Shaving tips

[Sarge]

I wonder how many guys use the machanical shavers to flesh hides. Or won't they work? The only way I have fleshed skins is with a knife or scraper.

By mechanical Shave you mean use their fleshing wheels I used mine all afternoon today and will be again tomorrow morning and a good portion of the afternoon.

[Sarge]

Now back to what I wanted to ask;

OS not to be asking for a specific bit of help but could you give us a Tuning tip.  Like approximate angles for the steels to get the blade to hold an edge longer.  I just can't keep mine cutting that long before I have to re touch it.  Is that normal.  I know everyone will say get a Dakota Pro, blah, blah, blah,

Well I have a Dakota 4 and for now that is all I need.  I have the stock blade that came with it and the heat treated two nails stuck in the dowels  (which are crap).  How can I get an edge to hold longer on this blade or should I get a harder blade?  Aslo where can I get a better set of steels for the blade.

Thanks

Jeff

[Lil-Sneekee-Hope]

marking

[joeym]

Sarge...McKenzie sells a good little set of tuning steels.  They are at the bottom of page 745 in catalog 35.  They cost $5.65 each.  I sharpened the end of one of them on a grinder.

[Sarge]

Thanks Joey;

I will add them to my form order next week they will come in really handy when I pull the capes out of the tan.   Then I can get them nice and even before I mount them up.
 

Jeff

[jigginjim]

sarge, yes do guys use they mchines for raw fleshing before tanning? I was taught to use a knife. the machine would sure seem alot faster for fleshing theskin after skinning. I could really use it for fleshing the beaver I trapped.

[Sarge]

Small Mammal fleshing can be done on a Dakota 4 with no problems and you can get one cheap if you have an old electric motor setting around.  That is what I did, just call Van Dykes and tell them you what the model for overseas it comes without the motor.  They do that with all the models including the Pro so you can save at least a $100 if you have a motor on hand already.

Hope that helps

Jeff

[oldshaver]

Sarge, your Dakota 4 will do just as good of fleshing and shaving, as anything else will, as long as their are no BAD vibrations in the machine. For average Taxidermy purposes, if a round knife is running true and smooth, the end result will be the same no matter who makes it, and providing you know how to steel and set the guards.

Steeling is the most elusive part of shaving!

First off, I never put the left steel on a grinder. The tip of the left steel SHOULDNT be shaped like a cone. It should be shaped like a rifle bullet. Not a 30-30 with a flat tip, but something like a .270, or a 7mag bullet. From the casing up, a bullet GENTLY slopes into a fine tip. The transition from the main part of the steel, to the tip, NEEDS to be very gradual. I always use a wet rock, and alot of elbow grease, to achieve this. Sometimes it may take me 20 minutes to get that bullet shape. The steels I use are VERY hard, but also are brittle. The SMALLEST of cracks, in a tungsten steel, can chew up a edge real fast! Just dropping one of these steels on the concrete, can cause a crack, that you can barely see with the naked eye!

Using the hour hand on a clock, the handle of your left steel, should be pointed between 7:00 and 7:30, when steeling. Hold it just below level, at the point of blade contact. Ever so gently, lift up on the left steel slightly, until you feel the edge. Now, gently place the right steel on the blade, with the handle pointed at 4:00, and slowly raise the right steel, until the handle is pointed at 3:00. Gently strap the knife, until smooth. DONT keep the steels in contact with the knife, for more than 15 or 20 seconds. This builds up too much heat, and will weaken the edge.

As time goes by, and with alot of practice, you will learn how to raise the lip with the left steel, for thicker skins, and turn down the lip, for thinner skins.

This is my first attempt at trying to explain steeling. I hope at least one person understands this?LOL

[Debbie C.]

i'm marking this too !!

thanks for the tips 

[PLTannery]

Sounded good to me OS!   I had a steel shatter on me the other day... Luckily the blade was already toast..   But now I have to go bum another piece of tunsten off the welding shop and make another...

[Becky P]

Thanks OS for the steeling explanation, I think I understood it now if I can just do it - me and my flesher fight and it usually wins.

[Sarge]

OS if I am getting this correctly I want a tip on the Left Steel that will basically cause a hollow ground effect on the underside of the blade edge so that there is actually minimal drag on the under side of the blade as it cuts.  Ballistic tipped left steel and round smooth steel right.  If I am doing this correctly I am actually adjusting the angle of the cutting burr in the edge of the blade just as in straight knife sharpening only instead of a centered cutting edge I am going to gently work it up or down to get the bite I want.


Just making sure I understood you correctly.

Thanks

Jeff

[oldshaver]

Sounds like you got it good Sarge!

[lookn4awhitetail]

Old shaver,
So when do we know when a Wild Boar is false cut.  I have one and some hair pulls out, but all and all the majority is in there tight.  Along the dorsal seems to be where I really fleshed thin.  I figure I could get some more needed stretch from the shield but am scared to keep shaving.  Any "shaving bits" for these critters.

[oldshaver]

I could try to explain boar shaving, but it wouldnt do much good.

Boar capes, are one of the few skins, that have to be shaved on an individual basis. There is not ONE WAY to shave a boar.

A traditional false cut, leaves an area the thickness of a balloon, that has been blown up. Light will easily pass through that spot. Some boar capes have hair roots so deep, that the hair will still fall out, when the skin is shaved to just 1/8 inch thick! Alot of shaving experience is the only answer to this question.

Have a good one! Sorry I couldnt help more.