I'm making my own wire wheel for turkeys and searched the archives before i posted this. Which wheel and how many should i use. I have read that multiple wheels prevent burnthrough, but most fleshers i see on the market only incorporate one wheel. Also, i'm only doing turks so should i go with a course brush or a fine one. Thanks much.
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I use one course wheel. Turkeys are a thicker skin bird, not a whole lot a worry of burning through. Just remember to hold on good. Other wise your turkey will do cirles around your wire wheel.
There are a number of options regarding wire wheels. Depending on the ones you purchase and how tight you put them on the motor spindle, you can use one, or more than one. You can also select ones with various diameters. I use two or three soft brushes tightened together on the spindle with a diameter of about 6". I like the wider surface. For geese, turkeys and some ducks, I use a medium bristle and only one wheel. Although this reduces the amount of material that can be removed with one pass, I feel more comfortable with it on medimum brushes. The coarse grades I have seen were more for metal removal, so I have stayed away from them. This does not mean it will not work. The stiffer the bristle the more careful one will need to be with the pressure. The stiffer bristle seems to be more effective at cutting through the thin (very tough) membrane covering the fat on many ducks. This membrane is what causes much of the skin burning problems as folks press hard and build up heat - instead of cutting through the membrane, the skin burns and then all at once go through the skin as well. This freqently happens around the legs and sides near the tail. Another challenge is keeping the bristles even - they bend out easily on the side of the brush as well as dislodge having a few stick out further than the rest. Those few can be a real pain particularly with coarse brushes. Most certainly some skins are tougher than others - having more than one option is always favorable for me. One last thought is the speed of the motor - some applications work with a very fast speed and others work better with a slower speed. I selected a variable speed motor and have been very pleased with the flexibility. Good Luck