I know that my fleshing knife sucks and it is making it harder than it should be but how do you keep the beaver pelt on the fleshing beam? Every time I try to flesh the pelt I cant keep it stationary on the beam. It wants to slide with the knife. I tried to lean against the beam to help pin it there but it wont stay. Do you clamp it or something that I am missing?

Thanks,

Josh

When I skin a beaver,I dont cut all the way from the anus to the lip.I stop arround the neck area,and skin the head out cased.This leaves a little " hood " on the pelt to help hold it on the fleshing beam.When fleshing is done,you can finish the cut up to the lip.

Thats a great idea. Thanks for the tip.

WOW, that is a great idea! I thank you too!

You can also put two eye hooks on the back side of your fleshing beam to hook your pelt to with the eye holes. Or you can just lean into the pelt pinning it against the beam and use a good fleshing knife. Slickest way of fleshing I ever saw was at a NAFA demo, where he used his knee and a sharp curved bladed knife to flesh beaver. All the while explaining what he was doing.

I start fleshing in the middle of the pelt. Flesh toward the head first then turn the pelt and finish the tail half. The weight of the pelt hanging of the end helps hold it in place.

I did my first 50 or 60 with my beaver knife because, well it's a beaver knife and I thought that's what it was for. When I sold my fur I saw their flesher using a fleshing knife just like a coon. I am sure dang glad I never bought me a coon knife!

To keep them from sliding put an old towel between you and the greasy beast and you will get better traction.

Razor sharp knife too.

case skin them..

cant

why not

Sure you can. Prep by cutting off the feet and ringing the tail. Then open them normal, but only go about 1/3 the way up the belly and hang them up an then peel them like anything else. Youll have to cut use a knife for most of it. Takes me 5-10 min depending on the size of the beaver.

You will still want to use the carpet or towel to keep the pelt from slipping as your working on a portion of it.

I agree with OldTool, I push on a towel against the end of the fleshing board. The towel is between me and the hide. You will be amazed at how well this works.

If you think a beaver hide is slippery, you must not have ever done a fat-infested coon.

if you dont mind me asking , how long dose it take you to flesh it? i clean skin my beaver that way i can put them on board , than a lite scraping , no holes and i am done .

If I really get at it I can flesh a blanket in 15 min.So figure about 30 mi from when you start with a knife to when you start putting in nails. Most of the time I just go at a slower pace and it takes about 20 min. Mine are clean and dont require anything other than a wipe with a towel after they are on the board. i used to clean skin also, but prefer to flesh them its easier on my back.