All:

I hunted Wild Boar in Austria a number of years ago and had a European Style rug made out of the hide. The rug is rustic, as is common in Austria. It was tanned/processed in Austria - I do not know what technique was used to tan the hide. When it was sent to me, it was folded so it would fit in the shipping container. However, when I unpacked the hide, it maintained the folds and will now not lay flat.

Not wanting to ruin the hide, I have not done anything to try to fix it except put heavy books on the folds to see if that would flatten it out. That didn't work.

My questions to the taxidermists out there are:

Is there anything thing I can do using easily obtainable products to get the hide to lay flat?

If not, do I have to send it to a taxidermist to fix? What would the cost be and how long would it take?

Thanks for any insights you can provide.

Pig hides tend to be thick and harder to soften then say deer hides. You can try and dampen the hide with water from a spray bottle and work it in a bit, then cover with a heavy flat object until it dries. The ends may curl a bit but will lay better then what you have now but may be a bit stiffer. No idea what kind of tanning method was use over there, a lot depends on the shaving, breaking and oil used to achieve a soft flat tanned hide.

Thanks, Paul. I just don't want to ruin the hide, thus the question to the experts.

V/r,

Paul

quote:

Originally posted by paulbacs:
Pig hides tend to be thick and harder to soften then say deer hides. You can try and dampen the hide with water from a spray bottle and work it in a bit, then cover with a heavy flat object until it dries. The ends may curl a bit but will lay better then what you have now but may be a bit stiffer. No idea what kind of tanning method was use over there, a lot depends on the
shaving, breaking and oil used to achieve a soft flat tanned hide.

+1 good advice

I had one of these, I did the same thing.

It was the ultimate wife repellent. She hated it.