Question with Tans

[bowman]

I had a couple bear hides tanned and they are shrinking up and turning into cardboard. Is there anything I can put on them to stop them from shrinking?

[BLKBEARKLR]

with the way you are talking it sounds like they were wet tanned?  That will shrivel and turn hard. You are going to have to break those skins. Get a big two by four and start moving it back and forth over the beam to break the fibers of that tan.

If they were soft tanned I would bring them back to the tannery, No way a soft tan should be doing that, I have a caribou that was tanned back in 1993 and it still hangs on the wall.

Joe

[bowman]

with the way you are talking it sounds like they were wet tanned?  That will shrivel and turn hard. You are going to have to break those skins. Get a big two by four and start moving it back and forth over the beam to break the fibers of that tan.

If they were soft tanned I would bring them back to the tannery, No way a soft tan should be doing that, I have a caribou that was tanned back in 1993 and it still hangs on the wall.

Joe

I don't know what process they used to tan them, but I'm taking them back today.  One of them has shrunk 8" in length from nose to base of tail and they're curling up around the edges.  I'll see what the taxidermist has to say.