I borrowed one stretcher of 4 different sizes off of JerryJR last night. I went down to Lowe's and picked up a few pine boards and plan on giving it the old college try.

I've read and saved several posts from the Archives as well as a few videos on YouTube. Does anyone else have any suggestions before I get into making a mess of things?

Do you have a planer? Those 3/4" boards are way to thick. It sounds like your making rat boards.
Your probably only going to need 2 sizes XL and Lg

If Jerry's boards are of the commercial variety then then they are to wide In the head and shoulder area. To wide In the shoulders Is going to have you losing length.

Beav, no I do not have a planer. I'm making yote, fox, and coon stretchers. The ones that he allowed me to borrow were all bought from a trapping supply dealer online.

That CoonCreek fella on Youtube has a pretty entry level video if you don't have a planer. I fortunately had a buddy with a planer so we knocked some boards out this week.

Thank you Carl, I’ll definitely be checking that out. I’ve been messaging friends all day to
See if anyone has one but haven’t had any luck.

The Industry standard on coon Is 7 1/2" wide at 30" from the nose.

Well I made one the other day. It was a coyote stretcher. I did not plane the wood. I bought a hand planer and tried but it was a mess. Kinda like those infomercials where the actor fumbles about with their "old" way of doing something which makes their "new" product the cat's meow.

Anyways, it wasn't exact to the measurements but it was pretty darn close. I'm assuming that the minute differences won't make much difference in the end.

I bet they will be fine as long as it is within 1/2 inch or so. Hate the hand planer didn’t work for you. I have no experience with them myself.

Oh man, that hand planer was hilarious disaster. Thankfully no one was around. All I was doing was rocking the entire saw horse/table back and forth. I’m sure that if I weren’t trying to do something serious I’d have been laughing then instead of now.

some rental places carry planers

Thanks Tony, I never thought about that.

I used a power hand planer. Worked well for me. Couldn't see spending 30/ plus on a thickness planer for a few boards then I ended up making about 50 and have a friend that wants some. I told him to buy me the planer and I would make his boards.

Lol I’d make and sell them if I could.