What are your recommendations for one will a 10 inch cheapy work considering you don't need a sharp side

Hog scraper...

I use a single handled Caribou. Loop shape blade

I just use a big spoon like a serving spoon back when I was a kid I used a regular one but found the bigger serving size ones don’t give my fingers cramps when doing a lot of rats at one time

A couple of years ago I was in a dollar store and found the perfect sized spoon so I bought several for spares then the wife forgot me them and reaproproated them for the house so I had to get more for the shed

I like the square metal flesher with the wood handle. Sharpen one edge and leave the other side dull. All the supply houses have them for 7-8 bucks. It also works like a champ for going over coon or beaver right after you board them, you won't believe how much liquid grease you can get off of them.

I use a double handled flesher I purchased from our buddy Hal at Sullivans Supplies some years ago.

I just use the dull side of my steel rose. Never saw the need to go to a different motion just for rats. Maybe if you were doing dedicated rat lines.

Square metal flesher, cheap and effective. I can't see doing a hundred rats a day with a spoon but whatever.

Fleshing rat's with any full sized knife is a huge waste of energy and motion. Get the single handle rat flesher that K52 descibes and make a fleshing board about an inch narrower than a wooden rat board to flesh them on. Should take about 5 minutes max to get a rat from carcass to drying phase.

3-4 pushes max on a rat for me...

large spoon here for me also, I do give the edges a slight edge but I only do about 50 a year so if you're doing 100's there my be an easier and faster way.

I tried the spoon and it works but just not enough surface area, so wasted time. I use the flat scrapers as more surface area thus less strokes and time.

I think it would be difficult to NOT overflesh a rat with a 10" fleshing knife. I do use one on mink, though.

A dull beaver knife.

very little scraping needed on most rats....I scraped over 1400 with a dull large butter type knife. I put them on medium coon boards, scraped them on the board, pinned and was done - just a few days drying and removed before I needed a wedge, stacked with a piece of newspaper between so they finished drying and didn't mold. Sold to Beadle in Aberdeen and NAFA and graded out well at both

I've used an old butter knife for years, without serrated edge. Works wonderfully.

8" two handle "dull" scraper. About 3 light strokes per rat then on to the stretcher.

Sounds like most of you are over fleshing your rats.

YUP

electrical box cover

The problem with the new ones is the curvature of the blade. The new ones are curved too much.

New scraper on the left, old on the right.







You can't get as good of a "grip" on the pelt while you're scraping down with the new ones. It wants to "slide off" with that angle.

And on top of that, the new ones come sharpened. The old ones weren't. IMO, you don't need a sharp blade to scrape a 'rat.

I'd like to see someone market the old scrapers, or at least point me to a dealer that is selling the older style.