This is what works for me. First off pelt your beaver clean skinned or rough skinned. If rough skinned, flesh on your beam or whatever works for you. For me I clean skin. At one time my pelting was really clean, now with the hand fleshing tools I use it is very easy to remove a bit of meat and fat. I use a beaver/fur handling table that is the size of a beaver board, 32" x 48".

I determine what size oval it is going to be by turning the beaver sideways on the board and pulling the center on each size tightly out to the top and bottom of the oval patterns. The oval it comes to will be very close to the size ring to use. Next I turn it back to the way it is going to go on the board. Place the eyes just below the ring you are going to nail to. Nail the lips and nose out beyond the oval. Nail the two corners of the tail out past the oval. nail at center of each side, between the center and head , and between the center and tail on the oval you are going to use.



Use your hand small hand flesher to go all around the outside edge of the pelt to make sure it is clean. I then nail up one side to just about the head, then the same on the other side. Then down to just about the where the corner nails are at the tail.





You can now use your larger hand fleshing tool and remove any meat or fat left on the pelt. Lift the legs and trim them, and cut the ears out. Continue nailing around the head just ahead of the eyes.



Nail around the bottom edge, leaving those two tail corners out past your oval.



Trim the nose, lips and whiskers off just ahead of the nails. Cut the two corners off at the tail.





You can leave the ear holes open or close them with one nail. The front leg holes are nailed with two nails. do not overlap more than about 1/8 inch, or just enough for the nail to catch. Close the holes by nailing from the outside toward the center. If nailed from center to outside you will catch the skin flap when you use your beaver comb to comb the fur later.



Repeat with the rear leg holes using three nails.



The last step is to raise the pelt on the nails about 1/2 inch so there is air circulation behind the pelt and also as it dries the nails will tip in avoiding tearing. My nails are never in very tight, just tight enough to hold.


This is your finished product.



These are my tools for boarding a beaver.



Drill a hole in the top center and bottom center of your boards to hang them up. I also drill a hole each end of the beaver table and use a large spike dropped through. Then the board stays in place as you are nailing and fleshing you beaver.





So if you really want to get anal about your put up.

Thanks!

Thank you for taking the time to put this up. I've used a lot of your tips in the past for my beaver put up and learned a few more today.

You did an excellent job in illustrating this. Unfortunately, I tried your nail and hammer method for about 5 minutes. In that time, I think I hit my thumb 3 times! Do you know how long it took for my thumb to stop throbbing? Days!!

Nice job, thanks for putting it on here, way cool!

Don't use finishing nails, then you will hit your thumb less. Also if you grind a slight concave area in your hammer face, it helps. At least rough up the hammer face with a grinder a bit.

Thanks for posting that.

Very nice concise explanation.

That otter, next to beaver, was a fast mover when caught in the body grip!

Trapper Ron, thanks for the pictures. I have always taken time and worked around the eyes, never thought about cutting them all the way out, will tomorrow, I know that the head is not used but did not want to make more holes in the pelt,cutting out takes less time. thanks.

Trapper Ron,

Does that lighter-colored leather area behind the front legs that looks "overstretched" have any effect on value? Mine almost always end up that way because I believe in pulling them with all you got....beaver leather is thick and I disagree with the notion that you can actually thin the fur by pulling it. I was just wondering if the lighter leather there was cause for detraction by the grader. I don't like the way it looks, but size pays more than fur density (in general) for beaver. My guess is those marks will show up behind the other leg on your demo pelt as it continues to dry, correct?

Thanks Ron.

Thank you for the post Ron. If you could have used the in house (the fifth icon from the left) I would have archived this for all the folks who need help. We don't put large pictorial posts there now because some many users add or delete them and the post is of almost no value for many users. Tom

Kwtrapper, Maybe I read your post wrong, but, do not cut the eyes out of the pelt, you cut towards the nose of the pelt past the eyes about a 1/2 inch. No use making your pelt shorter than it needs to be. you already loose a good 1/2 to 3/4 on an inch cutting the nose and whiskers off the pelt. I know that part isn't used in the garment making process, but why cut more than you need to.

