Just hearsay but have been told that hand plucking is easier when beaver is fresh

It wouldn’t matter because it’s me doing it. lol

I could have sent it out and had it done and it would be wrong.

Results of the dull side of fleshing knife.

A couple things to consider, the pelt is not leather yet nor was it wet. These two things may improve your results should you give it a try.

While it did take off the guard hairs it broke a few as well. It also pulled some of the fur you want to keep. I didn’t do the whole thing, just up the middle of the back.

Another question.

Can the softer hair on the sides be sheared or do they have to be plucked as well?

Okay, apparently nobody knows or cares. lol

Try to PM family trapper or get one of the Alaska folks to contact him as he has DONE IT .

Found it. Guard hair removal starts at 3:30.

Thank you Hobbie I might have to try this.

I noticed they did it after it was tanned. I did it before, which is my earlier post. I have two in the tanning process now that I will be scraping the guard hair off. I will bring this thread back to life once I give that a try.

Have finished the first one. Not bad but still need to work on the thinning and scraping the guard hair off.

Let me know what you think.

I did read somewhere that chalk is used in that process but I don’t have details.

Looks sorta like one of them carpets they put in bathrooms. I imagine its quite soft, how long did the whole plucking process take?

Moyles tannery will have the equipment in by late summer was told this by Lee Moyle at our last fur sale

Scraped most of it off in a matter of minutes. Took a bit to get the feel, I imagine that’s why some of them broke. I also think that the angle of the beam matters. I believe a little steeper angle on my beam and it would go even better.

HobbieTrapper, thanks for keeping us updated on your process and progress. It is interesting to see how others do this difficult process. I have mostly sheared without plucking. I think the sides of the hide feel nice with just that but I can see how a really large, and therefore old, beaver would have bristly hairs down the back. These are probably better to pluck than just shear. Just the same, I don't think the sheared beaver alone is as bad as most people claim. Just my experience & opinion, other's results may vary.

You’re welcome. Thanks for the feedback.

I wanted to give some more details on the tanning but forgot. While there is some give to the pelt, it’s not what I’d call “stretchy”. That may make a difference too.

If anybody else gives it a go I’d really like to hear about the results.

Just a comment that might provide fodder for more discussions. I believe that the Northern Fur Seals have a dense soft underfur that is protected by long stiff guard hairs and that the fur was nearly valueless UNTIL a process was developed that thins the skin side until the roots of the guard hairs are exposed and then those hairs are pulled through from the skin side. If folks are working to develop techniques perhaps some variation of this method might be explored. Others likely have investigated this possibility and perhaps the guard hairs in beaver are not more deeply rooted so the technique would not work. I have read that the technique only worked well on male fur seals and did not work on females.

From what I’ve read if you thin beaver to the hair it ruins all of it. Might give it a go while they are worthless just to see.

#2

I would also note that the hair on the sides/belly fur is not as soft as the rest after you take the guard hair off. You will have to remove those guard hairs as well if you are using the whole pelt.