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Post by Stef on Feb 12, 2007 19:24:15 GMT -6
Don't know if I can get it at Walmart but I checked in a catalog I have and i can get 4.5 pounds for 12$ Canadian
Expensive or not?
Stef
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Post by thorsmightyhammer on Feb 12, 2007 19:36:53 GMT -6
Zag comes through as a voice of reason as usual.
Cats have a short window to turn. Wait two hours too long and you have a job.
Anybody ever try the borax method on fisher. Them sobs are tough.
I always laughed when the foreman at work would say it will take ten minutes to dig that hole with the back hoe.
Crap it takes five minutes to set up on it.
If you guys are untaking the pelt, turning it, putting it back on, and tacking it I am goign to hire you to flesh beaver.
I've got woods video around here somewhere. Going to have actually watch the whole thing.
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Post by trappnman on Feb 12, 2007 19:45:35 GMT -6
I don't care who is helping of not- finding the window? man you just take it off the next day.
If it takes you 5 min to turn a yote, so be it.
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Post by lynxcat on Feb 12, 2007 20:14:19 GMT -6
I don't care who is helping of not- finding the window? man you just take it off the next day. If it takes you 5 min to turn a yote, so be it. and a cat with the front legs kept LONG??? Next day NEVER works..
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Post by NEPISIGUIT on Feb 12, 2007 20:21:48 GMT -6
Never used borax Could be another way as others say. What i mentioned is just my way. Not to say that any body else way is not correct. As Stef said hardwood sawdust and fur cleaner in a drum turning serves two purposes. It cleans dried dirt and blood to a point , enhances the fur, and allows the fur to be put on the board fur out. Some trappers here apply a fur glaze also. Especially on high prized items. Auction companies carry this cleaner. I guess enhancing the fur is the main reason we use it as such, Also little shrinkage in length of pelt as not having to turn it after the form is set the first time.Our pelts are sized here before the auction takes place. The dollar value received here for good fur of equal size can equal more dollars when drumed as not drumed.Point being if it works for you stick with it. My 2 cents worth
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Post by Colorado Alan on Feb 12, 2007 20:23:57 GMT -6
I've heard of using packing tape on the wire to protect the wire from rusting and the fur from the effects of the rust and was told that it also made the furs easier to take off.
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Post by coyotewhisperer on Feb 12, 2007 20:47:41 GMT -6
was thinking about what cameron2 had said about fleshing and borax. I was out in the shed fleshing skunks and coons. where the tail starts on a skunk has been hard for me to get fleshed good its a chore. So I said what the heck and put some borax on it and started fleshing. WOW! It will be no problem to flesh my skunk tails in the future thanks for sharing cameron.
Jeff
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Post by Stef on Feb 12, 2007 21:08:25 GMT -6
Jeff, This what iwrote above...
Phoned at walmart... they don't have 20 mule team borax..We're not in the states here..LoL How much do you pay for a box ? and roughly, what is the weight?
Thanks
Stef
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Post by trappnman on Feb 12, 2007 21:49:46 GMT -6
I AM NOW AND HAVE BEEN TALKING COYOTES AND COYOTES ONLY.
how much clearer can I be?
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Post by GUTPYLZ on Feb 13, 2007 0:43:12 GMT -6
Cameron2, you were a God Send this year. I don't know about you guys, but turning a potential high dollar cat without tearing it is stressful.
Since I started using Borax, life has been great. I keep thinking its too good to be true. I still find myself checking to see if they are going to slip. They don't!
I work during the day like most of you, and don't have much time to get up in the morning and turn my fur. The shape of the fur is a lot better and I think shows better.
I get a lot of enjoyment out of putting up my fur. It will feel good going to the sale with nice put up fur that I will get the most money out of my furs.
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Post by trappnman on Feb 13, 2007 0:50:28 GMT -6
Gutz- I have no doubt borax does a fine job- I accept the word of those that says it does things to the fur.
but I repeat- there is no way, at least for at least this one trapper on canines- me- that its faster.
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Post by GUTPYLZ on Feb 13, 2007 1:00:36 GMT -6
If you enjoy doing it that way, do so by all means. We are all here to expand our horizons. I probably don't catch the numbers that you do. I only caught 31 Coyotes this year, so time was not a factor for me.
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Post by Zagman on Feb 13, 2007 5:43:05 GMT -6
One last tidbit....I get a lot of coyotes tanned and resale them OR I sell them to guys to get tanned.....
On canines, the tail is the "weak" part, and if you dont take care of it, often you will recieve your tanned hide and it will be missing half a tail, or even the whole tail.....
Borax, rubbed into this delicate leather, gives me a much better chance of having a good product for resale, or, in the case of my black coyote, something I can keep indefinitely.....
Small thing, but it is another factor for ME......
Zagman
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Post by coyotewhisperer on Feb 13, 2007 6:35:35 GMT -6
Stef I'll look when I go to town Wed on exact price and weight but it is cheap. On the coyotes for me its just easier to do it one time and not have to worry about turning. plus I never seem to get them perfect again on the stretcher after turning. and at the beginning of the season when I'm really whacking coyotes alot of times overnight will be too long to get turned without ripping. It boils down to time management for me and what produces the best furs.
