Fleshing a hide the easy way.
soft tanned deer hide for a customer
When customers bring me a deer, fox, or coyote hide my go-to method for fleshing it once I’m done skinning is using the pressure washer. The reason I prefer using the pressure washer for fleshing is for a few reasons. First and most important it is the quickest way I have found for fleshing an animal. Second, it is easy, I use the pressure washer for euro mounts so it makes it easy for me to get everything done at once euro mounts and fleshing. Finally and most importantly I have found that the pressure washer does the cleanest job at fleshing. if you have your settings right it won’t put holes in the hide or cut any hair.
My setup is simple it consists of the hide, a plastic tote, 2 clamps, a pressure washer, and a foldable table. Open up the legs on one side of the table and clamp the hide to the top of the table. I place the tote under the high end of the table to place the hide in it so it doesn’t get dirty once I finish a section of the hide, I continuously move the hide up the board as I power wash it and the meat and fat are fleshed off the hide. depending on the hide thickness is what you should set your pressure washer to, for example a thicker hide like a deer you can use a more aggressive nozzle, for a thin fox hide you have to use something less aggressive. Check out the very short video below to see an example of how to power wash fleshing a deer hide.
Thanks,
Tyler Millichap BWA
