Is it better to buy wooden stretchers or to build your own? If I do build them what are the do’s and don’ts Of the process? What kind of wood should be used? Thanks guys!

I have used basswood as it is abundant in this area. Important to use a softwood for ease of pinning.

I buy mine because there is no basswood (or not much) in my area. I have tried making them from yellow poplar but they are just too much of a pain to get push pins into. If I bought basswood I would have to go quite a ways to pick it up so it is just cheaper for me to buy them already made.

I made my own boards out of cedar and mostly pine with generally no problems getting push pins into them. Just watch the knot placement with none on board edges.

Basswood in this area is too expensive. I can buy them cheaper already made.

Eastern white pine is actually softer than basswood. Hemlock is a little harder.

pine works just fine i made my coyote strechers out of it

In case you folks didn’t know bass wood comes from the linden tree .

Hardest part is getting the first one made correctly for a template. The Fur handling archive has some great threads on it. Another way is to buy one as a template and make your own from that....

get yourself the template or get the fur handling books from FHA or NAFA. I have stretchers made from plywood and basswood. I am lucky though I have a lot of Basswood in this area and a lot of Amish with saw mills. So it is not that bad of a price to get it cut to what I need.

Mine are a mixed bag of stretchers most are pine . My suggestion to keep them in good condition is to sand down any rough edges then wipe down with good old fashioned turtle wax car polish out of the can.
It helps the water run off as well as for pelt flipping and removal when it's time.
Allan

I don't know what your time is worth but you can get stretchers pretty cheap at conventions.
I just picked up 40 stretchers of various sizes plus belly boards the other day from someone who was selling out for $100. That about $2 a piece.

If you don't want to buy them all I recommend just buying one of each that you want and using it as a template. It's a lot easier than trying to make your own just right.

I buy all of my stretchers from Top Lot. I don't have the time or the basswood to do them myself.

^^^^^ that’s a good choice right there ^^^^^

I bought a few then used them as templates to build my own out of pine

I made my own fur forming boards since I started trapping.They are not hard to make.
There are a few old retired trappers around here that make nice cedar boards.I support them by having them make me some boards to my own specifications.

I would like to make mine, but I buy them do to time restrictions. Top lot for coons and coloradocat dolphin for my coyotes. I also have top lot coyote nice stretcher.

I did like Trapper20 said. Got 3 top lot coon stretchers but the coyote stretcher was too much from top lot, I did fined that Cumberland's trapping supply has them a lot less. Got one and it is not a true 5/8 , It's less ,witch is ok with me. I use the white pine to make mine.

Top Lot does a great job. I made my own but then again I have a thickness planer as well as the other too use. I also found some basewood from a Amish guy. Best of Luck