Let's get the shed in order before the season and do some projects before the season.
...here's some things that may help you with fur put up...

I made a 'third hand' board holder.
Two pieces of wood, screwed to front of flesh'n table to forum a slot or ledge for board to sit in. Nose of board is against wall.
This enables me to pull and pin skirt & tail in place, while working with both hands.


I learn this on T-man, from Boco...
I now use Quilting pins or T-pins (Walmart sewing section) to open tails for drying.
Red Fox


Grey Fox







Can you add a tip or two?

Use poultry shears for fleshing feet and heads for taxi species.

Use a bone otter clean skinner to open up the chest\upper leg area on difficult taxi species like wolf before skinning

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Use beaver hooks to help skin toes.

Use a hand magnet for handling nails and pins.(and picking up spilled ones from the floor)

Use two keys in the back as well as one in the belly after turning fur out,on large animals to allow easy pelt removal and provide an air space between the board and pelt for proper drying.

Use a shop vac to blow dust out of your pelts before shipping.

Use a one handed flesher and a small beam to flesh mink marten etc.

I use wire nails for in place of push pins and also on my coyote and otter and coon and mink and what ever else.I use the ones that is over 2" long.easy to handle.If this might help someone.

Great stuff. Thx for sharing

What kind of nails are those Boco? They look very thin and sharp.By the way I have said it before and I will say it again-your put up on beavers is amazing! Man they look fantastic!

Thanks MB.Those are pinning nails.I bought a couple boxes years ago off a trapper that was selling them at a council meeting.

I converted an old dryer into a fur tumbler. Fist thing I did was open the back of the dryer and cut all the wires except the ones that turn the drum. Those two wires I attached to the end of an old drop cord so it will run off 110V. instead of 220V. I then duct taped the holes on inside of the drum closed. It's then ready to tumble furs...



I toss in some corncob horse bedding like this... http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/best-cob-premium-horse-bedding

2-4 cups is what I use and add more as it needs it....



Here is a coon that was wet and muddy when I skinned it. I then hung it to dry overnight...



Up close...



Same coon after tumbling for about 8-10 min (you can put 5-6 coons in there at a time) ...



Closer up...



I know guys complain the dryers don't do as a good of a job as the big drums, and that you need expensive media in it, but this works good enough for me.

~ADC~

Ceiling fan(s) instead of light fixtures. More light with a fan option.

This is not for inexperienced fur handlers. Years ago when trapping grey fox in Southwest deserts where pelts dry fast I would sometimes put the skin flesh side out turned 90 degrees from normal on the stretcher so animal back would be on one edge of stretcher and belly on other edge. When pelt was turned fur side out and put on stretcher normally there would be no ridges on sides to interfere with getting it on straight.

An inexpensive kiddie wading pool under the fleshing beam catches almost all of the fat and scraps, and saves floor cleaning later.

A big piece of cardboard under your skinning rig sure keeps a lot of mess off the floor. And when it gets nasty, replace it with a new sheet of cardboard. This can also work well under your fleshing beam.

And your local auto body shop is a good source for cardboard. They get lots of big parts like hoods, fenders and bumpers in fairly heavy duty boxes that you can breakdown and use. Sure makes clean up easier IMO.

Keep a little moveable table or stand nearby the overhead skinning gambrel. Helps me to have nice place to put knives, tail pullers, zippers, and other stuff handy and within just one arms reach when working hides off the carcass. I have an old steel knife sharpening rod there too. Not for sharpening knives, but I can shove that into gap under a coyote or coon front leg and use it as leverage to pull the hide down over rest of the front leg. Push it through the armpit area, grab each side of the tool, and pull down. I suppose a wooden dowel would work too, but I've used this old sharpening steel rod for years and it works great for leg pulling.
Jim

my tool bench in the fur shed is a gutted and stabalized old console tv.heavy castors with a good sized top for all my tools and stuff with storage for extra's underneath.roll it wherever it's needed.

broken off tails-keep an old snare around to hook on the bone and pull like normal.

always,always,comb things good before fleshing.a burr has turned many a nice hide to a damage.

keep your mouth closed when you flesh as you never know when you are gonna hit a puss pocket or where it will go.

What ADC says...always. He has tons of good tips. Buy/build one of his skinning machines.
Use a hook blade to go toe to toe opening coons. The dryer conversion is slick and makes 'em look like they just got back from the beauty salon. Water trappers would love it with muddy coons.
Beav's got good stuff, too. Best advice I gleaned from his posts was to put the belly board in from the head, rather than the tail end. MUCH easier to get hide off as the head gets the tightest.
KISS method with Newt. Catch tons of coons with nothing but DP's (wonderful on public ground with virtually no worries) and Jack Mack for $1.38/can at Wally World. If it's going to freeze, ALWAYS keep wet/fish bait below the trigger. Or buy 20 lb sack of cat food in fish varieties, add liquid smoke, bacon grease and a little red fox urine/gland lure. It's killer.
Don't skin skunks or pull essence if your wife will be home soon. But do it because the pods and juice are the most valuable part of the critter.
Mostly, enjoy and read this site, archives and everything, as it shortens the learning curve tremendously. I appreciate everyone sharing.
Nice idea, Hern.