What am I doing wrong? It took me about an hour last night to flesh 1 stinkin' coon! I am using a Necker 600 knife. Do I need to sharpen this thing right out of the box, or what? I watched the little video clip of the guy using a Buck Knife (I think) and that seemed to go pretty smooth on the back of the neck and base of the tail. Those are my problem areas. I get started down the neck and I just can't break through the gristle with any kind of consistency. At least the last 5 or 6 I finished didn't have a bunch of holes in them, but it's taking forever! I worked for our local fur buyer 20 years ago and probly fleshed a thousand coons that year and I could do a coon from start to finish in about 5 minutes. I think he had the New England style knives. I know the blade was probly 3" wide or so. Any thoughts or suggestions would be helpful.

i jus get the meat started off at the top w my pocket knife enough to get a grip on it and pull it the rest of the way off then take my hoe scraper and get the extra fat and done in about 5 min. hope this helps.Benner

trapperkeck, if it was my video that I posted under "time to flesh a coon" then you have seen my technique.
I use 2 different fleshing knives. The one shown is a Post flesher and it has a good edge on the rounded side and slightly duller edge on the concave side. My other fleshing knife is very dull and truth be known is the one I use the most.
On large boar coons there are times when I will sometimes have to work a ways past the neck to get past that gristle under the fat. Its just a fact with those old buggers.
The other thing to consider is the shape of your fleshing beam. I built a new one this year and boy was that a learning experince. I would shape it and try a coon over and over until I found the shape that worked satisfactory. If it is too flat you will struggle now matter how sharp your fleshing knife is.
If you have any further questions I can help with let me know.
Greg

necker 600s are not what they once were, take a good look at the bowed out edge, if it has dips and waves you may need to buy another one that does not, thats to fix the hole problem, next the folks that make them used to put a wonderful edge on them, then they went to no edge, then they went to an edge but a very poor one, work on it until you get it shrp, with whatever means needed, its only a knife after all, not a peice of artwork,once ya get your edge sharp and i mean sharp the neck and gristle down the back, and all the way to the tail on late season midwestern coon wil shave right off, the tough yellowed fat on the same coon will just take a dulled edge from the other side and lots of grunting,dont let some of these guys jerk your chain, late boar coons are tuff to flesh after a hard winter, all the bite marks just make it even harder,fifteen minutes is a bit more realistic on them.

I made my beam out of a 2X8 and I know what you mean. I still need to round it down a little more further down the beam. The nose is of my beam is about right, but it's too flat starting about a foot down the beam (leaves a thin layer of fat in the center). I think I need to sharpen the sharp side of my Necker and it will work better. I also remember the knives I used in the past had the sharp side on the concave part of the blade, so when you were doing the neck area you were taking a bigger bite and removing more gristle. With the Necker, you are lucky if you get a 1/2" wide strip started with the sharp side. I have a cheap fleshing knife with the sharp side on the concave side I might try to touch-up and see what happens.

For fleshing beams in my shop, we use about a 15 in. wide piece of log. Also use an old telephone pole, which is to soft, and my favorite is a big piece of black plastic pipe cut in half. It is also 15 in. acrossed.

wow, how wide are your knives, Don?

I use the standard english knife. You must know that only a portion of the knife ever does any work. You can actually get a knife to take to big a cut. All my logs and such are cut in half. 15 in. through the middle. I use ash on one log.

my necker Is very sharp on the convex side i can shave any gristle any coon or beaver has to offer.
Most beginers use thier fleshing tools like they were taking the bark off a tree. When fleshing with the sharp side you use a very fine slicing motion. I'm right handed and I slice from right to left. It takes very little effort If you have a sharp knife. As you can see In Gregs clip he Is hardly even putting any pressure on the knife but he's getting the job done.
Keep your knife just about flat to the hide and you will have less chance of cutting holes or pulling hair. And like Don said a very little portion of the knife Is actully doing any work.
I know It can be very frustating for the beginer.

Thanks for the input! I am difinitely working too hard. I will sharpen my knife and I'm thinking I will have solved my problem. The only way I can get anything off right now is if I stand the knife up at about a 75 degree angle. If I flatten the blade it just rides up over the top of the gristle. Very difficult to control.

On my knives I have a sharp side that I use for gristle and keep the middle fairly dull for pushing fat. By side i mean the left or right side of your knife.

That is way the knives I used years ago were set up. Gonna have to get a New Enland style knife. Thanks again Don!

Hey Don is there any chance of posting a picture of your beams? After building one this winter they sound interesting at 15" wide.

Greg

Greg H. Great video on starting coon and getting those tough areas.