Boco u should just us a shop vac only for a year on ur hair to prove to these guys how clean ur hair will stay

Getting deep! I'm pretty sure the Auctions drum fur so they can grade it. Stuff gets pretty ugly when it is all compressed and ship to an Auction.

Yes when it is dirty and greasy from poor handling.
I have fur compressed in the freezer for a year,and when taken out it puffs right back up immediately.
Fur is drummed at the auction to clean it(why they use hair sheen and water in the drum media).
Here is a few taken out the bottom of the freezer that were crushed for a good long time.Puff right back up when flipped.
None ever seen a wash.

On a sidenote-washing heavy fox often causes the underfur to matt-a severe downgrade because it cannot be reversed in the dressing.


Go ahead-keep washing your fur,but dont preach it results in better fur than well handled fur that has never been washed.

I can assure you, as Kyle Krebs said every coyote that has made a top lot at the NDFTA sale was washed. I am sure, because I spoke to the trappers about it. We have guys that don't wash or take care of fur too, and the price shows it. I washed 1000's of coyotes and fox when I skinned for a living. That was what the fur room wanted. I am sure if there was a better way, they would of had me do it. There isn't a lot of work to washing coyotes, you just throw them in the washing machine and turn it on. Once it shuts off, you take them out and throw another load in. They sold a lot of fur directly to manufactures and if there was a problem with blow outs they would have heard about it. Fur is bought on eye appeal, so anything you can do to make it look better is a plus. No one has said washing makes fur better, it cleans the fur.

As you can see all fur does not need washing to be top lot.In fact very little fur needs washing at all if a trapper is not a slob in harvesting and handling.If it did the auction houses would wash it and I can guarantee you their land fur is better looking than fur that has been washed.There is way too much time and expense involved in washing fur-And not as nice a product as drummed.
That is why no ranch pelts are ever washed nor any wild pelts that go thru big international auctions.I have never seen washing machines at the auction house,lol.
Too risky for the end product and no advantage at all and extra uneccesary expense.

Its the same with the borax crap-not necessary (and risky in the dressing)-just lazy lumps trying to fix poor initial handling by taking shortcuts.

Boco, if you trapped Indiana in December I can guarantee you'd be washing your pelts. Heck, you've probably never even seen a cocklebur up there in syrupland. I'll bet our mud is deeper than your snow right now.

Stick your head in a fur drum and see if your hair comes out nice and clean with a nice sheen to it.

There is always a percentage of pelts that get blown out in the dressing-for any number of reasons-some are caused by the tannery,others not.
A dressing plant that is learning how to dress,pluck and shear beaver can have over 10 percent blowout or unacceptable product,especially when training workers initially.
After a time the best dressers will have under 2% blowout due to the tannery.
Wild fur at an established dresser handling large amounts of fur from the international auctions will have around 5 % blowout.It is often unknown what causes it.It is the result of lots of different issues,a lot from poor initial fur handling that escapes the eye of the graders,since it doesnt show up til during or after dressing.
One problem that was identified by the dressers and was passed on to the auction house and producers was the use of wire stretchers on fur out pelts.
pelts turned too early on wire stretchers had two strips of fur slip down each side of the pelt from not drying properly when in contact with the wire.
Use of alkali chemicals on raw fur especially harsh ones like bleach often cause adverse effects in the dressing .It is unprovable in a big dressing plant handling intersorted bundles of fur.
As a home tanner myself I know what alkali does to the keratin in a skin.An animal that is borderline spoiled when processed by the fur handler may look fine when dry,but will have problems in the rehydration soak.

Definitely would be a lot of work to wash put up fur at an auction.

Boco, I realize you have never or will ever admit there might possibly be other options that are required that don’t duplicate your standards. (I am much the same). Which are, by the way, very high and rightfully so, judging by your beautiful pelts that you have shown us over the years. But in all honesty, in much of the upper USA, where most of our “good” coyotes come from, many of us are dealing with muddy messes that simply look terrible if not washed up some. I realize you are blessed with cold and snow earlier so many of the catches in Canukland do not have to battle such issues. Down here many of us do, and there is a definite difference between washed and unwashed. It is something many of us hang out hats on, to supply our buyers or FHA the nicest appearing product we can. Simply rinsing a muddied up matted dog doesn’t cut it. We are blessed to have you and your wisdom here, it is a treasure trove of info, but we all have different variables we have to deal with. What works for you and your region may not work for me in mine is all some of us are trying to establish. We can all have opinions, that’s a great thing!!! Right. Like you possibly Boco, I am fairly bull headed, just ask my wife sometime!! Hope you all have a wonderful New Year. Let’s keep this learning from a variety of areas going, no one ever suffered from gained knowledge or perspective.

LOL good post TC1.
I am not diagreeing that some pelts need washed.
But not all even when live caught.

There is no alternative to washing a pelt that has excessive blood mud or grease down in the underfur.
But the vast majority I would say dong fit that criteria.
Surface dirt blood and mud can be dried,brushed and blown out with air.

And dont forget one of the ten commandments-good fur handling starts with your choice of location for sets.

I do enjoy a good debate,there are always alternatives.

Just pointing out that washing pelts is not always the best or only alternative for a lot of skins.

I wish I was closer to put up a couple of dirty coyotes.

One other important point-there is always risk when you soak a raw fur pelt.The more times it gets soaked the higher the risk of problems.You are kicking it down the line one more notch.
All dried pelts get soaked at the dressers and this is the step which is riskiest in that process also.

Saying FHA doesn't wash fur is kind of a no brainer, since it is stretched and dried when they get it. Coyotes in the US are washed before they are stretched and dried. So what FHA does with put up fur does not really mean much here. Other than they drum all the coyotes, even though some don't need it. Kind of like washing them all, even if some don't need it. What you do with your fur will not work every where.

Big waste of time effort and money.They will be in lots with unwashed fur for the international buyers-same grade and same price.
Very few pelts if any will be washed in an intersort.
You can see rack after rack after rack of beautiful pristine coyotes at the auction none if any ever been washed.

Wash'em if you want more for your skins.

You may be surprised how many wash coyotes in the US even when they ship them to the Auction house. If it was as bad as you seem to think, one would think the auctiob house would advise against it. It is taught in the coyote put up demos here.

I have no doubt. And they go in the same lots with countless unwashed and dont look any different,and dont bring a cent more.

Anyone with the cognitive horsepower to tie his own shoes, knows washed coyotes avg higher than the unwashed masses.


Well, anyone with real life experience knows this.



Now , if you live on a keyboard in the Canuck hinterland the fundamentals may escape ya.



















That, or you were born with a peanut in your head.

No wonder you are always complaing of losing money on the fur market-you waste a lot of it doing un necessary stuff.
Lots of top lot fur over the last 40 years-none washed.
Waste of time and money.
A competent grader knows what fur is.
You cant turn a 50 dollar pelt into a 80 dollar pelt no matter how much you wash it.
But you probably think you can because of YOUR peanut brain.

I think whether to wash or don't wash was what started that War of 1812 that we won