??? mounting a turkey fan???

[LOC]

I have a turkey fan in my freezer from a bird I killed in MO this spring. I recently skinned and dried a wing from the bird to use in imitating fly-downs for next spring. I was surprised at how easily I was able to stretch the feathers out and dry the skin/meat with borax. I wanted some input from some of you experienced folks about the difficulty of stretching and drying a fan. I am guessing it would be similar in process as the wing, but my fan has a chunk of meat attached from where it was cut from the bird. I would really like to mount the fan, and have a mount that I could look at as an example... I just wondered if there are any tricks I need to know to avoid ruining the fan.

Thanks!!!

[simmonstaxidermy]

cut as much meat from the quills as possible without cutting the quills , then lay flat usuing masking tape to hold the shape of the tail fully fanned or pin in place , then borax throughly . borax the underside before posing the tail.hope this helps out.i do it much differently ,but this works for tail mounts.

[grizz1]

Don't know if you have done anything with your fan yet ,but I"ll mention a few things you can try on it or another one later.
If frozen, thaw it out at room temperature . Lay on flat surface ,taking a sharp knife or scalpel cut all the meat away that you can ,also you can cut between the quills leaving just enough skin to hold the feathers intact. To do a great job you can than fold the feathers together ,grasp a good hold about 1/3 of the way up from the quills & using a wire brush on a bench grinder , you can brush the remaining meat & fat from the quills . Be careful as the brush can grab and take the tail away from you in a split second but most of the time it will be unharmed.
If the feathers are clean you can move on to the next step but if they are dirty , bloody , wash the feathers in warm water and Dawn dish washing soap. Squeeze out excess water and blow dry with a hair dryer , you should see the feathers going back together if done correctly.
After completely dry ,apply the borax , doesn't take much ,but be sure to cover completely between all quills and get some on all the skin.
Lay on your clean work surface front side of fan up (pretty side up) position feathers to your liking .Starting at the top and working both ways .They should overlap correctly and this will take a little more time then you think it will. At this time you can shape the tail in different ways , a full fan , 1/2 fan , flat ,arched by placing something under the quills. When you are absolutely happy with the shape & all feathers are to your liking , mix about 1/4 cup of auto body putty with hardener and pour over the quills ,spreading it quickly but carefully as there is not much time to do this step.
If you wanted a wire or something similar in the tail to attach to a decoy ect ,it needs to be ready and placed in the filler while it is still wet . There are many things you can now do with the fan ,just hang it up ,make a nice plaque ,use it on a decoy , whatever but it will hold that shape , not spoil and last for years .
Just remember that borax will dry and preserve the skin but if you don't remove all the meat and fat it will smell bad for a long time even when the filler is applied and will likely get us guys & our fans kicked out of the house !