Pressure washer helpful tips|General Taxidermy Discussion|Forum|Taxidermy Talk

If any of you use a pressure washer on your capes I have a few things that have worked for me I’d like to pass along. Hopefully you can share some tricks that have made your work easier. I am fortunate to live in the mountains so I don’t have neighbors to freak out and the weather will usually be at or a little above freezing. With the exception of bobcats and fox, I pressure was all my capes. My pressure washers is only around 2400-2600 psi and I use a Turbo tip . The tips that come with the pressure washers will not work. I hate to salt a cape that has any substantial amount of meat on it. Besides the risk of slippage, they drain like a river. A deer cape doesn’t get salted longer than 24 hrs. Once the fluid stops draining, it goes in the pickle. I use to salt all my capes rock hard…what a pain. I especially like how a bear turns out. I send my bear to Carolina Fur Dressers so they do get salted, but I fold them before they turn to concrete. I don’t have to contend with all the grease and pounds of fat. I have a large safety cone which I put over a 2 X 10 angled fleshing beam. I cut the flat base off the cone. I only cut my deer capes from antler burr to antler burr and chisel out the skull cap, so the tubed cape fits great over the cone. I use an old plastic office matt like are used on carpet so the chairs will roll ,to sit the beam/cone on so it won’t get so muddy where I’m spraying. After I’m done, I get a leaf rake and rake up all the nasty slime, but it in a bucket and recycle it to the coons and possums. I do a deer cape in about 10-15 min. I am working on making a shorter wand so I can be more precise on the face. I’m still a little concerned about blowing out an eye(on on the cape..not mine..but I do wear protective glasses)) but it hasn’t happed yet. I usually start at the bottom of the cape and work up, rotating the cape on the cone after finishing all I can reach.