OK, I had similar trouble last year when I bought 3 different knives. First off, what kind of knife did you get? Second, I think I know the problem. You need to run the back of a skinning knife lightly across your fleshing knife from handle to handle. This will curl the sharp edge over slightly, which in turn makes the knife want to dig towards the leather when you are fleshing. If your knife is relatively sharp, you do not have to push very hard to make it work. Your knife should be fairly flat with the pelt at like a 10-20 degree angle. Use a slight left-right or right to left motion taking short strokes with your leading hand being slightly ahead of the following hand. Once you have ruined 3 or 4 you will get the hang of it and take longer strokes and you will know what you can get away with. For fox and cats, there is very little fleshing to do. On fox, the "armpit" behind the front legs is about all that needs to be done with a fleshing knife, the rest can be pulled off using your thumb and a fairly dull knife (pinch the fat/flesh between your thumb and the knife blade and pull it away from the leather). You really need to get the hang fleshing some coon without tearing them to pieces before you attempt any high dollar furs. Course, this year you could probably practice on about anything!
Last edited by trapperkeck; 11/13/08 11:13 AM.
