How do you tan the hide to preserve feathers in hide? (soft hide)

[price403]

I tie lots of flies and have recently preserved some neck hackles and saddle hackles by scraping all the fat I could off the skin with a flexible scraper and rubbing the skin side down with some dishwashing liquid diluted with 6 parts water. It helps to rub the soap in with a soft bristled toothbrush. Try to keep the soap off the feathers as much as possible. Rinse the skins with cold water, blot dry with paper towels and sprinkle with a liberal dose of Borax on the flesh side. I let them sit overnight with it on and in the morning I checked for damp spots. If there were any I put more Borax on the area and let it sit for a day or so. Then just brush the borax off and leave the hides to dry and cure for a few days before storing.

 

[dustponds10]

Great information. Thank you for your help. I appericate it a ton. I am going to do it this way.

 

[Jeremy Parker]

I raise birds for there hackles, I go to shows and what not to get some birds!
I now have fly shops and friends asking for my hackles.

Just use salt

You will get it drier than any borax usage!! Don't be in a big hurry to wash oil off unless your going to dye them? You will be using less dry fly floatant

Killing method I use is simple hold chicken by feet and hold head with other hand and stretch till you feel a pop. Be careful you can pull heads off then there is blood to deal with.

I'm using a lot of Bantams for hackle now ??

Good luck enjoy your hackle!

 

[dustponds10]

Jeremy, hey do you have any pictures that you could post on the thread so that I could see what you are talking about.? I am looking to work on a few different colors and I would love to see some pictures. Also when you go to shows and whhat not what is it that you are looking for for quality birds?

 

[titika]

I have some quail that I am wanting to use the skin with feathers in tact. I know there skin is a lot thinner then chickens so I am not sure a wire wheel will work. I don't think there is much fat attached to the skin really either.

 

[titika]

How would this work on quail? I know there skin is thinner so would tear easier.

 

[popsicle]

I have some quail that I am wanting to use the skin with feathers in tact. I know there skin is a lot thinner then chickens so I am not sure a wire wheel will work. I don't think there is much fat attached to the skin really either.

One of the posters above says that s/he uses a soft bristled toothbrush--if you go to a good pharmacy or something, you should be able to find toothbrushes with far softer bristles than you might at a big-box-store.

Thanks for bumping this up, I live in a major fly fishing area, and have off-and-on thought about preserving skins for feathers (mostly turkey), but never remember to research. Now I'll try on one of my naughty turkeys once the weather is nice enough.

 

[bb380]

Did you have success? I'm getting ready to help a friend slaughter a bunch of geese and ducks and want to preserve their hide/feathers for fly tying.

 

[alscatS]

Did you have success? I'm getting ready to help a friend slaughter a bunch of geese and ducks and want to preserve their hide/feathers for fly tying.

bb380 - how did the duck pelts turn out?

 

[Phoenixxx]

I see the promised photos never surfaced I had a beautiful young roo recently killed and I'm going to try the method suggested by the two taxidermists