What Sets Us Apart

A few of the differences that set us apart from other tanneries: No one wants to be nickel and dimed to death. Here is a list of things that we DO NOT charge extra for unlike other tanneries:

ALL species of bear are priced the same. We do not require bear claws to be wired, nor do we charge a “wiring” fee if they are not. If you want to wire your bear claws, you can. We make every effort to return your bear with its claws intact. Sometimes they will get damaged and fall out.

ALL deer are priced the same regardless of species AND regardless of size! Some tanneries will charge you 8 dollars more because it has a neck measurement over 24” and 3 dollars more because it’s a mule deer or a black tail and then 3 dollars more because it’s a short Y incision.

We do not charge more for larger neck measurements, nor do we charge more for “older, thick skinned” animals. One tannery charges and extra 20.00 for an old thick skinned elk; and 75.00 more if a Bison cape has a thick forehead.

We do not charge more for Short-y incisions on any cape where as some tanneries will charge you 15% more for north American animals and 40% more if they are African capes!

NO hair cleaning fee
NO dried blood cleaning fee
NO sheep bleaching fee

Yes, we accept skunks. Many tanneries will not accept this item. NO additional charge for cleaning and deodorizing them. Some tanneries charge $75 extra for deodorizing a skunk.

Case cut small mammals-NO additional fee.

There are other important differences between us and our competition. We are one of the last tanneries to do a double shaving. Most tanneries do a single shaving of your skins. We still double shave every item to insure the best quality and maximum stretch. This also assures complete penetration of the tan throughout the skin.

We offer wet tan and dry tan. We are often asked which is better. To be clear, the tanning chemical baths for both wet tan and dry tan are identical. Wet tanning is for mounting only. It is faster, typically with a turnaround of 4 weeks or less, and it is 10% cheaper. No other tannery offers a wet tan discount.

The dry tan goes through the additional steps of greasing, staking, saw dusting, and buffing before it is brushed out and completed. This takes longer; typically our dry tan turnaround is 6 – 12 weeks on North American animals. Some animals also require the use of our kicking machine in order to breakdown the fibers of the skin to allow proper penetration of our custom formulated grease. We custom blend our grease using raw materials from several manufacturers before the skins are immersed in the greasing drum. Most other tanneries apply grease to only one side of the animal and use a single oil that you could purchase from any taxidermy supply house. The next step is the saw dusting. Not every tannery uses the 100% pure white maple sawdust like we do. It costs more but our saw dust delivers a superior finished product. One of the biggest complaints we hear about other tanneries involves zip-tied ears coming back inside out and how difficult it is for the taxidermist to re-hydrate, turn and clean these ears without damaging them. The reason that other tanneries require the ears to be zip-tied is because during the saw dusting process ears can become packed full of sawdust and blow out the tips. It is easier for them but harder for you. We have chosen another approach. As each cape moves from sawdust drum to sawdust drum we take the time to clean out the ears. We turn the ears right side out so that when they come back to you they are clean with the tips intact.

All of these differences: our degreaser, our double shaving, our tan, our custom grease, the high quality of our sawdust and the cleaning of ears at each stage of sawdusting cost Sivko Fur more money but in the end they produce a superior product. We have chosen quality over price. We think you’ll see the difference.