riverhawk

How does one flat-skin a squirrel or groundhog? I see other posts here answered by people detailing cased skins, but I'd like skins that lay flat and look something like this:

I don't want to skin the head and paws though, I'll probably cut those off before skinning.
This would be my ideal groundhog pelt:


Thanks for any tips you give me!
Riverhawk

Nomercy448

Pretty straight forward - slit up the inside of the hind legs just as you would casing, then slit from the taint up to the chin, then down each of the front legs. How you stretch it and then trim the superfluous belly/neck hide is what will make the difference in how well it wants to lay flat. Personally, I would not cut the head or limbs off of the carcass before skinning, as having the limbs will make life a lot easier. Cutting them off will leave you skinning a football - which oddly enough, will look a lot like a monkey trying to do something else with a football...

riverhawk

I would probably salt it, then soak it in saltwater and then tack it stretched to a board, apply Dixietan paste, and let dry. As it dries I may stretch it further and switch tacks to new, further out positions.
As for the head and paws, thank you for the tip.

Nomercy448

When I say "how you stretch it will make the difference," I literally mean the physical directions in which you pull the hide. Stretch too much, or at the wrong angles, and it will distort the hide, leaving ripples at the edges, warps across the midline, or distort the features - like pulling the face into an unnatural shape, or throwing a kink in the backline.

riverhawk

good to know. How should I stretch it then?

Nomercy448

You'll figure it out when you get it on the board and see how the hide distorts as you stretch it. You'll be taking a 3 dimensional object and opening into a 2 dimensional plane. Think about your T shirts - as a complete item, they'll lay flat, which a hide will not, but you can kinda simulate the shapes by trying to lay a fitted T shirt flat, but not in the conventional way, instead by laying it as if it was on its side - the edge seams together in the middle, sleeves on top and bottom instead of both sides. The fitted waistline won't want to lay flat, and the sleeves will bunch and pucker. You'll have to pull the waistline harder to stretch farther than the chest or the skirt so it all ends up laying flat in the middle. To keep it from puckering, you'll also have to pull slightly up towards the neck for anything above the midline, getting more aggressive as you get closer to the top, and slightly towards the skirt for everything below the midline. In all of that, you have to watch the back line to be sure it stays straight and isn't getting pulled side to side at different parts of the hide. The hips, rump, shoulders, and armpits are tricky, because they have to pull the center of the hide out laterally from the back line, but also must be stretched on their own midline, which can induce puckering at the corners and ripples down the edges.

It's not difficult, but it's a lot more challenging than most people realize before they do it a few times. It's easy to pull the center of a hide flat, but when you're doing a rug, you'll have to be sure you have your edges flat, far enough out to at least reach the hairline transition. Where you start tacking the hide is probably the most important choice, and you might find different methods which work, but ONE which works best for you.

Again, it's not difficult, really, but it's also not the same as ironing a T shirt - unless you're ironing your T shirt laying on its side.

riverhawk

Thanks so much