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When i first put the beaver on the board i put one nail at nose end and one at tail end. Then i pull the center out towards the ring and put a nail in then do the other side After that i put nails by the leg area and pull out to line. You now have 8 nails to begin. By doing this you can tell if you are going to be to tight or to loose.

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next i clean all the edges of the beaver, don,t worry from the last nail to head or last nail to rump. That will clean up later.

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sides are clean

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now i start from the center of the beaver and work my way up to head area

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after reaching the front leg area i then do the back section as far as the hind legs.

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Now we do the head first. Better to head first because the shoulder area can get a bit tight if you do the bottom end first. Put a nail in each lip and pull tight and nail, you will be well over the ring size you are using. Now you can see that the head is puffed up with loose hide.

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take a knife and slit the nose, this will give you more shoulder slack and also will allow you to pull the hide tight on head area.

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now put a nail in nose section and pull it out tight.


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now your head area is tight to remove the ears and clean up around the head area. Many trappers always have a hard time around the head. This makes things a whole lot easier.


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now that you got your head area clean enough you can carry on with nailing the beaver from the front legs up to the nose area.


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now start to remove the excess from head area.

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head should look this

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now we go to the back end and do the same method we did at the front. Use 2 nails and pull the sides down oast your line, then remove your center tail nail and pull the hide down farther.

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now that your tail section is snug you can easly clean up around your back leg holes

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after you have cleaned up the tail section nail as shown.

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remove the excess fat and grizzel

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now you can cut some off your leg hole openings, just a trim which will get rid of some of the fat.

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closing the leg holds, i use 3 nails overlapping on back legs and 2 over lappiing on front legs

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i lift the pelt off the board just high enough so my fingers slide under. There is no need to go right to the top of your nail.

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there you have it a finished beaver. My nail spacing is about 3/4 to inch maybe just over. Keep your nails spacing close to the same and you will have a more nicer shape to the beaver instead of a scallop look. Any questions just send me a pm.