Some may remember this big fella i bowled over a couple of months back...
- Pictured with 204 cartridge
- 2018-06-14 20.14.04.jpg (1.29 MiB) Viewed 8513 times
- Next to Tikka T3
- 2018-06-14 20.13.04.jpg (477.55 KiB) Viewed 8513 times
- Undressed
- 2018-06-14 20.14.35.jpg (463.29 KiB) Viewed 8513 times
- Eeek...!
- 2018-06-14 20.15.56.jpg (476.41 KiB) Viewed 8513 times
- Salted
- 2018-06-14 20.34.25.jpg (362.79 KiB) Viewed 8513 times
- Fleshed
- 2018-06-14 20.21.51.jpg (408.8 KiB) Viewed 8513 times
Well he is now done & here in my latest batch of skins...a hubby n wife pair of foxes, & my monster lion.
These worked a bit better than the last lot, with the exception of the knife nics & couple of tears.
- Latest batch
- 2018-08-19 22.57.53.jpg (1.09 MiB) Viewed 8513 times
The cat skin was quite difficult & it has actually shrunk.
Problems arose from the varying thickness of the hide.
The hide is normal cat/fox thickness at the back legs, but it gets thicker the closer to the head...to the point where its very thick across the back of the shoulders, & even thicker head....so where its thicker its not as soft & pliable.
I kept feeding it the oil so as to avoid this but it didnt work.
With the exception of a very small amount of fur slip around the tip of the ears, the fur has set well & is beautifully soft & thick.
- Big boy
- 2018-08-19 22.55.35.jpg (1.55 MiB) Viewed 8513 times
Unfortunately i put a 2" tear in it just behind a front leg while breaking & stretching it.
Just for a little perspective on size, the cat fur in this next pic is next to a mature bitch fox & is notably heavier (the earlier pic is dog fox on left).
- Cat next to mature bitch fox
- 2018-08-19 22.58.10.jpg (1.85 MiB) Viewed 8513 times
Im not sure if i should wet the skin up again & try get more oil into it...?
I might give it more breaking over a bit of timber, but dont think ill get the thick areas any more pliable.
Happy to hear any tips to get thick skins softer if anyone has any.
Overall im pretty happy how its turned out, not perfect but it could have been a lot worse.
The man who knows everything, doesnt really know everything...he's just stopped learning...