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