So I bought a fleshing machine last year and been learning to use it to thin hides for tanning. Chopped a bunch of holes in coons til I started getting the knack for it and got the guards set to my liking. Fired it back up yesterday and used a couple damaged coons to get the feel for it somewhat again, since I had quit for trapping season. (Had to restock on hides to tan.) Worked on a few coons again today. On the coon necks, I notice that, even though they've been in the pickle a week, the pickle isn't penetrating into that cartilage like leather on the neck. Getting into that hard area is where I end up cutting a hole cause the blade grabs or the leather is thin instead of plump from the pickle. With today's coons, I shaved it down til I hit that harden layer, then threw them back in the pickle. I did that to one of yesterday's practice coons, and today the pickle was mostly penetrated, so I shaved it down til I got it where I think I want it. Basically, where the hide is supple in the neck and back like the rest of the hide. Is this the common method used? As in, shave it down, return to pickle, shave again until desired result achieved? It seems to work, but not sure if I'm adding an unnecessary step? Theses were fleshed and dried skins. They hadn't been dried more than a couple months before being re-hydrated, degreased, and then placed in the pickle with a degreaser. PH monitored. I haven't tried a freshly scraped coon yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of difference it might make.

When NAFA went to a fleshing machine for coon we still had to hand flesh all the necks.

Do you have a salinometer to test the salt in your pickle? Lack of salt can cause the hide not to plump as much.

Are you working with fresh hides or re hydrated from dry.

No meter. Wasn't aware of this with the salt. Thanks.


These were all dried and rehydrated.

Then I would say they have not been completely re-hydrated before the pickle submersion.
Dry hides need to be rehydrated to the same state as when they were before drying(like right after skinning\fleshing) including the thickest parts.
When re hydrating,check the skins periodically and scrape down any thick spots on the beam so they take up the water and rehydrate with the rest of the skin.
The entire skin needs to be totally re-hydrated before pickling if you want nice stretchy leather.

Did a green coon skin. Straight from the fleshing beam to the pickle. Quite a difference. The green skin was much easier to work with. The leather nice and plump for thinning on the fleshing machine. I fleshed and dried another coon so that I could go through the re-hydration process, monitoring it closer. I soaked it in cold salt water with Dawn as a degreaser. After a day, I put it on the beam and fleshed off the membrane from the head, split lips, turned ears, and scraped back of neck area and tail. Tails, I noticed, will form like a dried grease layer that has to be removed so the pickle can penetrate. The back of the neck has been my biggest problem with the coons, as far as getting them to soften, instead of being cardboard-like. Fleshing that area on the beam, after re-hydrating, and even during the pickle, to break open the fibers and allow the pickle in really helps.