Capes destroyed and useless

[Capt. Red]

Are you atleast able to have euro mounts done or were the skulls improperly handled as well?

Most of the skulls are alright. One still had a lot of grease in it..

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

Most of the skulls are alright. One still had a lot of grease in it..

Fixable then at least, you can always euro them if the hides are beyond salvage.

 

[Capt. Red]

Of course I don’t have them in my hands to look at but from the pics they do not appear to be unusable. Looks like a little grease burn but believe me I’ve dealt with a lot worse. All things considered they look pretty good. About 80% of all the taxidermy I do is African and I get capes in a hellava lot worse shape than that. We do everything we can to work with the clients capes. Over the years I’ve had 3 that were completely unusable but for a shop that runs several hundred African mounts a year that’s really not bad. I’ve also seen taxidermists that aren’t used to working with them claim they aren’t usable when they are. Not saying that is what the deal is here but if one isn’t used to them it can be quite overwhelming. I’ve unfortunately seen a few who know how to work with and fix them but don’t want to deal with it so they claim they aren’t usable. Again, not saying that’s the deal here but unfortunately it does happen occasionally.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my pictures, replying, and your input. It is appreciated.
I can say that my taxidermist here is very very experienced working with African animals, and extremely conscientious, so I am comfortable with his size up of the capes and their potential (or lack there of).

 

[Capt. Red]

Fixable then at least, you can always euro them if the hides are beyond salvage.

Yeah, but it is still so messed up that what should be lifetime trophies, may now be so much less than I hoped for...

 

[rookhawk]

Thank you for taking the time to look at my pictures, replying, and your input. It is appreciated.
I can say that my taxidermist here is very very experienced working with African animals, and extremely conscientious, so I am comfortable with his size up of the capes and their potential (or lack there of).

You did the right thing getting the skins and horns here. Imagine how angry you'd be if you paid all the shipping for finished product and they were terrible.

Your next step is to decide: Euro mounts, or search for skins? If you ask on this forum for skins, someone may be able to help you out. Plains game skins aren't a hard to find commodity.

 

[Capt. Red]

I agree with @gizmo, maybe grease burned when tanned. Hard to tell without feel and close look. I would neutralize and soak up, downy, salt and water. Then see if they are mountable, stretchy? From my limited experience grease burned hides rip, tear, do not hold a stich well and are very difficult to work with. But can be used, especially on yours, its lower brisket area, normally tucked in leg pits. Easier to hide.

I would soak up, do repairs and mount one to see. You still have hair on and not as many cuts, holes and issues as some I have mounted.

Give it a shot, good luck. Its African skins.

MB

Mark,
Thanks for the reply/advice. I may well do one of the capes as suggested, as they are destined for the trash anyways. Would you be kind enough to provide the mixture ratio for the brine, length of soak, etc to help me get this underway? Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Chris

 

[Mekaniks]

@rookhawk is right. Common PG hides are not extremely difficult to come by....

 

[Capt. Red]

Also.....Kanati Reproductions out of Pennsylvania creates trophy replicas. I talked to them at the recent SCI convention regarding a Hippo green-dart trophy of mine. Talk with him to possibly find a solution with your hides. Kanati.com; 717-933-4828

Thanks for the tip Corey! Appreciated

Chris

 

[Capt. Red]

You did the right thing getting the skins and horns here. Imagine how angry you'd be if you paid all the shipping for finished product and they were terrible.

Your next step is to decide: Euro mounts, or search for skins? If you ask on this forum for skins, someone may be able to help you out. Plains game skins aren't a hard to find commodity.

Thanks Rookhawk!

 

[revturbo9967]

I honestly don’t think they look bad.

 

[migrabill]

African taxidermy can be beautiful and perfect. And African taxidermy can be ... well.... like what you have. And when you are not satisfied and the culpable party is in South Africa... well.. you're screwed. I knew when I went to RSA it would probably be my only time. That is why I chose to have all my stuff done in the USA by an award winning taxidermist. More expensive - yes. But I don't want to put my once in a lifetime trophies to chance. And if I do have a problem... they are a 4 hour drive away.

 

[Hunt anything]

Good luck with whatever path you take. I’ve seen worse! My first buffalo and sable came over with a fair amount of hair slippage. The taxidermist here did an admirable job hiding the spots on the sable with paint and the pose. On the buff they just slapped some synthetic mud on him and it looks pretty good.
I read in the OP you didn’t want to name the dip&pack company but it would help keep someone out of your predecessors if you did. Totally understand if you don’t want to though.

