Hey all,
I have several beaver pelts that have already been tanned that I would like to get made into a beaver bed spread/blanket for my wife. I would like to get the hides plucked/sheared first but cannot find anyone that does it anymore. I have already spoken to Foxx fur, Moyle Mink and Sleepy Creek, as well as a few furriers.

Can anyone point me in the right direction here?

From what I understand is that once they are tanned they can not be plucked and sheared properly but then I do know of someone who uses a sheep shears to shear the hide once it has been tanned. Don't know how well that works since it has not been plucked.

20scout is correct, you can’t properly pluck a hide once it has been tanned, however it can be sheared. I don’t recommend it though, I had a beaver hide that I wanted to experiment with and used sheep shears to shear it. The underfur became exposed and was as soft as can be but! Because it wasn’t plucked the coarser guard hair creates an effect a lot like razor stubble and was pokey, because of that it completely negated how nice the sheared fur was.

I use a Chinese machine to trim out guard hair on tanned pelts. A bit tedious to use but works well once you figure out the correct motion which is a bit counterintuitive. It snips out the guard hair leaving the down hair intact. Works on other furs (otter, muskrat) too.

What’s the name of the machine you use?

I just bought an “enchen Boost” online at Walmart.com and sure enough it does what Tatiana describes! I need to work on it a bit but I’ll post some photos when I’m done. I’m making gauntlets out of the beaver so I did some, got tired of it, and will cut out the pattern then finish the actual pieces. Pretty crazy but very happy. Thank you!

Got any pics yet?

Can you post a link to this trimmer? I’ve seen several different models of the enchen boost online now. Thanks!