trim off as much meat and fat as you can and then salt or borax the fleshy part of the fan.
i spread mine out on cardboard and put nails through to hold it open nicely then borax them for a month of so..dumping it off and adding fresh stuff every couple days. salt works also..and quicker..heard borax is better though...not sure what the difference is...
that works for me
__________________
>>----Give 'em the shaft!--->
get a piece of thick cardboard or put a few pieces together. make sure there is as little junk left as possible(fat and whatnot). then spread the fan i use t pins to hold mine. use more pins than you think it may take. i go every other feather most of the time except the first 3 or so on each side. i prefer borax. little slower than salt but seems to do the trick. i do about the same thing to preserve the beards. trim and then borax.
__________________
"Everyone needs to believe in something, I believe I'll go hunting."
From my readings on how to preserve the fan and the way that I did my last one is I cleaned as much of the flesh from the feathers and then I let the fleshy end of the fan soak in a little bit of coleman latern fuel for a little while. This breaks up and degreases all the meat / fat / flesh and then I put borax all over it and let it sit for about a week or two with the borax. Here is a link from NWTF that I followed on how and what to do. Pretty easy to follow directions: http://www.nwtf.org/tips_adventures/tips.php?id=289
__________________
Remington Model 11-87 Premier 12 Gauge
Remington Model 870 SPS-T Camo Thumbhole 12 Gauge
Ruger M77 Mark II .270 w/ Nikon 3-9x40 Buckmasters
Borax all the way. It only takes a week or two to dry, depending on how much meat and fat you were able to remove. Remove as much as you can without separating the base of the tail feathers. You only need about four pins to hold the fan down to dry. If you need more than that, then you probably didn't remove enough meat and fat. Common sense, the more you remove, the quicker it will dry.
preserving a fan
