really cleaning bucktails-easy way

[flyman31 0]

would like to clean bucktails that usually are marketed in lousy shape.

[Kentuckysteve 0]

Wash them with dawn dish detergent.Mix dawn with warm water and soak the tails.Work them with your hands in the water.Rinse several times to make sure all the detergent is gone.Then shake all the water out of them that you can.Hang and let them air dry.You could also dry them by placing them in newspaper but it will take longer.If you use the newspaper method just unwrap them daily and let them air dry a little while then re wrap in new newspaper.If you are trying to clean them to bring back colors you need to look into how to bleach them.Just cleaning them will help with smells but not do much for bringing back colors.

[JSzymczyk 0]

I have used Woolite and warm water in sink. You can do a good wash without soaking long enough to fully rehydrate the skin. Follow that with several cold water rinses to remove all remaining soap and extra dye, etc. Place on an old bath towel, roll up the tail in the towel and squeeze it tightly- making the towel absorb as much water as possible. Do that again with another dry towel if possible. Don't wring it or twist it, don't damage the tail. Then dry it with a hair dryer set to cool, and comb it out as you dry it. It will take a while. After the hair is as dry as possible, set it out flat in a dry place with air flow, skin side up to finish drying . Commercial bucktails are NOT tanned, they are just dyed and dried. Hair slip in all animal skins is caused by bacteria growth in the hair follicles- bacteria grow in moist environments. The longer the skin and hair are damp, the longer bacteria have to grow. You want the tail dry within a few hours, not a few days. It is amazing how filthy commercial bucktails are.....