[NHCOLL-L:3698] FW: fat removal

[Sendall, Kelly RBCM:EX]

Hi Tonya, 
 
You could try fine sawdust heated sufficiently to melt solid fat. Heap
this on the fat side of the skin and repeat until no fat is being
absorbed. Degreasing used to be done using a solvent such as white gas
or benzine but these are a hazard to health so unless she has access to
a commercial degreaser for car parts it's not an option. Another method
is to rub dish washing liqiud into the inside of the skin and rinse
repeatedly. It helps to finely score the inside of the skin with a
scalpel to cut through into the fat. This means that the entire skin
gets washed and requires a drying tumbler to finish the process. 
 
Cheers, 
Nick
 
Nick Panter 
Loans Officer/Mammal Preparator 
Royal B C Museum 
675 Belleville Street 
Victoria, B C 
V8W 9W2 

Ph: 250-387-2926 
Fax: 250-356-8197

________________________________

From: owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu
[mailto:owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Tonya Haff
Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 11:30 AM
To: NHCOLL-L at lists.yale.edu
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:3697] fat removal


Hi all,

I'm preparing a badger study skin, and having some major issues with
fat.  I've spent many days picking and scraping fat off the skin, but
I've gotten to the point where there's still fat, but I just can't
scrape if off without pulling hair through the skin. I've scrubbed the
fat down with Borax to try to dry it out, but that only seems to work on
the very top layer of fat.  I'm worried that there is still too much fat
on the skin to stuff the specimen, but I'm just not sure how to get the
rest off.  Do any of you have suggestions for how to best treat fatty
mammals? 

Thanks for your help,

Tonya Haff
Curator
UCSC Museum of Natural History Collections
Santa Cruz, California 95064

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