Don,

My old buyer told me you paid for an inch in front of the eyes...is that true? I'd say by the time I'm done trimming I probably have just a bit under an inch in front of the eyes left, but it makes them look nicer.

Very Nice...Thanks Ron!

We always measured just ahead of the eyes even when the nose was left on so your are not really loosing anything by cutting it off. With the new sizing machine the square centimeters of the nose is so minimal it does not make a difference in the size.

The light leather patch behind the legs is leather priming marks to the leather. Just like you have the blotched markings on a muskrat leather is the best way to describe it. Neither of those pelts is tightly stretched. When just finished and I stand the board up I shake it back and forth and the center moves in and out at least and inch on the smaller ones and more on the larger ones.

Thanks for answering my question!

Great post

I measure around an inch or a bit less in front of the eyes. Most of my trappers cut the nose and whiskers and part of the cheek off the pelt. Those that do, I measure to the end of the pelt.
the fellas that loose the most money are the fellas that put nails about every 1 1/2 to 2 inches in the pelt. I measure all the beaver to the smallest point when a guy gets lazy nailing. If they cheat and make pointy ends, I measure where I think the pelt rounds out.

With the new sizing machine you loose also when the nails are too far apart. Consider how many square centimeters loss between the nails as the skin dips in, then multiply that by the number of nails ... considerable loss. Even back in the tape measuring days, like Don, you had to figure out exactly what the size of the beaver was and measure accordingly.

When you are grading all one size of beaver and you come across one that is too small you know right away it does not fit. Conversely sometimes one will be too big and has to go up a size.

Ron do you drum your beaver before skinning? I saw demo last summer where a beaver (that looked clean to me) was drummed and was amazed how much better it looked. I just wonder if I'm loosing money by not drumming my beaver.

Very nice-thanks!

.

I have back when I had access to a drum. They do look nicer but you can not change the grade (quality, size and colour) by drumming. Having said that there are occasions when a pelt is borderline for which grade it should go in, put up and care may be a determining factor.

Robert is that a frost scrapped beaver ? You do a great job on all your fur. I like to see trappers who take pride in their fur put up.

I now use a hydraulic air nailer, much faster and so far I haven't shot myself.

Yes Ron, those are frost scraped.This one is done conventionally(not frost scraped)

I use a 6 penny smooth box nail,on mine,as opposed to commons in 6s or 8s.They are nice to work with and a hair more slender.

That's what I use too Les.

Frost scraped and dried on the left. By accident, left it out in 20-30 below zero weather for 2 weeks while I was away working, another frost dried one on the other side of the board. The one on the right was dried indoors.

*

we need more stuff like that....thank you


noah

Ok guys I have to ask what is frost scraping. This is my first year of putting up beaver and my first three I fleshed have been brutal. It just seems I scrape and scrape for hours and I can always take some off after going over it time and again. I have watched several u tube videos to get different styles to try to develop my own. Then when I board it I still miss a lot? I use a necker and beaver knife around the legs. I have scraped hundreds of coon and am pretty good at that with no problems

You can't do It In Ohio

I believe somewhere Boco has a great posting on frost scraping. He can probably post the link.

I did a search of Boco's 212 pages of posts and found it. Some very interesting reading on this thread.

http://www.trapperman.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/4141792#Post4141792

Geeze Ron,thanks you saved me all that work,lol.
If you don't have the climatic conditions to frostscrape you can always try cleanskinning beaver.You may find it more relaxing than the beam.
You need a good sharp knife and the ability to keep it sharp.

Watching this one.

Mike

Oh stop showing off for crying out loud. Really though that is impressive boco. Just for reference, how many beaver do you think you have put up using any and all methods?

