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ON YOUR FLESHING MACHINE

By D. Price

The #1 question I get, time and time again on fleshing machines is how do you determine where to set the guards? I answer, there is no magic number, it is not necessarily 1/8” or ¼” it is a feel thing that is only learned with experience. That truly is the only way I can describe it. It is kind of like someone asking you how far do you press the gas pedal to go 60 MPH?

There are way too many variables to consider just like with the accelerator, such as are you going uphill or downhill, are you loaded with a heavy payload or driving a light weight compact car? With the fleshing machine, what size motor does it have as well as how thick of a skin are you working with? Is it a Whitetail cape or a Moose cape? How sharp is the blade, is it freshly ground or used and dull?

LET’S GET STARTED

Here are a few simple “Rules Of Thumb” I like to share with folks who ask me this question.

Very first thing, make sure both the right and left guards are installed on your machine. With the two guards in their proper location you can see that I have quite a bit of space between the blade and the guards. I have heard people say that they need to be as close as possible to the blade without touching it, this is “FALSE”. Without any clearance there is nowhere for the fleshings to fall and clear the work area.

One of two things will happen. Either the fleshings will pile up in front of the machine or they will bind up between the blade and guards and cause the blade to stop. Here is a close up of the same area.

 SETTING THE CUTTING SIDE GUARD

Ok, on the left side of the machine you want to set your guard so that you are working with the middle to lower half of the blade. This will be much more comfortable for you. Also, this will help to control the skin better. If you get to high up on the blade it will tend to grab or snatch the skin. This could cause damages in the skin itself.

Here you can see a close up of the same area. Notice how shiny and worn the guard is in the area where I do my work. You can also see how much of the blade is exposed when I shave Whitetails.

SETTING THE BACK GUARD

On the right side or back side of the blade, I see or hear of people removing this guard. This is not a good idea, it protects you if you over reach when shaving. Also, it helps to protect the skin from being damaged. Here I have the bottom of the blade closed off with the guard. This keeps the skin from folding up and cutting a line or hole in it.

You can see here, once again, I am working in the middle to lower half of the blade. Also, here is one more close up as to how much blade I have showing when working with Whitetails.

IN CLOSING

I hope this helps to give you some answers on this commonly asked question. Also this information is available in my new online HD video series “Mastering the Fleshing Machine A-Z PLUS”. Over three hours of everything you need to know about fleshing as well as shaving skins on your machine. It can be accessed at www.fleshingmachines.com.

DP

IMO, there is no cheaper or easier way to make a custom body, than wrapping your own. when I was taught how to do this, almost 40 years ago, if you didn’t wrap, you most likely did not do birds, since foam bodies were just starting to emerge for taxidermists. the materials needed were, and still are cheap, and are readily available. this method allows you to duplicate, right from the carcass, exactly what needs to be put back in, and allows you to pre shape for the pose you choose. if done properly, there is very little fill if any needed, wire anchoring is solid, and feather grooming is far easier than over a foam body. I am sure there are alternate ways to wrap, and I will share how I was taught and still use today.
material list is as follows:
fine grade excelsior
button and coat thread
calipers
sharpie
butchers twine
leather mallet
post mortem needle
I dissolve in hot water, borax and Para Flakes (moth flakes)
soak the excelsior over night. I do a 5 gallon bucket at a time
you are now ready to start

from there, I remove my pre shaped and frozen carcass from the freezer for my actual reference. in this case a Drake Surf Scoter. this is going to be a dead mount of three scoter drakes, Black, Surf and White Wing. With that said, I want to elongate my body a tad, and over wrap somewhat the size to compensate for de fatting let out. I make two separate “flats” as I call them, and rough in the shape with the mallet, and bind these two core parts with thread. this is the heart of the body. the two photos show both the rough shaping, and the fine tuning of the 2 core pieces

I then marry together the two wedges, bending, and spreading them at the neck junction to form the neck pocket. excelsior filler is added along the back, and stuffed to spread the belly area. I use the mallet to beat the excelsior into a balanced and uniform core, this is the heart of the body

