Zass, how do you feel about sharing that Caribou story? I am wondering if there are early signs to fur slip.
I am halfway into working on a goat hide I got from family. The goat died suddenly and unexpectedly (stuck his head through the fence and a herdmate rammed him tooo hard Have heard about it happening, but this the first time it has happened in her herd)
The hide went right from the goat and into a bucket of vinegar. I read a few posts from people who had left deer skins in vinegar for weeks instead of days, with no issues. I was glad to read that because I couldn't work on the pelt for a few days. I fleshed most of it on the 3rd day, then I cleaned & changed to fresh vinegar and stuck the skin back in the bucket.
I was surprised; NO smell other than vinegar.
But today when I pulled it out, I saw that there was quite a lot of hair in the bucket. I laid the pelt on my work table and just in the brief time I was fleshing, it shed more hair. I tugged at a few spots, and no hair pulled free, but if I am seeing loose hairs... is this the first sign of slip? Maybe the long exposure in acid is breaking it down. It still doesn't smell like anything but vinegar. I didn't salt it, I just changed out for fresh vinegar and stuck it back in and I hope to have some free time tomorrow to work on it. Tomorrow will be day 8 in vinegar.
I am halfway into working on a goat hide I got from family. The goat died suddenly and unexpectedly (stuck his head through the fence and a herdmate rammed him tooo hard Have heard about it happening, but this the first time it has happened in her herd)
The hide went right from the goat and into a bucket of vinegar. I read a few posts from people who had left deer skins in vinegar for weeks instead of days, with no issues. I was glad to read that because I couldn't work on the pelt for a few days. I fleshed most of it on the 3rd day, then I cleaned & changed to fresh vinegar and stuck the skin back in the bucket.
I was surprised; NO smell other than vinegar.
But today when I pulled it out, I saw that there was quite a lot of hair in the bucket. I laid the pelt on my work table and just in the brief time I was fleshing, it shed more hair. I tugged at a few spots, and no hair pulled free, but if I am seeing loose hairs... is this the first sign of slip? Maybe the long exposure in acid is breaking it down. It still doesn't smell like anything but vinegar. I didn't salt it, I just changed out for fresh vinegar and stuck it back in and I hope to have some free time tomorrow to work on it. Tomorrow will be day 8 in vinegar.