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Post by riverrat on Oct 12, 2007 11:03:40 GMT -5
Tony asked me to try to do a start to finish explanation of freeze drying with pictures back in July, I finally had a chance to get something together. Now if you have 10 taxidermist doing freeze drying you will probably get 10 different ways to do the process, but this is what I found works for me. Another taxidermist Brian Britton owner of Fair Chase Taxidermy asked me to talk him through the process with 2 raccoons he wanted to do for the state convention. While doing this it gave me a chance to shoot some pictures. Now we will not have a picture of the final product until March of 2008, and believe it or not he will be competing against me. The first step is to select the positions you want and try to figure out the best way to hide your stitching. Brian is going to have one coon hanging from a piece of driftwood and the other one laying in a splash of watter as if it has just fallen off the branch. He makes his first cut in the belly of both coons so he can remove the internals. The next thing is ti remove the eyes, be careful you do not knick the eye lids doing this. While he is working on the head I like to take a drill and scramble the brains. The brain is more of a fatty material and freeze drying does not remove fat. I kind of look at it a if you put a quart of oil in 50 degrees below 0 you still have a quart of oil it may be thicker but will thin out when you bring it back to room temperature. Let me insert a few pictures and I can start another post. I hope you enjoy this, any questions I can help you with feel free to ask.     |
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Post by riverrat on Oct 12, 2007 11:21:51 GMT -5
From hear we want to start cleaning the mounts. I like to fill the cavity with Peroxide first, as well as the eye sockets and brain cavity. It helps to clear all the blood out of the mount and helps float the brain matter that you scrambled earlier our. If you do not get all the blood out it may seep out later. This is not to much of a problem, dried blood usually comes off with a stiff brush, but the cleaner you have your pieces the less work you will have later. From hear we go to our Dawn soap wash, a good rinse and I like to give the mount a good rinse in a conditioner, Mane N Tail is what I prefer. Next to the drying. You can and we did tumble this then we used a blow dryer for the final touch up. More pictures and another post..     |
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Post by riverrat on Oct 12, 2007 11:47:04 GMT -5
Now it is time to start to put your mount back together. As you will be able to see Brian puts a lot of Borax in the belly of his mount, this helps to bug proof the mount. The next thing is to insert 3 wires in the mount, One goes in the right rear foot through the belly and out the left front foot. the next one goes from left rear to right front. And the last one through the tail to the brain cavity. All of these will help when he goes to position his mount. Next is to repack the mount. I like to use pillow ticking. Here come the hard part and experience is the only judge that works, do not over fill the cavity, and at the same time you do not want to under fill it. Time for Brian to start stitching. We both like to use dental floss. I usually put some stitches in the meet of the belly (in side) first, this holds the belly together and makes it easier to stitch the skin next. I did not remember to get pictures of him putting the eyes in but that would be the next step. Then I like to pierce the ears, by doing this they seam to dry better with out distortion. Some more pictures and another post.      |
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Post by riverrat on Oct 12, 2007 12:04:24 GMT -5
The only thing left before it goes in to the freezer is to position your mount. The one Brian is working on is the coon hanging from the limb. You want to make sure you have all the toes touching and your legs secure. Whey you get judged on a piece like this they will ding you for every paw and toe that is not making contact to the limb. He will set the ears the way he wants them. And when he thinks it is ready we put the hole piece limb and all in to the freezer (not the freeze dryer). After about 2 hours in the freezer he wants to take it out and make sure everything is exactly the way he wants it. This is where you can make adjustments not later. The only thing that i found you can adjust later is the ears. Back to the freezer again until the Freeze Dryer is ready. I did see this piece after it came out of the Freeze Dyer, Brian had a little cleaning to do, then he will do the detailing back at his Shop. When I get some pictures of the final mount I will include the with this thread for everyone. Best of luck Brian, another picture for everyone, hope you enjoyed the post and it helped. Question Time.  |
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Post by circleh on Oct 13, 2007 0:23:03 GMT -5
Thanks for taking the time for doing the step by step Don. You answered all my questions I had when you went through the process. I take that back what does a freeze dryer usually cost and where in your opinion is the best place to get one. Thanks again. Tony
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Post by riverrat on Oct 13, 2007 8:34:51 GMT -5
Freeze Dryers new can run from $12,000 to $75,000 and higher. You can find used ones but you relay have to be careful. A unit has 3 major components, a vacuum pump, a condenser, and the freezer chamber. These are expensive pieces to replace if one is bad. Weasel mentioned in another post that some people have tried putting their own units together. My holding chamber in the freezer unit cost $4,000, if you want to buy the freezer with the holding chamber in it $7,000. The vacuum pump I already replaced with a larger unit $2,100. and I do not know what the condenser cost.
Freeze Dry Spelitys have the unit I use new for $12,000, and if I am not mistaking they will sell it to you for something down and $200 a month. It is a great starter unit, I am to the point of either buying a larger unit or adding a second unit. With the freeze dry unit I do not have to get another Condenser and vacuum pump. For $7,000 I could have 2 units running.
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Post by weasel on Oct 13, 2007 17:55:00 GMT -5
ooo... interesting tutorial...
thanks
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Post by circleh on Oct 14, 2007 3:37:03 GMT -5
I'll have to put that on my list for things to get. Might be awhile before it happens but I think it is something worth looking into. Thanks again Don.
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Post by tylerdeloach32 on Jan 2, 2008 11:19:18 GMT -5
That looks very confusing!
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Post by riverrat on Mar 3, 2008 11:02:23 GMT -5
Well we just got back from the Illinois 2008 show and Brian took two Second Place ribbons in the Freeze Drying category for his raccoons. The turtle that was part of his mount was done by a friend of his Justin. The turtle took a First Place and Best of category in the Reptile division. Great Job Guys.    |
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? Looking for a wayto fix broken fins on already mounted fish...And how to blend the color to match the fish already painted??? need some help please!!!!!