Ok, from here, I mark my connection points, chest and belly muscle, that now is added to the core. accuracy is very easy when you have the carcass right in front of you, and if you need to adjust the carcass its right there, and you can duplicate any changes in body shape and duplicate that onto your wrapped body

now it’s time to build up our core body. this is when I add the more excelsior to duplicate the natural muscle that shows from the carcass. I pre trim the excelsior with scissors as I apply to the core, and use the leather mallet to help in shaping as I wrap. bottom view, belly and chest done

when I am satisfied with the wrapping part of making a body, it’s time to do some fine tuning to areas that need more definition. this is where the butchers twine and post mortem needle are used. the twine is very strong, so you can put a lot of tension on it without it breaking. I just sew from one side of the body to the other, pulling tight to compress the body to define detail. I do this from the wing to body junction to the belly. done correctly, you now have a nice wing pocket

when I am satisfied, and after a test fit in the skin, I make any adjustments that are needed. you can beat this wrapped body into just about any pose with the leather mallet. time to chuck the carcass, and I now re soak and put it in the freezer till it’s time to mount. I do not mount on a dry body, but a damp one. that gives me more time to preen, as the bird dries. also note, that I mount with full wing bones as well as leg bones. this method offers a fully articulated replacement, without having to guess, like the foam and half leg technique. I am sure this is not for everyone, and I am sharing what I was taught, and still use today in all my bird mounts. hope this helps anyone interested in this old school method. finished body photos below

I used to hate the forms that came with the two threaded rods sticking out. I found them very limiting and aggravating to get on and off. Especially for large mounts. I have tweaked my methods over the year’s and here’s my latest and most productive method so far.
I like to use square tubing. I went to a local steel supply company to figure out what sizes would slide down in the other. I use the smaller to go in the mount and the larger in the base.
I used to weld a couple pieces cross ways to the main shaft and trace it on the back of form and cut out with a reciprocating saw. And anchor it in with screws or threaded rod and bondo and foam the hole. My latest method now. I made an extra long drill bit. Mikey who works here welded an 1 3/8″ paddle bit in some 1/2″ square tubing. After making level marks on the form we turned it upside down leveling the marks up. And ran that mammoth size bit all the way through the bottom of the Cape Buffalo right out the top. Mikey welded a piece to one end and a brace as well. We then cut out for the steel to be countersunk in the foam. I ran several 5″ screws in around it to hold it in. I also ran some threaded rods across the top of it. I don’t worry a whole now about the tube being perfectly level as i can adjust that with the bottom piece. Then thinned some bondo so it would run down in around everything.
I also have some receivers made so I can stick them on my mounting stands.
This is by far not the only method but it’s the one I prefer. I love how they are so easily detachable.
Don’t forget to order with no rods!
Next i’ll talk about the base end.

Simplifying a Quick Money Maker

All businesses need cash flow, and quick cash flow is always there if you just look for it and not turn it away just because it is a small job. If you simplify these jobs where you can knock them out quickly but still give a professional product to your client, you can really capitalize on these small projects and keep the cash flowing. Simplifying is not the same as cutting corners. We are not going to cut corners just to get work out the door and money in the bank. This will always come back to haunt you down the road.

One of these quick money makers are deer hooves for gun, coat and hat racks. A very simple job, but so many times I hear taxidermist say I don’t like doing them. Or even worse I DON’T do them because they are too much trouble to skin out, or they are a pain to sew up. Well, get over it, you are a taxidermist and this is easy money you are passing up. In this article, I am going to show you how to simplify and streamline your system to turn these out quick and efficiently.

Here we go! Start the skinning process by beginning just below the dew claws with a #11 scalpel blade and cutting all the way up the back side of the leg.

Then start separating the skin from the tendons, muscles and bone with your scalpel. Once down to the dew claws carefully cut around and through the knuckle until it is free from the skin. Continue to skin down towards the hooves as far as possible. Then cut through the ankle joint removing the lower leg bone from the knuckles. Now separate the two sets (inner and outer) of knuckles so that they are free from one another. Next using a bench vise as a third hand, place the end of the knuckle into the vise tightening down to hold it firmly. Now both of your hands are free to hold the skin and cut the knuckles loose down inside the hooves. Make sure you get all the way down to the quick of the hooves, leaving no bones.

Once you have all your hooves skinned out, you can tan/preserve them using your method of choice. I tanned these in this article using the methods in my Tanning 101 Video Series.

Okay, let’s move onto putting them back together. I prefer the deer hoof mannikins from Van Dykes for this process. 1, they are not over sculpted which makes them inexpensive. 2, they are made from light weight softer foam, making them easier to cut. 3, the threaded rod is actually bent and goes up into the hoof area, leaving a much stronger and rigid support for a heavy gun or jacket to hang on and doesn’t just stop at the bend like some on the market do.

