I read on here that you can use a bench grider and a wire wheel to act as a fleshing machine. Can you use this method on a green whitetail cape that will be used on a dry presurve mount? Is there any other power tools that can be altered to use as a fleshing machine? just trying to find a cheap way to speed things up!
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For a fleshing machine from all I have read and learned in the last year but sometimes nessesity can drive you to try different things. I am still a few months away from owning my first fleshing machine and had been doing my fleshing by hand until I picked up a dremel with wire wheel attatchment. I have yet to try this on a deer (I will be doing it this weekend)but once you develope a good feel for it this tool does an awesome job on smaller critters. I use an assortment of rounded dowels that I use as fleshing beams and around eyes and other delicate areas I even use my finger tip. The variable speed of the dremel is very nice and allows you to adjust to your needs. As for the bench grinder I would be afraid to touch any skin to one. In my opinion the rpms would be to high and I would not have that much control. I fear it might grab the skin and shred it beyond all recognition.
Come spring I will have a real fleshing machine but I will also have the experience of doing it the hard way. Good luck and enjoy.
I use both.Like Wisachgak sade a wheel is good for small thin skin animsls, but you need a flesher for thicker hides. Here's what I have done, get a electric motor (sealed) 1/8 H.P. or so,With a long shaft. mount it on your bench, or a place that can get wet.I use a 8x1" Med. wire wheel,rig up a water mist that sprays on the underside of the wheel going up (the rowtation should be away from you). Splice in a foot pedal from a sewing mashine. And plug it in a ground fault outlet, and by all means don't forget your safty glasses. I wheel after it's been in the pickle, squeeze out, and back in the pickle.
Here we go again. Ok here it is. very simple. Get a 1/2 hp variable speed bench grinder. I prefer the Delta model from Loes ,it will run you about 65$$$ mount it waist hight to your shop wall. place a 26 gallon plastic tote behind the grinder to act as a shroud. this keps the flying debris. inside the box and not on your wall. i use a 6 inch wire wheel on 1 side and a very corse stone on the other. , Also remove the guards on both sides. . .now all that is needed is . after salting your hide and after you cold wash in some dawns dish soap. then tumble. go right to the wheel. .i use a pair of leather gloves, safteyglasses and an apron. i take the hide in both hands drawing it tightly. and easily press the hide to the wheel moveing it side to side in 2 to 4 inch swipes. now you will see the fleshy meat roll downward. just keep the hide moveing. and dont hold it in 1 spot to long or you will get a burn through which you dont want. Yes you can do a green hide the same way and after shaveing it dp it if you want. I prefer removeing the red meat first. doing all my turning of the eye,slips,nose,ears. then salting, overnight before i use the wire wheel. The wire wheel works great . for doing a fast job but the stone wheel works alot nicer on cleaning the hide up and also turning the lips. and eye,nose, you can only get the ear butts with the wir wheel. but you will hafe to turn the rest of the ear with a scapel, or fingers. . . Also i do use a spray bottle from time to time to rewet the hide in spots that may become a little dry because of the air being produced by the machine . I can do an entire shoulder mount sized hide now with the variable speed in approx 35 minutes which beats the 55 minutes when i started , and i was only useing a single speed grinder wire wheel set up. I'm sattisfied with the set up i am useing now. and the utcome is everybit as good if not better then the hides i have recieved through the mail that were supposedly . machined shaved. .. just another personal prefferance. whatever your comfortable with. If you need some more info feel free to drop me an email anytime. Ray.
Wheels produce HEAT that can lead to slippage. Why not learn to use a draw knife or send it to a tannery until you can afford a fleshing machine? Otherwise have some replacement capes handy. And speeding things up must be done properly or you'll spend far more time fixing in the end. Just a thought. Good Luck- Jeff F.
have any slippage with wire wheels and i have used them in the middle of summer many times -
You think the heat will cause slippage? well, how is twenty years of useing a grinder wiht not a single slipage from the grinder.
The wheel actually works better in some instances, but they both can produce skins that are better than a fleshing machine, I know I have both and still use the grinder on the lighter skins. Also, you can remove the cartalige from the ears with the grinder and also get to a point that you can split, and turn the eyes, nose, and lips with it. I got to a point where I can take a skin that is fresh off the animal and go over it on the grinder and in 30 minutes, I have a thinly fleshed, fully turned cape ready to salt dry and tan. Not a bunch of time to allow for slippage. Also, I wear gloves to protect the skin from heat from my hands more than to protect from the wire or stone.
The stone builds more heat than the wheel, but even at that, the wheel is spinning veyr fast, like a fan, and it coold the skin off faster than it can heat up. Just because you alll like spending hundreads of dollars on a fleshing machine, don't over look other options. My grinder is more profesionally built than the fleshing machine and I have not yet sent a stone out to re-grind a new blade.
I know a lot of you think the grinder is not a fleshing machine, but the big tanneries acctually use a drum sander, not a fleshing machine to thin your hides. The fleshing machine is used just to remove the red meat. Call them and ask them. the grinder is just a smaller version of the drum sander.
I still like to pickle the hides first before grinding, that way I can thin them to paper thin and remove every little piece of flesh. I also like the way the excesive moisture in the skin lubricants the skin to allow it to acctually flesh and thin better. I would never give up on the grinder and use just my fleshing machine. In fact, If I didn't have bison skins and moose and elk skins ot tan, I would sell my Quebec and pocket the money. It is no better than the grinder. anyway, the grinder IS a great way to keep your costs down and still produce quality at a speed that will actually MAKE you money from the beginning. Also, think of it this way, space in a taxidermy shop is very limmited, You have a machne that you can use for a lot more things than just a specialised process. You cannot use the flesher for anything but a flesher. A grinder you can use to sharpen your knives, axe, lawnmower blade, or sharpen the wire for mounting turkeys, goose, ect, or use it to shape wood for a base, sand the edges, ect... the limits are only there because you have not thought of another use. Now that TOOL is really become usefull,
Don't you think?
Hey Roadkill & Ray, how coarse of a grinder wheel do you use? I'm intriguied on using it to turn lips, etc..I have to try it.If some of you are concerned about heat generated from wheeling that's one reason I have a water mist on it. The other is the mist gives the skin a smooth finish.And like Roadkill I wheel after I pickle,and back in the pickle, so no chance of bacteria grouth.
Anybody that wants to know what I know, just Email me. I kkep no secrets and I share openly, I figure I found things that worked for me, maybe someone will take them a step further and refine the process. If you want to email me and tell me I am up in the night, Well, I will answer you back as well. all comments are read and answered. But don't think that just because you do not belive my methods will make me drop them and do it your way either. I have been doing this far to long to quit my ways unless I personsally find a better way.
See there folks I owe all my wire wheel skills to the man that introduced me to useing it. I wont bother going and spending a couple hundred bucks for something that i can use that costs me less and produces the same results. . I've said it before. The results can be down right awesome. . People ust need to give it a try .You'll be surprised at the outcome. Ray