And will rubbing borax into the leather help speed the process?

I’m running a beaver line out of my camp for the last week of the season in Pennsylvania. I’ve caught nine so far. I’ve been skinning them and freezing them without fleshing them. That’s how I handle any furs I catch here at camp, I skin them and freeze them, then flesh and board them when I get back home to my fur shed.

I’ve decided I want to sell them at the June FHA sale. I contacted my agent, Brian Mohn and he tells me that as long as I have them to him by April 9, they will be in the June sale.

I won’t be getting home until April 1st or 2nd. I’m going to thaw them and get them fleshed while I’m still up here to save time. Then I only have to board them when I get home.

My question is, will five days be enough to dry them after they are on the boards? They will be in my warm fur shed with a fan running on high over them.

Also, will rubbing borax into the leather help speed up the process?

I use borax on fox around the ears and under the arms and sometimes on all the leather if I’m running short of boards. That does speed up the drying process quite a bit.

5 days is plenty. Keep the fans running on them and if you have one, run a dehumidifier in the fur shed too. I’d skip the borax.

5 days with a fan on them is plenty of time to get them dry. I've dried them in 3 days prior to an auction.

I’ve never used borax when putting up beaver. If you got them fleshed well, there’s nothing that needs it. As far as drying….I dry mine at about 60- 62 degrees, with a small fan running. A smaller beaver will be dry in 48- 60 hours. A big one should be good to go in four days.

Make sure the leather and fur is dry before boarding. I don’t lift my hides on the nails, never saw the need. Get them fleshed well, they dry fast with the right temperature and some air movement.

The one thing you have to watch when drying them that fast is curling after you pull them off. When you're selling, especially at a big auction like that, presentation is everything. I've found that flat laying beaver skins sell better than the curled ones.

if you leave them on too long they will continue to shrink and could tear the edge near the nails.

5 days

Complete fleshing is the trick to fast drying. Especially in the back towards the tail. If you see any white hazy spots
you missed some fat
When I pull my hides I stack them leather to leather and put a piece of plywood on top of the stack to keep them flat.

I have boarded beaver on a Wednesday morning and had them on OTC tables Saturday morning. Dehumidifiers are your friend. No borax for fur market beavers.

Makes sure they’re fleshed, and fleshed properly, and store em like you say. I’ve seen “fleshed” beaver that’ll never dry…..lol.
Nail em down and raise em to the top of the nails then hang or stand em nose down……. it helps with air flow and forgiving as it dries.They’ll bend in as long as you’re not using rail spikes. Good prime winter beaver I board tight and rarely does a nail rip the hide while drying, but these you may want to leave some slack. The nails at the very edge anyway. Wipe em down once a day to help. Some grease will probably be rolling down.

I do the same with mine when I stack them. They pile up on the chest freezer lid, with an empty beaver board on top.

Make sure there’s no mice around when you stack them. They love to nibble on the leather. Muskrats too.

@ 50f a hide can stay that way for 3-5 days so ....why freeze them and take a day to thaw them.
Put them up on a pallet and the air will come in the cracks from the fur side as well for a faster dry time.

They'll dry fine in that time with a fan. No borax, just flesh well.