Here is where a lot of people have problems, they can’t figure out how to get the skin to meet, let alone sew the skin up at the bend of the ankle. So let’s “SIMPLIFY” the process. First, using a band saw cut through the bend of the ankle at an angle. Roll the form as you cut making a complete circle, DO NOT CUT THROUGH THE THREADED ROD.

Discard the foam cut from the form, it will not be needed. Next go ahead and sew the leg skins up just past the dew claws. Do a quick test fit; the form should slide in effortlessly.

Now once you are satisfied with the fit, start replacing the knuckles with critter clay, building it all the way out to the dew claws because you are going to need to replace the foam you removed from the mannikin.

Insert the cut end of the form into the clay and push it up into the hoof. Work the clay to make a smooth transition from the clay to the foam.

Now you can lay the hoof out flat and finish sewing it up, don’t forget to add some hide glue. Be sure to leave a little over hang of skin at the end to allow for shrinkage.

Once the skin is sewn and hair patterns are aligned bend the hooves up into the desired position. Make sure the skin stays aligned and the clay to foam transition is nice and smooth. With a piece of thread, tie the hooves to the threaded rod to hold it all in place as they dry.

Once everything has dried, trim off the excess skin that was left for shrinkage purposes. Also make sure the threads of the rod are clean from glue and clay so the Tee Nut spins on smoothly. On this particular project I used solid wood panels from Walnut Creek Hardwood. Whichever panels you decide to use, mark your desired location. Drill a hole to receive the Tee Nut and hammer it into the backside of the panel.

I prefer to use ferrules to dress up the ends of the legs, the ones I am using in this article are simulated wood ferrules from Van Dykes. Again they are inexpensive but really make the final product pop. Slide the ferrules over the threaded rod and screw the rod through the front side of the panel into the Tee Nut. Be very careful not to over tighten.  Always make sure to use heavy duty hangers. The last thing you want is for a client’s gun to fall off the wall due to a cheap hanger. Also, do your client a favor and place the hangers to align with two studs, 16” on center is the national standard for most residential walls.

This concludes this article; I hope you can take something away that will help you in your everyday work.

DP

Here is a short tutorial on molding a catfish. Due to the oily nature and skin of catfish, molding and casting is a good way to go.
The pictures will do much of the talking.

Our fine specimen -A 13″ bullhead. As you can see, the fish is slightly dried out and shrunken in. This is common for catfish that have been frozen.

First step is to spray the fish off. If it has been frozen, this is all you need to do to prep for molding.

The biggest obstacle when molding catfish is to bring the fish back to a natural shape—in other words fill out the wrinkles and shrunken gut. Here is my method:

There are a number of methods you can use to plump or fill the gut back out. We will be using latex caulk. I have three main tools I use to inject the caulk into the shrunken cavities of the fish.

To start, I need to make a small incision under the gill cover to access the stomach cavity. I use a scalpel to make the cut and push it into the cavity and move it around a bit so I have a clear shot

Through this hole, I can now inject my caulking. I start with this set up

I push the tube end into the farthest reaches of the cavity. I am not trying to completely fill it at this point, just plump out the edges of the cavity.

After this is done, I insert the caulk gun into the cavity and fill it until the skin is smooth. Do not overfill .

Take a small amount of cotton and push it into the hole we made under the gill cover—this will contain the caulk so it doesn’t leak out .

I use this set up

To inject a small amount of caulking up the vent.

Now for the wrinkles near the tail and on the face. I use a needle and syringe to inject water under the skin. Always do this from the seam line.

I “swish” the needle back and forth under the skin with steady pressure until the wrinkle area is restored. Catfish have some natural muscle detail that looks like wrinkles—use reference when injecting.

Time to lay the fish up for molding. We will start by making a dam out of high fiber—–mix it thick, and make a ring bigger than the fish

Mix up a batch of “soupy” high fiber and fill the inside of the dam. You want the fish to fall into place—-you do not want to put s lot of pressure on it to get it bedded half way down. This is the KEY to molding catfish. Smooth the fiber out and add mold keys.

Do the same with the fins

Dry the fish with a hair dryer. You want it dry to the touch.

