Second try

Well here’s round two. Let er rip!

Looks good.

Looks a lot better.

Let It dry and if you have any areas that don't dry you can take the dull side of a knife and scrap off that scab that forms over the fat deposit. Then you can scrap off that fatty area. One of those paint scrappers with that curved blade work good for removing those fat deposits.

I agree with the Beav, it's as much better put up. A better tool for scraping fat spots IMO is a stirrup style small pelt scrapper.

That would be a better tool but I figured the paint scrapper would be more accessible at the nearest hardware store.

I’m not opposed to buys anything that helps out and puts up a better product. Actually I think post makes one as well

Definite improvement over the first one. A few more and you'll look like a pro.

Black dogs, I flesh otter same as a coon, cut the neck push the rest, with the exception of the tail.

Thanks, unfortunately I don’t have any local pros to mentor me, which isn’t a good excuse but it is helpful to have someone around for the do’s and don’t. Luckily I still have this place with some good honest feedback. Thanks again fellas!

Man, I haven’t found much on annotter yet that you can push with a dull side……… maybe I’m missing something yet again

I rarely ever touch an otter with the sharp side of my fleshing knife. I do use a regular sharp knife around the face and ears and sometimes score the fat on the tail. I might use the sharp side on the neck/shoulder gristle on a big tough one but nowhere else.

But to do that, the back side of the knife needs to be able to bite into the membrane to push it. If the back is too rounded on the front edge, it will just ride over the membrane instead to grabbing it. My Necker would not bite well at all but once I cut the membrane and got under it, the dull side would push it fairly well.

The back side of my Steinmeyer flesher is not sharp but it has a very narrow flat edge with little to no rounding of the leading edge. It bites the membrane and starts rolling it up instead of riding up over it. Make a huge difference IMO.

I take a file to the dull side of my Necker and square up the edges. This really helps when it comes to pushing fat and gristle.
A friend of mine just loaned me his Steinmeyer knife now I can see what all the hype Is all about. He also left me 10 green skinned beaver to practice on. LOL

So Beav was FINALLY taught something? Lol

Winter otters with fat under the saddle flesh nice on a beam.
I use a hide rake to rip off the saddles and score up the neck grissel on the ones with no fat.

It's just common sense Round edges don't dig In Just like rounded jaw edges cause less foot damage.

But I learned that from one of NAFAs videos.

What is a hide rake?

A scraper with teeth.

I use my sharp side on otter a good bit, but I am very comfortable with my knife. I don't like pushing hard with the dull side on an otter or continually going over the same spot. My fear is that by making repeated motions with a lot of force I'll singe an area.

Using my sharp side and fleshing them like a beaver I rarely pass over the same spot twice. I push the sensitive areas like under the front legs. Haven't had one singe yet (knock on wood)...