foil to make a dam on one edge, then spread out on the styrofoam. Trim all the meat/tissue that you can off the feathers of the fan. Spread the fan and start pinning it down on the foam, actually using the stick pins to wedge it open. Once satisfied that the fan looks symmetrical, cover the remaining raw meat with a thick layer of dry Borax. Place flat in a well ventilated area. Leave to dry checking every few days, add Borax as needed. When cured out brush all Borax off feathers with a soft brush and attach to plaque. Don’t soak but use the Borax dry.

To cure a Turkey beard, trim tissue as close as you dare stand beard in paper cup and add dry powder Borax to cover tissue, let dry. When certain that the beard is cured out...finish tissue end off, with a wrapped cord/string or even a polished brass ferrule made from a brass cartridge case. Hang from plaque. Add name plate with date and pertinent info and be proud of your trophy.