The next step is to add pva mold release. I brushed it on in this case.

Safety first. Be sure you are working in a well ventilated area and you have on eye and respiratory protection. Were gloves when handling chemicals.

After the pva has dried, mix up a batch of auto body filler mixed with resin. The mix should be like pancake batter. From a foot above the fish, pour a stream of the the mix onto the center of the fish, working from head to tail. Let it roll off from the center until covered.

After it has cured,Reinforce it with fiberglass.

Do the same with the fins.

After your glass has cured, flip the mold and clean off the high fiber. Re inject if necessary.

Put one coat of part all paste mold release on the mold edges. Put a coat of pva on the fish and mold edges. Let dry and repeat step your auto body /resin pour. After it cures, strengthen with more glass.

Do the same with the fins.

Time to demold the fish.

You may have to use a jig saw to cut around the edges of your mold. I use a screw driver, and work it under the edges and carefully pry up. Go slow on this step and don’t use to much horse power. Wash your mold out , and clean up an imperfections with a dremel and apoxie.

You can now cast your blank. I normally give the mold three coats of part all paste ( buffing between coats) and one coat of pva. I use white gelcoat first, and laminate fiberglass with resin to strengthen the gelcoat. Mix cabosil with resin to form a paste. Apply the paste to the seams of the blank and clamp shut.

The finished bullhead

A catfish molded and cast using the same method

Most people have an animal mounted to look at on the wall. But why, what is the reason for Taxidermy? I believe its to recreate and exact moment in time while hunting or fishing. To save a trophy and make a memory out of it.

With that being said my daughter Delaney at the age of 13 harvested her first turkey. I roosted the bird the night before and on the opening morning we were in place at the base of our tree. When the sun began to rise the birds started gobbling. It was a beautiful morning to say the least. At fly down time one bird flew just over our heads and landed mere feet behind us. To my surprise there were two birds roosted together. The second bird then flew down right in front of us about twenty yards away,  Delaney had her gun up, in position, and made the shot. It was a fast but great hunt that will be cherished forever.

To honor her hunt I decided to do a full fan mount. However she didn’t want the standard turkey feet hanging on the plaque. So I came up with an alternative idea that she really liked. I just took the spurs and added a couple feathers to each side. She loved the way it turned out and so did I. It made it a little more pleasing to the eye and I have had several other customers that liked it as well…

When we relaunched our taxidermy business website recently, we decided to add a ” History” page. I wanted to talk about the growth and changes of Stehling’s Taxidermy over the last 40 years. When I started looking into our families history more in depth , what I found was almost shocking.

The catalyst for much of my research actually started at the Taxidermy Insider ® Super Seminar day this past June. One of the taxidermists attending the seminars revealed that he thought he was related to us and gave me some information on a tannery that was ran under the Stehling’s name in the early 1900’s in Milwaukee.

Doing some research, I found that the Stehling’s  ran the Chas. H. Stehling Co . in Milwaukee.

The Chas. H Stehling Co was one of the largest and most successful outfitters of tanneries in the country. They not only designed and manufactured their own extensive line of tanning equipment, they also set up and advised some of the most successful tanneries. In the process they revolutionized tanning and ushered in the modern methods used today.

Equipment designed and manufactured by the Stehling Co, 1914

The Stehling tannery logo .

Looking back further, I found records of the Stehling’s operating tanneries as early as the 1860’s with indications that it went back to the 1700’s in Germany ( Prussia) !

The surprises did not end there. On the Kemmeter side of my family there are records of taxidermy being done in the early 1900’s .

With all that information in mind, it made sense that Greg Stehling ( my father) started Stehling’s Taxidermy( Greg’s Taxidermy at the time) back in 1978.

Founding locations of Stehling’s Taxidermy in 1970’s

Greg’s Sons, Aaron & Austin, eventually took over operations and purchased the company.

Aaron & Austin Stehling

Founding locations of Stehling’s Taxidermy in 1978

Rivers Edge park opened in 2015 to commemorate the business’s founded at that location, including Stehling’s Taxidermy & the Kemmeter Co. A permanent memorial is set up detailing the history of the location.

There is no doubt that the entrepreneurial spirit runs in the family, and that the art of animal preservation goes hand in hand with the Stehling name.

My early days  in the shop !( 1985) Always happy to see new orders come in, even back then !

Current location of Stehling’s Taxidermy, 2016