Available Services

Wet tans are essentially the same as dry tans chemically. The only difference is the final steps of drying and softening.

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The Benefit of Wet Tanned Hides:

• The step of relaxing and sweating will no longer be necessary. This saves you labor, salt and water costs. This also eliminates a possibility of stress on the capes and dry spots.

• The hides have never been dried thus they have never shrunk. This quality will make sizing and fitting the capes easier with little to no “popping” or stretching needed to fit the appropriate size form. Hides stay true to the "on the hoof" size.

• The hides will be more supple. This will help with working out wrinkles of poor fitting capes, less drumming, more stretching and forgiveness in tight fitting situations.

• The ears will not be oiled. The ears will essentially be dry and oil free making the process of “putting in ears” more efficient and better quality.

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Draw Backs:

• Ample freezer space needed to store the hides.

• Logistics of getting frozen wet tans to taxidermy from tannery.

Fleshing/wholesale skinning services is not available at this time but we are working towards offering this service in the future.

We offer the industry standard Synthetic tan. Synthetic tans have all but made any other tannage for taxidermy obsolete. The synthetic tanning processes is a little more difficult than the traditional alum tan but that is our problem and the benefits you will enjoy are more than worth it. Syn-tanned hides have white, soft, stretchy leather, boasts an indefinite shelf life (when stored properly), and will not break down with age. The main problem problem with an alum tan is that due to the nature of the tanning chemicals the hide will eventually experience acid rot and begin to break down (thus the limited shelf life). This can can be an issue if you get behind on your work and you capes start to get old and can affect the longevity of your final product. On the other hand the synthetic tan is not merely a preservative that is keeping degradation at bay but it actually converts the molecular structure of the hide from a material that is perishable to a leather that is non-perishable. Another difference between the two tans is that while an alum tan is very stretchy it is also rubber like and it wants to shrink back down after being stretched.

Syn-tan is also very stretchy but once stretched it stays stretched.