OK, I had a beginner ask some questions, so I thought since she/he is having trouble understanding part of the Manual I would posted the answer here. So all the Newbies can read.
I always keep my hand or finger deep in the ears, eye ot lips when splitting. You tend to be a lot more carefull that way. In the mouth you will find the muscle goes all the way around the mouth and it controled by tendons attached elsewhere.
The eyes are the worst, I stick my finger deep in the animals eye, then reach over the skin with my thumb and peel/skin the area back with the thumb. You will see the inner lid/lip area and the outer lid/lip area. Very carefully work this until you have turned them.
On the eyes you will see small fatty pockets, these are the base of the eyelid, with just the tip of the knife remove then, You want the inner eye and lip skin then very thin, you can almost see through the eyelids, you can through the inner lid. Watch for whisker butts and dont remove them or the whisker will fall out.
The ears will have a bit of meat around the base, I spray mammal ears with denatured alcohol this helps you get hold of the ear, just work until you see the inner ear cartlidge then work the outer skin up the cartlidge with the tip of your knife. Stop just before you get to the edge, you can finish turning the ear after you have degreased it and tanned it.
Once tanned its easier to turn to the edge.
Nose is done the same way. You may wish to leave the inner cartlidge attached as you need it for the details, but you will split the nose down the middle and remove a all the meat and flesh, You will fill it with a pinto bean sized piece of clay when you mount it.
Good luck
JOhn C
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Eye/lip splitting/turning made NO sense to me at first. I looked and looked, and read and read, then decided I had better just get in there and try, maybe something would come to me. The first mammal I skinned I split nothing, the second one I split the lip the wrong way, from the outside, sorta looked like this = Y, sorta flayed it out. But on about the 3rd mammal I skinned, I saw the light!
I guess my point is just get in there and try it..it will come to you :) Even with great manuals, and JOhn C.'s (and everyone elses!)great clarification, it is very hard to read about it, even with pictures, and understand it. I even saw a video and didnt get it. Now I look back at that video, and feel like a dingbat :)
Christina :)