Okay, so I'm about to try this wire wheel method that everyone raves about.
My question is, does the wheel whisk the bits of flesh off the hide, all over the place, or do they kind of neatly stay on the wheel or kind of lower down, on the skin, until you wipe or rinse the wheel or skin off?
Obviously getting a peice of pickled flesh with a pH of 1 in one's eye or nose would be BAD. Safety goggles can help, yes, but it's probably better to know the risks beforehand, than to just jump in.
I'm going to need some "mess planning advice" thus the question.
Happy Holidays!
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Wire wheels are designed for defatting BIRDS. Fleshing wheels, draw knives, mini fleshers and even one person who uses a grinder to take flesh off hides. You seem to have something big time confused. SOMETIMES on very small game, the bird defatter is used, but as a rule, it's only for the birds.
I do use the wire wheel on those thin red foxes. If you have a box built around it you will have your mess contained within. The wire wheel rolls the meat and membrane off the hide very nicely.
to use a course wire wheel for fleshing large game but it is very limited in the applications and results. When I first started I ran across plans advertised in a magazine for a wire wheel fleshing machine that was supposed to be powerful enough to flesh the shields on boar. I have only found a use for it around the face and lips to knock off some of the heavier stuff that I may have missed earlier.
I would suggest using it only after thoroughly pickling to avoid slippage from the heat generated by the wheel and then only sparingly.
When needed,I then put on a fine wheel and it doubles as a bird flesher. Just take it easy if you have a powerful motor.
Good luck, Jeff
Looks like I have a couple of problems waiting to happen.
1) is that the motor used to drive the wheel, is a Dremel. So I originally planned on holding the pelt in one hand and fleshing with the other. Luckily, I RTFM and it said NO! So the question now is - how do I mount the Dremel to make it stationary? OR will slipping my pelts onto a fleshing beam, be "stationary" enough?
I am afraid that C-Clamping the Dremel to a table is a health hazard (severe injury!) waiting to happen. Can I use the "flexi-shaft attachment" and c-clamp THAT down for better safety?
2) Big Mess problem. Many posts seem to say that the flesh is flung all over. I do NOT want this low pH stuff all over. I did invest $2.99 in my eye safety and I do have latex gloves. BUT - Will containing the mess inside a large cardboard box with a Saran Wrap top be ok?
3) The heat from the wire wheel can cause slip. I will be running the wheel at 7,500 rpm. I've felt the dental drill heat up my teeth before - I know how bad that can be! Any tips on how to keep the pelt cool during fleshing, besides just doing a tiny spot at a time?
4) If I flesh until I plainly see the hair roots, is this just right, or too far? With the knife method, it's "just right" but it also generally leads to a hole and an expletive 1 mm later, hehe.
The pelts have been pickling now for 8 days. I want to get them out of there - either I want to learn the technique of the wire wheel for shaving, or learn the Skife technique of shaving, or both, but I want to start soon.
By the way the pelts are TINY. No, they won't be going to any tannery. They are needed here for their educational value. Outsourcing work is convieient, yes, but it gives 0% to self-education.