Boar Shield- Hypothetical question

I set the skin in the hot Sun for just long enough to liquefy the fat just under the skin, and used a very sharp fillet knife and skinned the skin off of the shield, instead of the shield off of the skin.

 

There was a thread not long ago about power washing them off.
http://www.taxidermy.net/forum/index.php?topic=362770.0
pressure washing skinning hogs great
Brooke

 

I'm with low-t, however I do follow up with the procedure that so many taxidermist seem to want to forget about, a fleshing beam and knife, hogs are not easy, but to get good results, old fashioned man-power is the best for me, good luck.
DC

 

Once it liquefies, you can fillet it off, of course some roots will get cut, you have to shave to the root anyway as every hair root has a fat ball.

 

That's the way I was taught as well. Hot sunny days over a fence. That subcutaneous layer of fat will liquefy and a sharp Sheffield knife will fillet it off. With fleshing machines, I've gotten lazier and want to do it faster.

I can't imagine a pressure washer doing much good on a shield like that one unless it gets under the shield.

 

Interesting method, never heard of anyone warming up a boar skin, but does the heat not affect the skin causing slippage ?? A lot of the skins we get in are at least one or two days old and some start to develop that smell by the time I am finished with them, telling me it is time for the pickle.
I always cut most of the shield off on the beam with a knife and then use the fleshing wheel with a lot of knife exposed to get it thin.

 

"T" alluded to it when he said you would shave off some hairs. Hogs are weird critters and hair grows at different depths inside the skin. Most of them require painting when done anyway and a bit of epidural slippage is going to happen to all of them regardless of what you do.

 

I didn't say to cook it under the Sun and Sun burn it. When it is greasy like warm bacon, go for it.

 

Shelby,
I get 400 lb boars with shields like yours on a regular basis. I use a set of skinning hooks and make long scores about 3 inches wide and hook two hooks into the shield going parallel to the spine. Then I use a fresh scalpel and fillet the 3" wide strips off the shoulder one strip at a time. Once you get the majority of the shield removed...on to the fleshing machine to shave the remaining gristle down to just above the hair root. The power washer will remove the fat layer on top of the shield...but it wont touch the gristle part of the shield.