i'm getting started in this art and was wondering if Van Dyke fleshers are any good, i don't have a whole lot of money to get started so i was wondering if they were worth looking into or maybe a miniflesher, what do most of you recommend? thanks ahead of time
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If you are just getting started, I would hold off on buying a fleshing machine. You really don't need one now. Many full-time successful taxidermists don't even buy one. Practice and learn as much as you can about other aspects of the trade. If you get to the point where you want to really get serious about the trade, and you are doing A LOT of mammals-then buy one. Boner
Read teh archives or hit the search button before you buy a piece of crap. There are much better ones out there for around the same price.
Yes Boner, There is alot of good stuff in the archives on fleshing wheels. What you're going to find is that eveybody's got an opinion. Which is good. If you're just starting out and not very experienced with a fleshing knife, a wheel flesher can be the diference between getting discouraged and gettig started. I'd say if you don't have a lot of work yet you may want to wait to justify the cost but in my opinion they're worth it. I like to start with a Knife and beam to get the hide clean first, then go to the wheel. Since you specificly asked about the Van Dykes I'll tell you that I bought a Dakota V two years ago and I love it. There are others out there that cost more and may be better but I don't have any complaints with mine. I've seen posts that complain about the guides/guards, but once I got mine set they stayed put and haven't moved. I made my own table to attach it to which I would recomend because the ones they sell look to small to me. I'm absolutely not knocking any other brand, that's just the one I went with. I haven't had to find out personaly, but I hear Van Dykes cust. service is very good also. Hope that helps, Carl
Sorry Boner, my responce was directed to PW (it's early here on the west coast) Carl
Steve's got me into the benchgrinder method with useing a wire wheel and is very cheap and only takes a few times to learn how to flesh onit.