It seems like the only areas I create holes are around the legs. Its like I can't get off the excess fats or meat around legs unless I flip the knife to the sharp side and then it seems like I get a hole. In coons, I temporarily fixed the problem by making the legs too long, and then cutting off the excess legs with the fat and meat. But I really cant do that with beaver. It seems like every beaver hide now has a leg with a hole between it and the edge.


Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks

Stop using the sharp side of the knife.
The first thing you do on coon Is cut off the legs so they are pretty short. Then you can go right over them with the dull edge and you will be good to go.

Yeah I guess I should just start with the coon legs shorter.

Leave it and trim it off with a knife when boarding.

On beaver have you tried putting the end of your beam through the leg hole and then just rotating the pelt around and pushing off the fat?

I always stick the end of the beam in the leg holes like Shawnee said

I have never seen the need for the sharp side of the knife around the legs on a coon. I leave them kinda long and trim them to length after boarding. Most times I do not even need to put the leg holes on the end of the board as suggested above but that will work if other methods do not. I usually position the leg straight up in the center of the board, push straight down over the leg, then angle from left to right and the right to left and raise the leg up to make sure the arm pit is clean. Works for me.

You can stick a mink board through the leg hole to stretch it and scrape using a dull scraper

I like these ideas. I need to just get a smaller board.

The only place you might need the sharp side is the area right below the ears. But if possible try not use the sharp side at all. X2 on the mink board or use the correct size dowel.