Being a beginner in this art i was wondering the correct way to thin a deer cape using a skife knife, not being able to afford a fleshing wheel at this time i thought i'd try it this way, how do you go about thinning a pickled hide with this kind of a knife, thanks for your help in advance
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The tool you speak of is designed to thin down facial areas after they have been fleshed with another fleshing tool. This could be a rotary flesher, mini-flesher or fleshing knife. I don't think I would attempt to do the entire cape. I use a small horn-shape beam through the nose, eyes and ears to thin these areas down. Works great, but not as a primary means of fleshing.
i have a fleshing knife, will this work better, obviously i understand that a rotary knife of some kind would work better, the fleshing knife i have isn't sharp is it supposed to be and would this work for thinning as well
i have a fleshing knife, will this work better, obviously i understand that a rotary knife of some kind would work better, the fleshing knife i have isn't sharp is it supposed to be and would this work for thinning as well
PW, If you are going to flesh and thin the cape by hand you will just have to work at it a bit longer probably, but it's how it was always done before folks started getting the fleshing machines. The fleshing knife you have is a "draw knife" type, I'm guessing, with 2 handles. This is used to remove the flesh and membrane on the skin. Some are made to shave as well with a sharp edge and some are used relatively dull to remove only the large stuff. To shave the skin thinner as in after it has been pickled I have used a filet knife made very sharp. You have to be careful not to slice through the skin but rather shave strips off. I have used the skife knife after thinning with the filet to get down to a very thin skin but to do the whole cape takes several blades. For sure the skife if excellent for thinning the face. Taxidermy is not a fast thing, take your time and enjoy, Aaron H.
You could do it with a skife- but I agree with the others, that's not its purpose. It would take ALOT of blades, and almost as much time. For me, I don't have a flesher either, I used a very sharp hunting knife to shave/ thin my hide. I used the big end of my cut down baseball bat to lay the hide over (reducing the contact area between the hide and the knife) and shaved away. Watch the angle between the knife and the hide to keep from going through. Also, I thinned my hide after I tanned it- the consistancy of the hide thinned better this way- then I applied another coat of tanning paste. Worked well for me. Good luck.
I shaved my fist deer with a scalpel, lol. I came out good after about 10 blades and 4-6 hours later!
I like to spend quality time with my capes! kidding
works great with a sanding drum for final paper thin fleshing. I rough flesh with a draw knife on the beam on most of the hide, use a scalpel to rough flesh the face. After tanning, I final flesh the lips, nostrils, eyelids with the dremel tool sanding drum, it really works and is endorsed by Bill Yox!