I am having a huge problem with fleshing. I have been mounting deer for a couple of years now and fleshing is just taking me terribly too long. I have a small fleshing machine (dakota two) I think. This does help and I do alright with it. My main problem is hand fleshing the face. Today it took me four hours to flesh the face of a deer. The method I am using is to rough flesh first to get off all chunks. I then apply sodium sulfate to the hide and leave overnight in the frig. I then take the cape and wash it and tumble dry. I then flesh the cape and spray tan it with ben mears spray tan. Today after I tumbled a cape sawdust was stuck to the thing like glue. That took another hour with a wire brush to get it off. I think my sawdust had gotten a little too wet. Anyway, any tips pointers or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. What are the best fleshing videos. Am I doing anything major wrong? I am using a scalpel to flesh the face.
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Also, are you using replacement scalpel blades. A super sharp knife aids immeasurably. I'd never put sodium sulfate on the hide until it was completely fleshed.
Try a skife knife.....once u get used to them they are really nice and to prevent the saw dust from sticking....go buy some mule team borax powder( you,ll find it in grocery stores in the cloth washing powder section}and rub it on the skin side of your cape before u tumble...GL ....TD
Have you considered a commercial tannery. I used to tan my own when I started. The time I save by getting them tanned far outways the tannery cost (in my opinion). I rough flesh them, spilt the ears, eyes.lips, and nose, salt dry them, and send them out. I have to do a little scissors work, remove the ear cartilage, sew bullet holes, and that's about it.
I'm not the fastest by far, but here is my method. I work 2 capes at one time, because pressure washing, washing, drying, and tumbling are just as fast for two as for one. Here is my procedure: turn lips nostrils, clean nose pad, meat around eyes, and turn ears: 2 1/2 hrs. I know this is correct, because I start at 5:00 am and am finished at 7:30. I then drink a cup of coffee and see what political wars PMVRWC started overnight! At 8:00, it is warm enough outside for me to pressure wash cape from ears back, throw in washing machine, wash with Era & lysol, rinse, spin, invert & spin again. Remove from washing machine. towel dry, and throw in tumbler for 30 minutes, invert, and tumble 15 to 20 more minutes. It is usually 9:30 to 10:00 now. I remove from tumbler, and go over entire cape with fleshing machine (Dakota 5). I thin down the cape area, this removes sawdust also where no thinning is required. Move to facial area and complete fleshing. I spend 1 hr per cape doing this. I have spent roughly 5 hrs time on two capes. I do other things around the shop while capes are in washing machine and tumbling. You may be spending too much time in areas of the face with a scapel that you should save for the fleshing machine. I am not a great fleshing machine operator, but I do still have 8 fingers and 2 thumbs! Now for something that will totally blow your mind...I had someone else fleshing for me once, he was excellent at fleshing, but everything else about his life was a disaster...he and his wife could flesh 8 to 10 capes per day...now theres a goal for you!
With a scalpel, open lips, nose, eyes, and ears. Trim the thick meat off of the nose. I machine everywhere else; I machine the whole face but the lips and nose. I flesh the face to about 90%, leaving some meat on the delicate areas, lips, chin and nose. I do not flesh it perfectly. The more off the better, but after I tan, I do a final fleshing on the face. It trims up easer with a skive knife after the tan. Basically, I rough flesh the face, don't spend the time till after the tan to clean it up. It is easier to flesh and thin the lips and nose after the tan.
the reason for my procedure is I spray tan with Ben Mears tan on my capes. I flesh for someone else who uses DP, so I am almost always dealing with a green cape. I use corn meal exclusively when fleshing with a scapel, because I don't want the DP on my capes. Also, I have been known to feed meat scraps to beetles if I don't have skulls for them. DP+ beetles=dead beetles. Mr. T, you and I are in total agreement, maximizing use of the fleshing machine, and minimizeing the scapel use will definitely save Kevin some time.
then i finish up with bench grinder (wire and stone)
if i may i have a few suggestions
some of what your going through is normal
but you could probably adjust your techniques and gain a little speed
now dont get upset with me when i tell you this
if it takes you 4 hours to flesh out face
it takes me about 2.5 and i dont have to touch it after i tan
you need to move twicw as fast to do it in 2 hours
im not making a joke Kevin
what im saying is when youve done enough you will get faster and faster
you will learn where you can be a little more aggresive and where you need to watch it and take more time
now for a little advise
i use a scalpel,victorinox 3.25 ,ceramic sticks to sharpen,and a
8" pvc pipe
i use several dowels to do the eyes,nose,and ears
cut the end of a baseball bat and use a belt sander to shape
these tools will help you get a whole lot faster
get some stop rot also this is good for anyone up front i dont care how fast you may be but for some one who is taking a little long its a must
now as far as videos sallie dahmes,dennis behn,the new mackensies tanning videos are all good you will get something from all of them
go back every once in a while and rewatch one youll get a whole new perspective
dont get discouraged press on and email me if you need any more
help
good learning
paul e
also, I have something that looks like a baseball bat I purchased from John Rinehart years ago. It works well for facial fleshing.
Does anyone have any advice on how to set up a fleshing machine so one doesn't have back pains after using it for a while? About 30 minutes at a stretch is all I can take, without being very uncomfortable.
oldshaver might be the one to ask
but i can comment on my own experiance
i used to have a machine that no matter what i did id get back pain
its one of those i used to use a hammer to adjust the guards
it got a little better when i adjusted my table height
when i got the new Van Dykes pro
its like the sun came out the birds started to sing and i almost broke out into song myself lol
(my dog doesnt like my singing though)lmao
i made a new stainless steel table at the height of the adjusted one
i got used to
i use a little stool if i want to lean over the machine a little
guess what no back pain
i could lean on this thing all day long and less pain than i could twenty years ago
now maybe someone knows the formula for the appropriate height
you could start out with
but you could not give me one of those cheaper machines
ive seen the light and id pay twice of much as i paid if i had to do again for the pro
paul e
Where's the pain? Lower back it's probably the machine height. When standing at my machine I can lean forward and the top of the machine will be in about the middle of my chest. I will adjust my seat height if I want to sit.
If your shoulder blades hurt your blade is dull.If your blade is dull you have to exert more force pulling the hide across the blade.
I never could get situated seated...let me explain, I am left handed, but I operate the machine as a right-hander would. I never though about reversing the blade, and I do not believe I would ever get used to that at this point. My back pain is in the center just beloe the shoulder blades. I think I tune the blade often enough. When I begin to feel a little resistance, I stop and tune...I would say at 5 to 15 minute intervals, it just depends. I am 6' tall. The table height is 41". My sternum rests on the back of the flesher. Maybe I do need to lower it and get a stool