Over the years,I suppose several thousands,but I have been trapping quite along time.
There is lots of trappers that put up more than I do.
I learned all the methods from other trappers over the years by going to workshops and working on traplines with oldtimers when I was younger.I am just passing it on.Learning to skin and put up fur got me on traplines with seasoned trappers back in the day.

Well there it is. Experience being shared. I haven't put of thousands of anything and have caught and put up exactly two beaver. Thanks to you, trapper ron, beaverpeeler and others I was able to put those two up with compliments from the buyer who gave me a good bit more than average for my effort. Putting up any fur well isn't easy and so far I have to say beaver takes the most work but it isn't so bad when you pay attention to the guys who are willing to share what they know.

Great post

Boco

That clean skinning is impressive. Don't know if I have a knife that could do that. Can you recommend one for those of us who are in awe of that photo??

I use two knives basically for clean skinning beaver,a Post large round nose beaver skinner,for the smaller beaver and belly on bigger beaver,and a victorinox 5inch skinner for the rest.

Boco, as much trouble as I am having fleshing beaver I may try clean skinning next year. I'd rather spend and extra hour skinning than the three hours I am on fleshing. My question is around the tail and back, I'd think that would be very, very tough to clean skin?

Does everyone remove the ears? I've only done six beavers, but never removed the ears.

Does a frost-dried beaver (or any species) get a damage grade? Frost dried is just another term for freezer burn, correct?

Not many have the correct climatic conditions for frost drying.Frost drying also ties up your boards as it takes a couple weeks to frost dry a pelt properly,and the temps have to remain well below freezing to make a proper job,also the air has to be dry or those that look frost dried are really not dry and will be floppy when brought inside.
This is why frost drying is not recommended by the auction houses.
Do not confuse frost scraping with frost drying-they are two totally different things.
Frost scraped pelts are dried same as any other pelt,in cool temps of around 50f.

Once you get the hang of it clean skinning is pretty easy.It will take you a while until you get the feel of it.The back and rump area is not difficult and skins clean.
Sharp knife with a nice sweep to the blade is key.
Beeverpeeler has a good video of cleanskinning on here somewhere.

No

Go back to the first posting on this thread and you will see that the ears are removed. One nail to close the hole or just leave it open does not matter.

You do not have to skin absolutely clean. A bit of fat or little bits of meat are very easily removed with the one hand fleshers. The very first picture of what appears to be "clean" skinned has a bit of fat and bits of meat on it yet. Less than five minutes with the one hand flesher and it is clean.

For me I have tried every way with beaver. Clean skin, rough skin, and case skin. Always go back to clean skinning with tidy up with a one hand flesher as it is being boarded.

But If you learn to rough skin and flesh on a beam you don't have to go back and spend 5 min cleaning up.

I have tried and tried to get clean skinning down but It's not going to happen. 6 Min to rough skin and 10 min to scrape clean with my Necker.
But It took me awhile to get to that point.

I think most guys struggle because of how they position the hide on the beam.

I agree with Ron,when clean skinning you can leave a few streaks of fat and meat on the hide,it doesn't have to be completely clean,unless you want to skin it that way.
It seems that the bigger the pile of beaver on the floor,the less clean your skinning will be.This is not a problem as a few swipes with a scraper after boarding cleans them up pretty good
If frost scraping you can clean skin real fast,and leave quite a bit more "stuff" on the pelt as it is easy and fast to clean off.

Beav nothing wrong with your method at all. There are many trappers who rough skin and beam flesh, and faster than most clean skin and board. A lot is dependent upon how you learned and how many beaver you have put up in that fashion are my thoughts.

I have a good friend who clean skinned and put up 100's of beaver. He was very good at it and his product was superb. He completely changed to rough skinning and beaming them.

It is best to try a couple of different ways then choose the one you are most comfortable with. Form there it is just a lot of practice and experience. Do not expect to put up your first beaver in under an hour or maybe even your tenth one. You will get better and shave minutes off your total time through practice.

