Curing Skins

[Rabmax]

Hello all i cured a few squirrel skins last year using about a 50/50 mix of Borax & Salt.I have a few more skins coming soon that i will need to cure again.My last skins turned out brick hard when finished.Is there anything i can do to have these a bit more soft & flexible .Cheers All

[Fishtales]

Rather and go through it all here is a thread on the subject.

http://www.wildfisher.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=18288.0

Fachan has a secret recipe for curing skins but he isn't telling anyone about it

[Rabmax]

Looks like i need to apply a wee bit baby oil to the back of them.They were dyed skins so that's probably what made them turn brick hard.They won't be getting stored in plastic bags so hopefully will not rot with the baby oil.Fachan what's that blooming recipe  .Cheers All

[Rabmax]

Think i will have a go just using the Borax this time.Anyone know if any of supermarkets sell Borax boots doesn't anymore.Still have some left but could do with buying some more.Cheers all

[Fishtales]

Amazon do it

http://www.amazon.co.uk/none-Borax-Crystals-Powder-100Gms/dp/B002AQ9OTA

And according to this Tesco do a Borax product.

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/tesco-price-comparison/household_cleaning/tesco_naturally_borax_powder_400g.html

I don't remember seeing it though or even if it is the right stuff.

[Traditionalist]

If you hot dye stuff it will go hard, even tanned skins will go brick hard if you hot dye them.  I have never found a good way to make them flexible again without causing other problems.

I use salt precisely because it is hygroscopic and pulls all the moisture out of a skin pretty quickly.  The salt is removed when the skin is cured, simply by thorough washing.

You can make most skins very flexible indeed by "working" them over a set of rollers. Although this does not work well for dyed stuff, it tends to crack and break up.

If you want to avoid the problem,use "cold" dyes like Dylon.

[Traditionalist]

If you want completely flexible skins then you need to tan them.  I stress here that this is not worth the bother for fly-dressing materials and can also be very deleterious to the hair involved as far as its use for fly-dressing is concerned.  If you want to try it, then here is a good "step-by-step";

http://www.amystaxidermy.com/pages/tanning.htm

If you hot dye a skin, even a tanned skin, with hot acid aniline dyes like "Veniards" or "Jaquard" dyes it will go brick hard and very brittle.  I don't know of any way to soften such a skin reliably.  Dyed capes have the same problem.  If you use "cold" dyes like Dylon;

http://www.dylon.co.uk/products.php?category=sub-category&alias=dyes

then the problem will not occur.

If you rub various things into skins to try and soften them, it may or may not work to a degree, and it will also cause other problems. Many oils, hand creams, etc will simply cause the skin to rot, especially if it is in a closed container.  Some stuff also attracts pests.

You can use cow brain for tanning. You can buy it from a butcher. I have done this, also using the brains from hares etc, but it is a messy business and not for those with a weak stomach.

You can get a lot of imformation on stuff like this here;

http://www.huntingpa.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1742582

Once again I stress that this is not at all necessary for fly-dressing materials, and in most cases will actually be deleterious to the hair you want to use.

If you obtain stuffed animals and the like for fly-dressing purposes you will often find that they are barely usable, if at all.  Also, on some stuffed animals things like cyanide were used when preparing them. Unless you know exactly where something came from and how it was prepared you should not use it.

[Traditionalist]

The only real difference between materials prepared and dyed by an amateur as opposed to a professional materials supplier is that many amateurs only do it a few times and so have no "routine". Many, having never done it before are plagued by uncertainty about how to proceed.  It is not at all difficult, you just have to take your time, prepare well, and be careful.

One often finds fly-dressing materials from professional suppliers which are very poor, especially dyed materials.  If you do it yourself you can get much better quality materials and you can save a large amount of money as well. In a large number of cases proper preparation makes various materials much more valuable and pleasant to use and you can get exactly what you want, not just what a supplier has in stock.  It does take time and effort, and if you only dress a few flies now and then it probably isn't worth your while to do it at all.

With regard to quantity, you should try and assess how much material of any particular type you are likely to need.  Even one hare skin will suffice to dress thousands of flies. Before you proceed to process twenty skins you should know whether you can actually use them!  The same applies to dyeing, one dyed hare skin is a huge amount of material, it is invariably better for an amateur to dye small quantities. Split a skin into useful sized patches or strips before you dye it. The results are easier to store for one thing, and it is unlikely that many amateurs will even use a whole hare skin dyed claret in their lifetimes!

You can also dye a handfull of feathers instead of a whole cape. You just need a rough idea of how much you are likely to need.  You do need a bit of self-discipline here. If you get carried away you will end up with boxes and boxes of stuff that you have to store somewhere and vast amounts of material that you will never use.