Scraping and stretching 10.4 beaver an hour for 84 a day is a pretty impressive number for frost scraping. The man was a pro for sure.

Osky

I did a pile of beaver quickly by frost scraping a few years ago. Before daylight, I did 5 each morning, in about 30 minutes. It was 20 below . It is a beautiful product when you're done too.

Osky,the thing is in that article the man is not bragging,just pointing out how efficient frost scraping is compared to conventional sore back methods.

That is what I gathered from reading it. My response was meant to be respectful.
I would try it as well but I do not get after beaver until early spring when the temps do not cooperate. Been trying to get TrapperLes over here to teach me some under ice deep winter beaver methods but he's too smart for that.

Osky

So were those beaver already skinned? So If they were, were they rough skinned or clean skinned?
I don't believe a guy can skin flesh and board 10.4 beaver per hour.
I'm not taking anything away form Paul there Is more to this then Is being told.
Actually I met Paul one time a great guy for sure.

That's the way I took your response Osky.I would love to tag along with you and Les on the line.

Frost scraping is the way to go for me, just wish we had longer cold snaps to get more done. I am very glad I tried frost scraping after reading bocos post on it a couple winters ago! I am working on beaver from this spring right now, it is far easier and the final product looks better to me.

I started frostscraping bearhides a few years ago when we got our spring bearhunt back,after remembering that Paul Millette mentioned to me it was by far the easiest way to put one up.Wolf,Bear,Otter,Fisher and beaver are the hides that you can save a pile of time and effort on by frostscraping.
The climatic conditions do dictate who can and where it is able to be done.I agree with the Beav on that.Also if you are doing fall pelts or spring beaver,you need a freezer to hold them until the conditions are right.
Most beaver trappers have freezers since when trapping they skin and put up later anyway.

If I could I would frost scrape a few wolves each winter, but the weak minded bunny huggers get what they want down here.. The next bear I keep might be thrown in the freezer just to give that a try at a later date. I am sure it will turn out the best that a bear shot in 80+ degree september weather can

I took the beaver into my garage after starting a fire, the garage was still +10-20 degrees inside when I finished scraping. I need to work on all of my fur put-ups regardless of the methods used and practice makes perfect!

I noticed that if there were just a little flesh and more fat on the hide then it came off like butter and it was very fast, where I had a hard time was the places I left more meat than a good skinner would have and it made it hard to get a good bite with the scraper and in other places it made it hard to determine if I was too deep and I put a couple small holes in the hide. I used a few different scrapers and my new knife the wife bought me for Christmas, I tried a regular putty knife but the blade was too flexible, I used a stiffer putty knife (sharpened both blades on these) and it worked well in the easier areas and the outside edges by the nails, then I used my 1 handed scraper and it worked the best when sharpened properly but I used the new knife to work the thicker meat areas. I think if the skinner does a good job of leaving little meat on the hide then frost scraping would have been much faster, for me anyway, if I can get better at skinning I will use frost scraping in the future because I can board as many beaver as I have boards and set them all outside and scrape the next day giving me time to do rats/fox/whatever else I have to skin for the day.

Here are the results (I did rework some areas after it thawed but overall I need way more improvements)

My beaver that I frost scrape are fall caught beaver, roughly clean skun .

Is that second one just a sharpened paint scraper?

Yes the one is a sharpened replaceable blade paint scraper with the square corners rounded off and sharpened.It works very well for frostscraping.The second one was made by a trapper friend, Lionel from Hearst,a copy of Paul Millettes scrapers.Whatever scraper you use,make sure the steel is soft enough to touch up quickly with a file.
A frost scraped beaver looks like this.

Ok - I'm new to this beaver thing so I'll ask what others won't - what is frost scraping?
Sounds like an uncomfortable way to spend the morning...
Is it letting the flesh and fat freeze first?

Put stretched pelt outside in temps of minus 25c or colder overnight.In the morning put on your longjohns and gloves and scrape the hides.I can do about 3 otters in the same time it takes to do one on a beam.

Then bring it inside to dry.A frost scraped pelt dries overnight freeing up your boards to do more fur quicker.

Here's a guy scraping a bear. https://youtu.be/-ctqos5_33Y

Boco
Frost scraping might not be for everyone but you can't argue the results thats definitely a clean hide. Do you completely stretch and nail the hide down as if it was already fleched? Was planning on trying this morning but realized i dont have a scraper here at the cabin so running to town today to pick up a paint scraper and give it a try.

Boco I have read your post about this the last couple of years and I have watched the video above that Pasadena posted. I am probably like most beaver trappers I skin and freeze and do them later. Otters can be a pain in the butt. I do them just about like doing my beaver. I nail my beaver hides to the boards and reskin them. They come out nice and clean but it does take a while. When you do your beaver and otter do you just put a few pins or nails in to hold them in place until they freeze or do you a lot of them in like the pictures of your finished otter and beaver. I think this is worth trying for me. Thanks.

Thanks my man - that's a great look'n otter pelt!!!

Kevin,the fellow in the video is a buddy from nearby.He is on here and goes by the handle-Leveralone.He started frostscraping after reading my posts on here.It is not hard to do if you have the climatic conditions.The thing I noticed about Lever's method is that he held his scraper too square to the hide.If he cocked it at a 45 dg angle,you don't need the force he was applying to scrape.By holding the scraper cocked at an angle you "shave"instead of scrape.It also keeps the scraper from "chattering".You have to be careful you don't let the sharp scraper slide or you will score or cut the hide.This can happen if you apply too much force,and the temps are marginal which makes the hide not as hard.You know you have got the technique down when the shavings look like pine shavings from a hand planer. Here is a beaver put out for frostscraping

Then bring it inside to thaw and board and dry as normal.

Here is how the shavings should look if you are doing it right,your scraper is sharpened properly and the temps are cold enough.

They dry very quickly even at cool temps when frostscraped.
No grease in the leather or the fur.