I read posts almost weekly on pressure washer fleshing. I am going to post my procedure here so that it will be in the archives and I can say "USE THE ORANGE BUTTON".
First, I skin my bird and remove the head and tail. I remove the legs on my birds, but if you leave them attached, that's OK. I remove all the meat from the leg bones and wing bones.
Then, with the skin fully inverted, I take the bird outside and lay it flat on a piece of plywood on the ground. I crank up the pressure washer (2600psi). I use the turbo tip (spray rotates as it comes out). I cut the idle down on the engine until it almost knocks off. This will cut your pressure way back (you can use full pressure if you are careful). Then, I start at the tail end of the bird and spray from a distance and on a 45 degree angle to the skin. Move in closer as needed. Keep the spray moving or you will begin to cut holes. Work towards the head end of the bird. Again, the key is to keep the spray moving, stay at an angle, and ease into your work. You will have to get a feel for it. You can see the meat, fat, and membrane peel away from the quills. Once you have gone over the whole bird, you can let the bird drain and proceed to detail fleshing.
Fleshing the tail is accomplished with a small pair of wire cutters and a scalpel or razor blade. I slice the large pieces of meat off the tail with my scalpel. I then take my wire cutters and begin pulling the fat, meat, and membrane off the tail quills. I can use the wire cutters to pull the fat from between the quills. Once I have the major meat, fat, and membrane off, I run the quills across the wire wheel. If there is any fat, etc. left, I will use my wire cutters to remove it.
Detail fleshing is basically getting tight areas and separating feather quills. For this, I begin with a utility knive blade. I slice between the quills of the scaplulars and the feather tracts along the back, chest, and sides. You want to cut enough to free the quills from each other, but not all the way through the skin. Once I have all the quills separated, I go over the skin and look for any areas where I missed membrane, fat, or flesh. I flesh these areas with my wire wheel or scissors.
The detail fleshing will really make your turkey mounts much better. Most poor looking turkeys I see look bad because the feathers were not separated. You can put them anywhere you want them, but if they are not separated, as the bird dries, the connective tissue shrinks and will pull the feathers out of place. A well fleshed, well groomed turkey will turn heads.
People often ask about cutting holes with the pressure washer. It does happen from time to time. The pressure washer is just like a wire wheel or round knife fleshing machine. It is a tool and you have to practice to get the hang of it. I can flesh turkeys and rarely cut a hole with the pressure washer. The first couple birds I did with the pressure washer, I cut probably 3-4 holes in each about the size of a 50 cent piece. You just have to learn to sew. Good luck to all who try this procedure. I have started using the pressure washer for all my mammals and turkeys. It is a good tool.
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Thanks for the tips James. Two quick questions: 1) does the bird stay put on the plywood when spraying? 2) does this procedure create a big mess? Thanks.
Andy
The bird will move around a bit on the plywood. You can clamp it down if you like. I like to let it move a little bit. It seems to help reduce tears and holes. If your angle you are spraying on is too shallow, it will move the skin off the wood. Yes, it makes a mess, but the mess is usually confined to the plywood and the ground. Make sure you do it outside.
try inverting the bird and putting it over a traffic cone using the neck hole to hold it up and then everything runs down and off. just my 2 cents
I follow the same proceedure that James uses on the pressure washing except for the traffic cone . I have a traffic cone mounted on a steel post and in the tapered end of the cone I have necking material that extends about 6 inches , I use a couple of t-pins to hold the neck in place . What I like about this method is that I can walk around it washing as I go and don't have to worry about having to move the turkey skin until I am done . James is correct on opening up the feather tracts to make the mount look really nice when it dries. Dan at the Gobbler's Roost