Boraxed my first yote today

[Stef]

Can't wait to see the result.

Will go in garage and will take a few pics

later

[romans117]

Wet wash or dry wash.

[Bob Jameson]

Stef, I did a bunch this winter using borax since I didnt have good drying conditions on the road where I put up fur. Did alot at home also that worked out nicely. No worries with regards to spoilage at all. If it takes longer to dry it doesnt matter.

I always did the head,ears and tail but conditions were right to do a total hide coating this winter. You will be satisfied I am sure.

[Stef]

Here's what i did... (remember first time with the borax method)

I washed my yote like I usually do
After 12+ hour in front of fan ( drying ) I fleshed it.
Than I put it in my modified dryer tumbling machine, in dry sawdust for 15 minutes to remove the little humidity left and it cleaned and dried the fur at the same time after the fleshing job.
After that, I boraxed the whole skin very well "leather side" and shacked the excess and put the coyote pelt fur out.
Here's the result on a narrow coyote board.
Coyote weight/size was approximately 35Lbs give or take, not a big one.
Will post final result in couple days...LoL Can't wait!






Stef

[romans117]

Oh I see. I thought you meant after taking off the stretcher.

[Stef]

Please noticed that the coyote above...since its a small one for me is boarded on a 7½" inches wide at 6ft stretcher.

Stef

[irnhdmike]

I was wondering today about your borax experience. Will be following this thread. Would be interested in some input from fur buyers/auction houses on borax use. My opinion that coyote is not stretched wide enough. Not finding fault with your put up just my opinion. My coyotes run 30-40 lbs. I stretch them all 9" wide at 6 '. Good job.

[GUTPYLZ]

I think your going to be delighted.

[Stef]

Will be following this thread. Would be interested in some input from fur buyers/auction houses on borax use

I checked and its not supposed to be a problem.

[Gibb]

No problem using borax, the graders look twice at them because it is something that makes the leather look different but it does not cause at dressing problems.
Cheers Jim

[GUTPYLZ]

I did talk with some buyers at the sale with Flatlander and they don't like it. They have said it changes the ph levels. The thing is, you need to blow and shake all the borax out, so that it isn't a problem. I would dare to say 40% of the cats at the Fallon sale used borax.

[bill1306 (Phil)]

It looks really good to me. I don't wash coyotes unless they are really bloody. I just skin, flesh, borax and stretch. Fast, easy and I'm sure you'll like the results.

Phil

[Varminteer]

I bought a box of borax today and used it on some squirrel pelts. Really liked the results. The label says- Caution: Contains sodium tetraborate decahydrate. Avoid contact with eyes. Do not take internally. What about breathing in the dust that inevitably gets into the air? Is it harmful? Should I/Do you wear a dust mask? Thanks Lou

[trappngreys]

i got a dumb question!

why use the borax? what does it do that normal drying don't?

i have heard of using it where you have spots that don't want to dry.

[Stef]

why use the borax?

With it, you can stretch for example a coyote pelt, fur out.
No turning needed etc..

Stef

PS: Use the search engine... there was a long thread couple weeks ago about it. Musher started that thread and I think the tittle thread was "turning fur"

[Heavymetal]

I have been using borax for taxidermy and such a long time. I have yet to have slippage on a hide or bugs in a mount using the borax. I really like it.

[BadDog]

Coyotes stretched on wood stretchers fur out without turning...

They look nice and all when they are in the raw state, no hair slip in the raw state. Should be fine, right? Only way to tell if they are fine is to send them to the tannery and have some pelts tanned that were boraxed and dried fur out. Do that, then tell us the result.

I want to make people aware of the fact that when hides turn out for the trapper in the raw state, that they don't necessarily make the tan. This makes the new owner of the pelt(s) quite annoyed and makes them think twice about buying raw wild fur the next time.

I have seen tanned coyote pelts that were stretched fur out before on wood boards. The finished product lacked hair. It was essentially a naked piece of leather when it came back from the tannery. This was not an isolated piece of fur, but a lot of 40 some skins that one trapper put up. In all likelyhood the guy had used borax...

...Cuz it makes everything good... right?

Stef, please send your coyote to the tannery after you got him dried, and do let us know how he turns out. Send it to International in Winnipeg.

Hate to see thousands of coyotes hit the market that the fur falls out of when tanned.

[billcat]

You must be done for the year, Marty. Hope you did well and good to have you back on.

There have been thousands of boraxed cats come out of Nevada in the past couple of years. No word of slippers coming back from the buyers. I'm sure we would have heard, if there were problems.

Bill

[Bob Jameson]

I have boraxed several hundred in the last few years, cats,skunks and coyotes with no apparent slippage problems. I have tanned 40 plus myself. Sold numerous ones boraxed to private consumer sales and they got a taxidermist to tan or send out. Never had a complaint to my knowledge from any sales.

I would agree that if a thorough job was not done with application of the borax and a good drying temperature was not present there could be an issue and slippage could result.

[Stef]

The last I did were out of the stretchers after 4 days.
Cannot tan them, they are already gone.

Stef