Earlier this summer I purchased a nice, 48-inch hardwood fleshing board from Mill Creek Trap Supply at the Fur Takers of America National Convention held in Marshfield, WI. I searched the web for good instructions for building a support system (stand) for the board. I needed a stand that would be stable for both inside and outside use, with or without the aid of a backing wall. While there were lots of examples on the web of how people setup their fleshing boards (the collection of examples at http://jayme220.proboards.com/thread/185 is frequently cited), I sought more specific instructions on sizes and angles. I didn’t find much. Most advice pointed to establishing an approximate 45 degree angle for the board and having the working end of the board end up a distance off the ground approximately equal to the lower belly area of the user. One writer indicated a raised lower end for the stand would lessen back pain issues.
After some prototyping, here’s what I ended up with. I’m six foot tall so you’d need to adjust the height accordingly. I built the stand using a purchased eight foot 2x6 and some scrap 2x6 and 2x4 materials I had laying around. I assembled the stand with 2 1/2- and 3-inch deck screws. I ended up settling on a 40 degree angle for the board.
29 7/8” front vertical with 40 degree angled end
9 7/8” rear vertical with 40 degree angled end
32 3/4” diagonal piece with 40 degree cuts at both ends
1” ‘stopper piece’ with 40 degree cut
all these cut from the the purchased eight foot 2x6. The remaining pieces cut from scrap were:
12 1/4” 2x6 brace piece with 45 degree cuts at both ends
18” 2x6 lower cross piece
2, 8 1/4” 2x4s for rear leg fillers
1. Attach the lower 18” 2x6 cross piece centered on two, 22” 2x4s to form the base of the stand:
2. Add the rear and front 2x6 verticals, again centered:
3. Add the upper 21” 2x6 cross piece:
4. Add the 2x6 45 degree brace piece to further support the front vertical:
5. Add the fleshing board support piece, being sure at least the rear is flush:
6. Add the extra 2x4 feet pieces to the base. Note the pieces at the rear of the stand are added so the entire rear is one flush piece:
7. Add the ‘stopper piece’:
8. Bolt the fleshing board to the stand. I used two, 3 1/2-inch carriage bolts, the front bolt slightly below the working portion of the fleshing board:
I countersunk holes for the bolt ends prior to drilling through the fleshing and support board. The stand I ended up with is solid and extremely stable, even absent a rear support wall. Looking forward to trying it out this season.