Hi all, I'm sure all of you have your own techniques for fleshing and thinning a face, but thought I'd share a tip that has been useful for me. I bought an "Acorn" at Menards. Its a decorative piece that screws onto the top of a deck railing or staircase post, and it literally looks like a big acorn, about 5 inches tall. It was only $4.50, and made out of cedar. Just spray a few coats of polyurethane on it, and it works great. The one I bought has a lag screw inserted into the bottom of it, so I just screw it into my workbench, and pull the face of the deer over it. Works great for fleshing and shaving delicate areas.
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never heard of it but worth a try. but why the polyurethane? I'll try anything(almost) once.
Just makes for easier cleanup.
I've been using a golf ball and skive knife or scapel on facial areas, especially around the nose, muzzle, and lips. Being right handed, I hold the cape in my left hand, pulling the hide down around the golf ball and griping it together underneath the golf ball. This pulls the hide taut and exposes a small section at a time to the knife. A lot less holes to sew for me this way. I'm sure others have tried it. Give it a try on those tight areas. Alan
Gosh for 25 odd years I have used a cast from the insode of a regular light bulb, to which I added a small piece of cow horn.
Just zip the base off the bulb with a fiber wheel on your dremal and mix the resin as per directions and pour it full.
Let it set overnight and chip off the glass. super smooth and last forever. nothing soaks in.
i use the fat end for the face areas cut the end off the skinny end sharpened it and use that areound the eyes and nostriles works great oh yea it is a wooden bat,,,lol
I have being using The same billiard(pool) ball for 25 years
The plastic post caps from menards works well also but i use a regular lightbulb screwed into a plastic receptacle which acts as a base and sits on my bench. Unless you drop it on the floor you cannot break it. This costs only about two bucks.Works excellent for skiving.