 

[MarkB]

Mark,
Thanks for the reply/advice. I may well do one of the capes as suggested, as they are destined for the trash anyways. Would you be kind enough to provide the mixture ratio for the brine, length of soak, etc to help me get this underway? Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Chris

Hate to say I do not really have a recipe of sorts for the soak. Have an idea of amount of liquid as I have done enough to know now. @gizmo was awesome enough to give me some DM advise some years ago. I now use it, he is the expert.

What I do.

If hide is rubbery with no stretch, elastic or stiff, fill sink with water and put baking soda in, about 8 oz for deer size cape, I have no recipe. Fully submerge and move around occasionally. Normal soak would be about 15-20 mins. This depends of texture, hide thickness and if stretch starts. Never shorter soak but sometimes longer, 30-45 mins.

Then
Fill sink with cool water to a level that will submerge hide, skin or cape. Add enough cape salt in water that is will not all dissolve, then add 2 caps Downey fabric softener. Immerse hide and keep submerged. There is a commercial "relaxer" that is sold by the taxidermy companies but I do not have. After 30 mins to sometimes an hr I take hide out and drip dry so a mess is not made on shop floor. I do not want water dripping out.

Then hide is placed on work table and tested for stretch, a perfect tan will show white and clearly see the stretch marks in the hide. This is an awesome sight on any African hides. If I still have rubber hides I start to worry but repeat process with longer soaks. After this process I do all repairs, put in ear liners then let sit over night in fridge, early next morning I mount. Prior to mounting place cape on form, sometimes stretch shows/hides relax and proper size form will work, if hide is still rubber shaving the form on tight spots maybe necessary.

Sometimes next morning hides have become soft with stretch. Nearly always hides are better than what I started with.

When a hide is rubber I do not expect a perfect looking mount. Sewing, stitch holding and shrinking is always possible and present.

On yellow, grease burned areas be very careful, they will rip, tear and not hold a stitch as the rest of hide. Be aware of this.

My taxidermist instructor does not do African animals, not really many safari goers on Van Isle. He taught me taxidermy and now has me for mine and all African mounts.

Hope this helps. Or you could contact @gizmo, he IS the expert. As he stated your hides really do not look bad.

MB

 

[Philip Glass]

I am no taxidermy expert but I believe these hides can be used. What I want everyone to do is shame these Africans for taking over a year for a PG dip and pack shipment. This is unacceptable and they all should be called out on it. The Outfitters should bear the responsibility. These people, in so many cases, are completely incompetent and seemingly lazy. Over the years I've found out what part of the problem is. They wait until they have a big batch of trophies to collect. Then they wait until they have a big batch to do export paperwork. They wait for all the paperwork to be completed. Then they sit on it for months. And then they pack it and send it to a shipper that waits until they have a big batch to ship.
How do I know all of this. Because I have received dip and pack in 30 days and finished taxidermy in 8 months. It can be done!

 

[ActionBob]

African taxidermy can be beautiful and perfect. And African taxidermy can be ... well.... like what you have. And when you are not satisfied and the culpable party is in South Africa... well.. you're screwed. I knew when I went to RSA it would probably be my only time. That is why I chose to have all my stuff done in the USA by an award winning taxidermist. More expensive - yes. But I don't want to put my once in a lifetime trophies to chance. And if I do have a problem... they are a 4 hour drive away.

Exactly what I was talking about. Different priorities and options for every person and individual situation.

 

[ActionBob]

This is unacceptable and they all should be called out on it. The Outfitters should bear the responsibility. These people, in so many cases, are completely incompetent and seemingly lazy.

This in far too many cases! And it goes farther than Africa.

 

[buck wild]

@Capt. Red Red mold is indeed the cause of cape slippage and the root of a lot being ruined. BUT, that mold usually only exists in the salted stage, not AFTER tanning. The tanning process should have dealt with any "mold" issues, so based on what I can see, that orange color is not CURRENT mold. It's either grease damage or coloring of the leather hide under the epidermis. I see that color quite often in very old, tanned skins, but it shouldn't be that prominent in a freshly tanned cape. It truly looks like the epidermis slipped (very common in nyala, kudu) but still usable leather. ...

I know you mentioned your taxidermist is very knowledgeable in African stuff etc but I don't see how a determination could be made, they are ruined without soaking them up to test them. ????

As a last ditch effort to save them, a few tanneries will also attempt to re-tan hides. It's a hail Mary, but at least another potential way to save them, if indeed they are not workable at the moment (no way to know until they are soaked).