I just wrecked my fifth woodie yesterday. I am a beginner and I can not keep the skin from tearing. I use wire wheel and don't have too much trouble, I will get some "holes" but not much. I mounted a mallard and he turned out great. I know wood ducks have very thin skin but they are all I can get here in Georgia. Any tips or tricks? I do have the Breakthrough manual and some videos, but they just do not seem to be working for me. Help!, please.
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what kind of wheel are you using and how many rpm's. does your wheel have any longer wires sticking out? You can't put any pressure on the wheel or hold in one spot very long. Get all you can off with shears before you get to the wheel. Their are alot of varriables.
Do the feather quills have to be clean down to the skin. I'm not saying don't do them at all, but can I leave some of the fat?
That's right, DON'T USE THE WHEEL!
If you keep doing something that causes damage, stop doing it. Keep it simple and use a small, hand held brass bristle brush. You can get the skin CLEAN with a simple hand brush. Even using a wheel you still need to do the final clean with a small brush.
Doug
Bob Wood Ducks tear easily. I suggest starting with divers, as they are tougher skinned. Good Luck !
..that's on the verge of being one of the dumbest remarks I've heard today.
SURE, you can use a wire brush and manually remove the fat. You COULD even use scissors as we did years ago, but to even suggest not using a wire brush is idiotic. Wood ducks are the worlds worst (next to teal) for soft thin skins and you will just have to learn not to horse the bird around on that wheel. Thousands of us use the wheel on birds of all species, WOOD DUCKS INCLUDED. Without even see, I know you're forcing that fat up against the wheel. You have to let that wheel MELT THE FAT off the bird instead of tearing it off. It CAN be done, it's just going to time time and PATIENCE Get a stool, have the wheel on a table where you can rest your arms, and GENTLY bring the skin up to the wheel. Watch the fat. You'll see it starting to melt away and then move around so as to keep from staying in one spot.
If you resort to a wire brush, you're going to tear skin just like you are now, only usually worse. Learn to use that wheel. Get you a diving duck and work on to build your confidence. Then go to mallards. A wood duck should be your very LAST stop in the learning process.
It's not a dumb remark. He asked for tips or tricks. Telling a person who has admitted to wrecking 5 ducks with a wheel not to use a wheel doesn't sound dumb to me. It sounds reasonable. How many times does it take you to screw something up before you stop and think, "what might I change in what I am doing to keep from getting this same bad result?" It sounds to me like this guy takes 5 times. I, myself, try to keep the learning curve down to 2 to 3 times before I make an adjustment. Of course, you have never made a mistake and had to make a change in what you do. Hell, you invented it all!
Taking a high speed device out of the picture and replacing it with something simple and controllable via your own hands seems too simple to me. But then I must just be an idiot. I know my birds are hole free with a hand brush. They are also much cleaner too. The time is the same for me on a duck with a wire wheel or a brush. The rest of the picture is that I work the skin in a degreasing bath of water with Rittel's super solvent. So, I generate no heat, lubricate the skin, and defat the bird all at the same time. But of course since my techniques differ from your time tested, one sided, King George views, they must be wrong. Right? Sure you are.
I also noted that from reading his post, his use of the wheel with other birds doesn't give him too many problems. So, he must have a decent technique with other, thicker skinned bird, right? He asked for a tip or trick with the woodie. Your tip....keep screwing them up till you get it right. Great tip wise one.
You can also soak the wood duck skin in some cool water with Dawn in it, for a half hour or so. Soaking seems to firm up the skin a little bit. Then, if you decide to use the wheel again, put barely any pressure on that skin. Like George said, let the wheel "melt" the fat away. Also, between the feather quills, you don't have to get every single speck of fat off. Get it as clean as you can, but don't go overboard. When you wash the skin, you can put some Dawn straight on the skin and let it sit for a while, then rinse and repeat. Dawn really helps get off the grease you might have missed on the wheel. Then, if you have some corn cob grit, tumble the bird. Grit helps get the inside of the skin come out nice and dry and NOT greasy (I love grit!) Good luck next time, and even the pros tear holes in their birds sometimes.
George said but also keep the skin wet. I keep a spray bottle with water and a little bactracide (sp?) mixed with it beside my wheel. Keep that skin wet and it seems to melt the fat better. BP
Bob
If you aren't too far from middle Ga. you can come by my shop and I will help you with your wood duck problem. Email me for directions. It can be done, you just have to have patience, there isn't anybody on this sight who hasn't messed up while fleshing a duck so don't be intimidated.
What a load of crap. I truly wonder how some of you ever survived in life. Talk about being up sh1t creek in a cement boat.
The first woodie I did ended up wrapped around the spindle of the flesher. After I sewed a few dozen hole, it was back to the flesher. Hardly a "high speed device" (jet engines rotate between 10 -12,000 rpm) what MOST of us would have decided is that we were approaching the technique wrong. Talking about "king", listen to this horse puckey statement: "They are also much cleaner too." RIGHTTTT! Sitting at a keyboard, "x" miles away, some clown is going to tell me HIS birds are cleaner than mine. OR since he admits to NOT using a flesher, that they're cleaner than a flesher. I guess I shoulds stuck with rocket science.
Bruce's "Super solvent" is just that: A SOLVENT. To degrease you must use a degreaser and the only degreaser know to man currently is SOAP.
I'm certainly no national or world champion (at anything), but I've discussed enough issues with them to know what they use. The only differencies we have is their fastidiousness in fine cleaning and preening. Jon Stanley and Nancy Mulligan tell me that after fleshing, the wash the birds and use toothbrushes between feather tracts to clean them better. I'm lazy.
So Doug, I seriously doubt that you even have a learning curve, sounds more like a bend in the road to me. I only need one failure to make me sit back and take a critical look at what I've done.
He knows what hes saying. Ive been mounting birds now for about 15 yrs. I dont comment much on here but he gives good advice. So keep using the wire wheel just maybe slow down a bit and dont try and cover an area to fast. Just bump it on the wheel in a back and forth motion until you take the fat down this way your not holding it on one spot to long and take a chance of ripping it. You will get the feel of it with practice. Good Luck!
There is no option to success except through diligence and hard work. You can't learn to swim from the boat ramp and holding on to a life preserver still won't make you a swimmer. That wheel and a soft skinned duck can be intimidating, but if we can do it, anyone can do it. You just have to decide you're tired of standing on the boat ramp and jump in.
I would take up Scott Hodges offer and go see him even if you have to drive for a while. He is very good on the wheel.
You are such a dcik.
I love your statement "The only differencies we have is their fastidiousness in fine cleaning and preening. Jon Stanley and Nancy Mulligan tell me that after fleshing, the wash the birds and use toothbrushes between feather tracts to clean them better. I'm lazy."
I think if you review my post, you will find the difference in what I do and what you do is the fastidiousness in fine cleaning and preening. And the main difference is that I do it in one step.
You are right, you are LAZY.
Oh, just so you know, Super Solvent is a very fine SAOP! I guess you could call it a surfactant if you want too. There is nothing solvent about it.
George ,Im with you i have no problems with using a fleshing machine to defat ,and soap to degrease . 15 minutes to flesh boy thats hard , then again ive done hundreds .