If he wrapped in in damp towels overnite your 89 year old granny can likely yank it off the board for him.

How did it go Dave?

Be more careful with the mink, it just went up in value after the FHA sale....

I just got around to put it soak wet paper towels wrapped up. I add more water, we'll see in morning

Damp is good enough. No need to over-wet them. Keep them someplace kind of warm so the moisture can work in.

I have done it with mink several times over the years and just used a damp towel. Worked well. As they are fur-in, that helps greatly.
I did a very nice marten once, as well. It was a year that prices were supposed to be very good, and I had just enough time to get the last few marten off the boards and get them in the mail to the FHA rep up in Fairbanks. When I got to the last marten a saw no belly wedge, fur-out, I knew I had two choices. Soak the marten and skip shipping it or splitting the stretcher. I chose the latter.
It was the one time I regretted using my personal method of boarding marten fur-out right off the bat. I waxed all my marten boards, and as such could simply put them up fur-out, use a proper wedge, pin and go to the next one. No checking on them several hours after initially putting them up fur-in, then turning them to fur-out, (I used to do them like that).
I made the right choice, as that marten brought around $120 that sale. The next sale several months later, was off about 30%, if memory serves.

Did that $40 mink come off the board?

I hope the pelt or pelts are off the stretchers now then a wedge added !

Alaska Viking hinted at this so I'll add the rest of the story to this post .

Get a tub of the old style Turtle Wax car polish & some fine grit sand to sand off any rough spots then give the wood stretchers a thin coat of wax allowing it to dry as it soaks into the wood , yes they'll have a white hue to them which is fine but the pelts will come off them easier after they are waxed .

This also works well on wood fleshing beams as the grease , blood and any water will run off more rapidly . I've even gone as far as treating my wire stretchers with turtle wax also as it seems to speed up the process of putting pelts on and off the stretchers even if it's just a few seconds it will add up before you know it .

I have verathaned new stretchers, makes pelts come off easier, but the big thing is that moisture doesn't soak into the wood, I don't like putting pelts on damp stretchers and when I am assembly lining putting up fur at the end of the season I am often taking pelts off and putting new ones on. Also when I turn pelts I prefer the stretcher dry when I put them on fur side out, and if the fur is damp from washing an untreated stretcher soaks up quite a bit of moisture.

A used stretcher with grease and animal oils imbued in it probably wouldn't take a regular finish, but Allan's Turtle Wax solution should work well. I've never used Turtle Wax, but I have rubbed them down with a bar of parafin before.

If you’re using solid boards and not forgetting a belly board a few times each season, you’re a better fur handler than me. Wrap in a damp towel and leave for a couple hours to overnight. It’ll slip right off.

In over 50 years of trapping I've not forgot a belly wedge once...






....nope, not once, a buncha times!

How about a safety latch ??

Or worse yet...forgetting to tie down your 330 on the big river.

That mink has been stuck a long time. Better off to bust the board and sell it before the mink price crashes.

This thread may become a classic deserving of preservation.

My rat boards are hardwood (thinner that commercial) that is varnished then waxed, I use no belly wedge for them. A 3/4 inch hole in the bottom goes on a bolt that is in the rafters over head and I pull down on the pelts to get them off, easy. Mink boards the same way but I do use a belly board. For pins I use the plastic ones with the big head, get the longer length ones.....jk

Im sure Daves stretchers are llike mine, covered in mold, mildew with splinters/ cracks / warpage/grease, etc. I am gonna get proactive for the next question-store hip boots in the freezer or wad up newspaper in them.

The minks came right off the board with ease, I used to much water, skin side feels soaked, the only thing now is wrinkles in pelt

I wonder is using a thin air nozzle off a compressor would move it or blow it off after tapping the mouth? Like you can do to separate stacked plastic pails. Beyond that, I have never in all my years of putting up fur did I ever forgot my belly wedge BUT I’ve had some tight ones. I just tapped the nose of the pelt a couple of times, if it didn’t move I tapped harder and when it moved 1/8”, I was golden!

You can now re-board it with a wedge and take the wrinkles out.