My guess is that you are concerned that you did something wrong. No, you will not get docked for excessive ears on your pelts.

No downgrade for ears as long as they are not rotting.
A couple more reasons to remove ears,they are usually the last spot to dry and if removed you can free up your boards a day sooner.
Pelts stack better with no ears sticking out.

One reason; dry quicker. Those huge beaver ears don't effect stacking around here.

Ya beaver ears just dry up and pretty much disappear.

I have my boards stacked On 4 wheel carts built just for my beaver boards. The racks are slotted and I can just slide In a board. I keep a fan blowing air on them 24/7 and I like to turn my boards every day. Turning your boards so the nose Is up every other day will get them to dry a lot faster. The tail end of your beaver will be the last to dry because of the heavy gristle In that area.

You are supposed to remove the heavy gristle,lol.
Beaver ears stick up about an inch,stack 50 and press for bagging and the head end sticks up quite a bit more than the tails.
Ears removed for flat stacking and fast drying.

No "gristle on tail"

There was that one time I reached down to remove a Beaver from a Duke 330 and almost poked an eye out on a Beaver ear.

Thats 16 minutes to cleanskin...its a wash.

I know guys that clean skin beaver in 6 minutes.One guy starts on one side and skins all the way around to the other side til the skin is off.
I couldn't get the hang of that.

I'me not one of them,but I've did 5 in an hour quite a few times,and theyer werent lean gristle backs that wreck your time average.If I concentrate,my knives and sharpening protcols are tuned right up from practise,I'me never faster than right at the end of season.

I'm about the same Les.5 an hour is a decent pace for clean skinning,and I rarely put up pelts the same day as skinning.

How long can they keep It up?

I would venture to say that a average clean skinner Is going to be at It for 30 min or so. IT's not a wash If you have to clean up after your done clean skinning.

I would venture to say that I could take just about any trapper with some knowledge of fur put up and have him or her rough skinning and beam scraping a beaver with a little practice In about 30 min. It's all about technique same with clean skinning.

A good friend did more than 50 beaver in a little over 8 hours,overnight, clean skinned, and boarded,His wife took sick and was rushed to hospital air ambulance and he had all those beaver thawed for processing the next couple days,so he had no choice but to do them all up before he did the 5 hour drive to the hospital.
He had about 70 beaver out,and a couple of other trappers skinned and put those remaining up for him.
I have clean skinned 30 beaver in a 8 hour day with a couple coffee breaks.

How fast are you Boco? Your friend Is the exception to the rule.

I bet I could even teach you how to scrape beaver with a Necker LOL

I do about 25 minutes from skinning to finished on the board unless I am frost scraping then I can go quite a bit faster if everything is added up and divided,cause like I said I rarely skin and board at the same time.Frost scraped pelts dry in a day and a half when frost scraped so you can free up your boards a lot quicker too.
If I am rough clean skinning for frost scraping I can skin one in about 10 minutes,another 10 minutes to frost scrape,nailing trimming etc.Thats not counting leaving them out to freeze overnight,add 8 hours for that.
Frost scraping is fast,Paul Millette and his wife frost scraped and boarded 80 beaver in 8 hours.
Your a Nafa guy beav,there was a article in the nafa magazine about that in 97.
You don't have to teach me how to do beaver on a beam beav,I already know how to do that.Just not my preferred method because of the inferior finished product.(stressed guard hair,grease in the fur,rough look on the leather)
I have done beaver in all ways,the best looking beaver besides frostscraped are those skinned with a bone.

I don't know how anyone in their right mind could argue with bocos put up? I guess if you can't anything positive to threads you shouldn't be here. I for one appreciate all the time spent posting to help others figure out what style works for them

NO one Is putting down Bocos put up It's top of the line work.

