i think i may have messed up? I put my deer hide in the pickle without splitting the eyes and lips. I am also having trouble getting all the flesh off. Any suggestions for someone doing it in their shed without any of the expensive tools. I know the tools are worth every penny but this is my firstone and i am not going to spend that kind of money on the first one. I used a bench grinder with a wire wheel and it seems to be working but was wondering if there is anything else.
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If you buy one thing, buy a scalpel handle and some good blades. You don't need anything else to flesh or shave your deer. I did it for years with a pocket knife and an Arkansas stone. Then I found that my knife was never as sharp as the scalpel and that I could change blades quicker than I could hone.
As for the pickle problem, you MAY get away with it, but you should certainly correct it before it's tanned. I do hope you opened the ears before it took the plunge.
How about a skife knife. This will also help you in thinning the face out and you can use it on the hide as well.
As far as pickel just take it out and split them and replace it back in the pickle. You should be fine, but as George stated I hope you split the ears?
the scissors work pretty good for just starting- 2.00 ones wal-mart. they will get most of the meat off and the razor will do for splitting the eyes ,lips,ears and nose just don't use much pressure.hope this helps . james
Sometimes when fleshing the lips and nose on deer, the flesh gets kind of slipery or slimmy, for lack of a better word. I find that if I apply salt after splitting the lips, and nose, even if just for an hour or two the flesh firms up a little and shaves much easier. The slimmy skin makes your scalpel feel dull and it is much easier to damage your cape if you continue when it is slippery. On boars I salt over nite and than flesh.
It works for me you might try it
Tony
HELLO JOHN I don't know where you are working at, but down here we don't pickle our deer hides we don't pickle anything we flesh it wash it DAWN dish washing liquid witch works very good use dry preservative and mount the animal in nine years I have never pickled a deer hide or any kind of hide and recently I have seen mounts I have done nine years ago and they look like the day I mounted them. You can order a cheep scapel handle and blades from your supplier or they sell the exacto scapels at wal mart it's up to you also make sure your skin is pretty dry before fleshing and like I said there is no need for the pickle hope this helps you good luck.