There is a necker knife model 600 for sale and I was wondering if it's alright. I'm not any pro and taxidermy is just a hobby, so I don't need the best. It's about $65 U.S. It has a sharp edge and a dull one. Do these also work for fleshing animals without much fat and ones with lots of fat? How fast for a beginner should it take to flesh, lets say a coon and also a coyote? Thanks for any help.
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I have never used one of those for fleshing so I can't help you with that. I do have the two in one flesher I bought from Van Dykes for around 45$. I wouldn't be with out it. I do bears to fox with it over my beam. I keep the knife one edge sharp with a file. With a little practice you can remove alot of fats and flesh with it in a short time. I push it strait down and curl it in my hands to kind of lift the fats and meat away from the skin. Hope this helps.
The necker knife is the trappers best friend. In my trapping days I was pretty good with one. It does take a little practice to get the hang of it, but after that you'll be fleshing small game lickity-split. I use it on deer capes too, their skin is thick so the fleshing goes quickly without the nicks/cuts. I've seen trappers flesh a coon or coyote on a beam in under 15 minutes, where I might take 30-40 minutes. It's not a bad investment, if you're not in a hurry to get one, you might watch eBay... good luck
The Necker Knife is what I started with and still use.
It takes a lot of practice to get good with but once you get the hang of it and know how sharp to get it, you can really do a nice job .
I can flesh a deer hide CLEAN on the beam face included, except for the areas around the eyes lips and ears,in about 15-20 mins.I then use a scalpel to flesh the rest of the face,takes about 30-45 mins.
So in about an hour give or take 15 mins. depending on the the day, I can have a hide ready for the salt or the DP, depending on what the customer wants.