Wash the beaver whole and hang to dry. If they are pelts from the freezer, I fleshed them then washed them. To dry I folded them in half fur out and clamped the pelt around the edges so the leather didn’t dry out.
The most important part for me to learn about fleshing was to use a sharp fleshing knife down the meat on the back and a dull fleshing knife on the fatty sides. I kept putting holes in the sides with a sharp knife when all that I needed to do was push the fat off.
For boarding hold the pelt where the nails go at the nose and tail. Gently stretch the pelt on the board and note which ring it corresponds to. Then pick the second ring down and board it on that ring. It’ll seem loose but it’ll shrink tight and won’t over stretch. Trim the excess at nose and tail and then lift the pelt to the bottom of the nail heads.
Don’t leave the pelt on the board too long or it’ll be too dry and it’ll crack/split at the nails when you are taking them out. Three days usually does it in my shack.....four days max. I use a claw hammer with a small block of 2”x4” to put under the hammer when prying the nails. It helps to take the nails out straight rather than sideways.
Last point......2XXL and 3XXXL sell in the same lots so there’s no advantage to going 3XXXL unless you have a really huge pelt that’ll be too loose on the 2XXL ring.
Last edited by HunterDave; 02-09-2019 at 05:47 PM.
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