# Pneumatic Cape Stretcher



## IR john

*This was in Taxidermy Today, anybody try one yet?*


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## neil duffey

yeah... the guy im working with has one... the jury is still out. he was tying to stretch some capes and was literally filling it to 6 and max was 8... he hardly got an inch out of it... decided to soak the capes and try again, still didnt get much better than an inch. the guy selling them said he would easily get 3 to 4 inches... i havent talked to the guy i work w/ in a week or so, so i dont kno if he figured out why it wouldn't give him th stretch he was told it would. all i kno is that he couldn't get the cape on the form for the life of him.

on th other hand, th guy reviewing the product in a magazine, henry krieger... i know him personally. he was my teachers partner, when i was up at school. Henry loves the thing and says its "the cats meow" in fact his recommendation convinced the guy i work w/, to try it out.

like i said, th jury is still out on it... i think its a great idea. but we'll see how it works out in the shop im working in. if ya call th guy i work w/, im sure he would be happy to give you his thoughts. i cant register mine because iv yet to stretch a cape in it(though i should be in the next two weeks or so.) goo luck. hope i helped some.


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## Mitchell Ulrich

..I dont know what to think on this one. If you really need to stretch a cape that much, my thinking would be somewhere the measurements would be off! 

I have used a truck tire to stretch the legs on a bear before. That was early on in my learning stages. 

I'd wait for an update from Neil before I let loose with any cash.

Mitch


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## IR john

Selling many of these units, at the Wisconsin Taxidermy show this weekend. WIll post pictures later..


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## IR john

View video - http://www.n-code.tv/capesnake/video.html


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## neil duffey

they had a seminar on the product at the mta show... i missed it but im sure some one on here has gotten to it. im going to email the guy i was working w/ and see how he liked it... sadly i haven't been able to afford getting back to his shop since xmas.


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## IR john

Made in U.S.A. here in Michigan


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## Brian Jones

I'll pass


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## Jim Palek

Hi Neil,
I was informed of some buzz going on here, so I decided to check it out and see. Your friend's trouble concerns me. We cannot help anyone if they do not communicate with us about any problems they may encounter. We seldom have anyone not able to get good results, but when we learn of trouble, it has always been for the following reasons: 
1. Cape not shaved properly, neck too thick
2. Y cut not stitched closed up to the ears
3. Cape not properly soaked and relaxed, at optimum temperatures
4. Cape Snake not positioned properly
5. Tanning procedures need some guidance or change
There is no reason that anyone should not see at least 3" of stretch, and often times up to 6", and sometimes 8" or beyond. If your friend lives anywhere near my travel patterns, I would even help him personally to get him on the right track. He should never exceed 4lbs, one should see a decent size increase at 2lbs! Too bad you were unable to see our seminar, we could have proved all we claim about our products. We mounted a no incision 18" deer cape, onto a bone dry 22" Mckenzie full swell upright manikin in about 40 seconds. You won't find a more challenging task than getting a totally closed cape on any form, even if the form is same size as the cape. The point is, our product is to simply get the cape on the form quickly and easily. Adding neck size is just a bonus if one chooses to do it. And for those out there who fear that adding size to your cape will frog up the hair patterns or sacrifice the seams, your worries are well understood, but completely unfounded. We have added up to 6" with no problems. We would not ever do so without having enough antler size to support the added neck size though! A spike horn with a 24" neck would be goofy. We had 3 mounted deer at the shows that have no less that 5" added to the original neck sizes, and nobody could point out any hair pattern flaws, drumming or otherwise. Adding neck size is a personal choice of the Taxidermist, not a requirement. Neil, please have your friend contact me and I will see to it that he gets the results he paid for. For anyone curious, we will be at the upcoming World Show in May. We have a seminar date there and will demonstrate all the things we claim. We are also working on an article that will appear in Breakthrough magazine in the near future. I was surprised to see the talk of us on here, but that is good to see people are at least curious. I hope this helps anyone who was wondering. I invite any questions or comments, it's all about education.
Jim Palek


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## Paul Thompson

The show demonstrations at the MTA had capes shaved paper thin. I think the demo cape I saw was broken down from being stretched so many times, that it ballooned up in front of me in 1 second at 2 lbs. of pressure. I think it's snake bite medicine myself.
I think I would spend $10 at tractor supply for a wheel barrel inner tube first and try that.


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## neil duffey

Paul Thompson said:


> The show demonstrations at the MTA had capes shaved paper thin. I think the demo cape I saw was broken down from being stretched so many times, that it ballooned up in front of me in 1 second at 2 lbs. of pressure. I think it's snake bite medicine myself.
> I think I would spend $10 at tractor supply for a wheel barrel inner tube first and try that.


hey paul, have you talked to him lately? has he came to a conclusion as far as if he liked it or not? its been a while since i last talked to him. sent him an email about 3 weeks ago but didnt hear back.


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## Paul Thompson

neil duffey said:


> hey paul, have you talked to him lately? has he came to a conclusion as far as if he liked it or not? its been a while since i last talked to him. sent him an email about 3 weeks ago but didnt hear back.


He showed the thing to me, but he didn't seem like it was Christmas, you would have to talk to him for that answer.


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## Mitchell Ulrich

As paranoid as hunters are about the size of their antlers and worrying about them shrinking as they dry, and getting "the wrong cape back",, I can't see the benefit of making the cape any larger that it was. This will only make the antlers look smaller and cause problems with the neck size. 
I can see comments arising like...You promised me it would be bigger than that..or No, my cape was that big to start with...You must have the wrong skin on mine... you made a mistake...Nature made this animal that big for a reason, I'm not sure I was meant to try to improve on that. I think I'll pass on this one as well.

Mitch


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## IR john

Paul Thompson said:


> The show demonstrations at the MTA had capes shaved paper thin. I think the demo cape I saw was broken down from being stretched so many times, that it ballooned up in front of me in 1 second at 2 lbs. of pressure. I think it's snake bite medicine myself.
> I think I would spend $10 at tractor supply for a wheel barrel inner tube first and try that.


I talked with Ernie and he said that you can bring any cape you want to his shop and he will demo the cape snake for free. It must be shaved to your standards. The contact information is on their website -
http://www.capesnake.com/

p.s. - bring your wheel barrel inner tube and we can see which one works best.:lol:

Where everyone is getting off track here is, that the number one use for this product is to stretch the cape for easy installation onto the forms. All skin has an elasticity to it and this will return to it's original size. *IF you choose* you can make it larger for larger forms. It was developed to make your job easier.....


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## Paul Thompson

Hey, I got the inner tube, it works Great!

I thought forum rules state that you have to be a sponcer here first before you could advertise your product or business.


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## IR john

The Cape Snake is not my product or business, just a friends. If for some reason this violates Michigan Sportsman.com rules, please remove or lock this post. Not trying to break any rules or cause any problems.

Just trying to help others with a new product out on the market for the taxidermy business.


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## IR john

About 15 Cape Snakes sold in April, I was hoping to here a testimony regarding someone who purchased one. Good or bad, how about some input!


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