Jeff
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Post by bobwendt on Feb 13, 2007 7:11:29 GMT -6
stef, there are other brands. borax is borax, like parts is parts. the boss brought back enough to do 36 cats and some coyotes for under 10 bucks total cost, of whatever brand it was. I could keep re-using most of it but will pitch it just to not clutter up the shed over the summer. steve , if you`d try it on your last few coyotes you are getting this year, I bet you`d never turn one again. bet? a big fat cigar. if I win , I quit smoking, so I`ll even give the cigar back. no way you can lose as you get the cigar win or lose. one of those win win situations. chill out dude, yoos our buddy.
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Post by Zagman on Feb 13, 2007 7:25:50 GMT -6
Used to buy Borax at the grocery stores.....12 pack of beer and 5 boxes of Borax and the check-out chick would be looking at me funny......I'd deadpan to her: "Laundry night"
I now buy it in bulk from the Taxidermy places....bought 100 lbs and it is the only way to go....
Wish I could find even a better/cheaper outlet, and I am sure someone on here will, and when they do, they will share it with us all.
Lot's of the stuff falls on the floor in my shed....I sweep it up and use it for fleshing the skunks and coons......really does help.....it kinda drys things up a bit and allows the knife to really dig in to the hide....I dont use it all on coyotes....just the greasers, skunks and raccoons.
Since I do my greasers after all my canines are put up, it makes sense for me to use the "used" Borax on them.....
MZ
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Post by trappnman on Feb 13, 2007 7:28:14 GMT -6
Tails- I do the same- I have 5 coyotes hanging on the wall. my fur buyer has bot my reds and yotes tanned for his resale, plus I sell some locally for tanning.
Splitting the tailing, and drying it right- and I too have never had a problem with the tails in tanning.
Often, when we compare and contract all the different things we do to save time, when someone else analyzes it, it seems minor, not important, trivial. Yes, when you look at that one and only thing, then YES, it is trivial.
But when you add up all of the little things one does in a day, it starts to make sense.....perhaps ALL these things added up allows me to get 1/2 hour extra sleep, or put in two more sets, or talk on the phone with my Dad, or whatever.......and those things are not trivial.
We all waste time during the day- whether in taking lots of pictures, walking to some locations, setting for incidentals or handling fur.....
Guess once again, different strokes.
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Post by bobwendt on Feb 13, 2007 7:53:11 GMT -6
we are all different where we place our priorities in life as to what pleases us. I giggle when I turn loose a potto and watch his balls swing back and forth as he waddles off. I`ll waste a minute doing that and then drive 70 miles an hour across a rutted overland 2 track to the next set. weird.
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Post by td on Feb 13, 2007 7:55:50 GMT -6
I can't see one method being faster than other either. Talking cats/coyotes from my area. Thin skinned fox, western runt coyotes, etc I'd think not turning would be good as they dry easy and are easy to rip, but unfortunately have no experience with any of the above. As mentioned, fur out could be handy as far as not having to be there when ready to turn. It would also be handy for the inexperienced, so one doesn't have to go through the learning curve of how long before turning. For me, on a small scale of one to ten coyotes a day, it's easy to stretch one evening, turn the next, but it does require a stop in the shed every night, or chuck some in the freezer if I know I won't be in one night. I've done a few skins fur out w/borax and thought they took quite a bit longer to dry.
I think if I was doing it on a large scale again, like back in the boom, I would buy two drums and tumble fur in and out in grit. Done several this way, and it works nice. Would also try borax or combo if cost wasn't much more and containment of the fine stuff wasn't a problem. Even if it was, can probably find a coarser grained commercial borax.
Bob, i've often thought of the magic marker for cats, but never tried it. I want some lessons. Tried bleach and did nothing for me. Dyed some red and brown coyote bellies white with some beauty salon stuff acquired from a friend. but had to be careful which coyote to work on because I had no cure for the often associated rub in the shoulders. They've made a lot of advances in hair restoration, so maybe worth looking into again. Don't know the details of the whitener as it came to us in unmarked bottles, but need to find out cause my cat bellies sure need some help.
All you boraxers on fur after dried for whitening, doesn't drumming negate all the effects of the whitening? If so, this would seem to only work on the country level, as nafa SUPPOSEDLY drums all the fur out, then grades it.
I'm from east central ks. Does anybody from the mountain west want to trade top cats, put up however we desire and see who's happy at sale time? Didn't think so. Point being, quality of skins is much more important than any little put up tricks, IMO of course.
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Post by bobwendt on Feb 13, 2007 8:04:29 GMT -6
the only bleaching I`ve ever done was bleach soaked on a rag and whiped on the pink coyote bellys. I got them snow white but it took several repeats, fethering it out at the edges for the natural look. of course, like you said they were all shoulder rubbed too so just experimental dinking for the most part. the magic marker was a joke, but the wife and I did a bang up job on our white bellied live house cat. I`m here to tell you, it works and looks perfect. what I can`t understand is why some chinaman doesn`t hire 5 cent an hour help to make 900 dollar cats out of 100 dollar cats. what am I missing as to why this isn`t happening? or is it? ps, the tumbling does not negate the whitening affect, some yes, but not all. all my cats at nafa grade xxxpl. and you know better than that
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