It's just that some of us or I should say most of us can't do It like he does It and most of us aren't where we can frost scrape our beaver. So talking about other methods of beaver put up Isn't putting any one down.
I would venture to say that about 90% of all beaver are put up by rough skinning and beam scraping.
Hey Bass10 how do you do your beaver? And I wouldn't put you down no matter how you do your beaver.

MY finished beaver look as good as any showed on here.

Hey Boco I have noticed a lot of false knife marks on some cleaned skinned beaver. Is that going to be down graded?

Some time what appear to be false knife cuts in the pictures are not really false knife cuts. If you go back to my original posting on page one which was intended more to show how to properly board a beaver the really close ups show some fine knife marks. These are fleshed out with the one hand fleshers pictured. A false knife cut has to cut into the leather weakening it in that spot. The finished and dried beaver at the bottom of the photos is right smooth after proper drying with no knife marks shown.

Today I dug out some old photos of bulking beaver after grading which I will scan and post. Feb sale 1986 and we had 80,000 eastern beaver for that sale as well as 240,000 eastern rats. As well I found a few examples of what they should not look like.

[quote=The Beav]NO one Is putting down Bocos put up It's top of the line

MY finished beaver look as good as any showed on here.

my wife is better looking than your wife, my son can beat up your son, my truck is faster than yours.

Bass10 you didn't answer my question.

I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea here.There are lots of different ways to skin and process beaver,and any one way is no better than another as long as the finished product is nice.
Everyone has their own way of doing it the way that works best for them.
I have skinned every way there is and not always when I'm trapping can I frost scrape,so I clean skin and scrape like Ron.
At FHA convention every year there are speed skinning and boarding contests for beaver(and other stuff).Some years the clean skinners win and other years the beam guys win it.
The more ways that are shown to trappers the better able they will be to develop their own methods.
I know a couple guys have tried the frost scraping and have seen some advantages for them,and that is great.

I clean skin because thats the method I was taught when I was in my early 20s,and I live where temps get real cold,and is conducive to frost scraping,which I never heard of before Boco introduced us to it.I'me not saying I wont skin and beam a beaver,I might skin real ,real, fast in the spring of the year sometime,if there is more than 100 beaver lined up over less than a week,and I need to move real fast.I can see how that scenario could happen.I'me positive I could beam a beaver,on the same beam I flesh coon,if I have too.Truth is,3-4 freezers,a cold storage building in the spring,20 beaver a day for 10 days.I could pull that off by starting to clean skin the 10 day old beaver first,until I'me done,barring sickness or death.

Very good Ron, do you have any tips on keeping the razor scraper clean and making it last longer?

The razor lasts me about 6 or 8 beaver. I just take it apart, clean it up and reassemble when it gets plugged up. Replace the blade when it gets dull. There was one of our Local trappers that brought an antique razor blade sharpener to one of our workshops. Probably do not make those any longer. I remember my father taking a blade and kind of working it back and forth on the heal of his hand. I do that also and it seems to sharpen it a bit, but not more than once. Also I have a rouge wheel on my grinder (knife sharpening system) and I am going to try that. Quite a bunch of old blades saved up.

i have not done near what you guys have as i have only trapped beaver for 3 years though i have put up over 150 in those three years. from what i have seen if you are catching beaver from an over populated area a lot of them will have bite marks and scars. those beaver i prefer to clean skin. as mentioned above, by the end of the season i can clean skin a 30lber in 20 minutes. if i am getting "clean" beaver i now prefer to rough skin and scrape. a 30lber rough skinned in 6 to 8 minutes (including castor removal) and another 6 to 8 minutes scraping.

pretty much if i have less then 3 to put up i may enjoy the time clean skinning with a few barley pops. if the fur shed floor is covered with beaver its time to rough skin and get home for supper!

side note... those plexiglass ice scrapers work great cleaning up spots missed after boarding. just round off the corners with a metal file to eliminate them from cutting the hide.