NECESSARY TOOLS.
A BAD workman, it is said, always quarrels with his tools. If this be
so, it is equally certain that a good workman, though he may make
shift with indifferent implements of his craft, yet always prefers the
best and most labour-saving tools he can procure. The chief point of
difference, however, between the skilled and unskilled workman is,
that the former may and often does get the best results with the
fewest possible tools, while the other must surround himself with
dozens of unnecessary things before he can "do a stroke." This being
so, I propose to point out to my readers in a few words, and by means
of drawings, how very few tools are required to skin and set up a bird
or small animal. My remarks will, therefore, be addressed as much to
the amateur as to the tyro desirous of becoming a professional; in
fact, I wish it to be understood that I write as much to educate the
one as the other.
The first and almost indispensable tool is the knife (I say almost,
because I have known a person begin and finish a small bird with a
pair of scissors); nearly any small knife will do to make the first
incision, but experience has shown the most useful shape to be as in
Fig. 11, which is the skinning knife; the blade, it will be observed,
is long and narrow, 3 in. to 4 in. along the cutting edge, and half an
inch across; the handle, which should be of box, lignum vitae, or any
hard wood susceptible, of a high polish, is 3.5 in. in length,
exclusive of a half-inch brass ferrule; the shape shown is the most
comfortable and handiest to work with. Fig. 12 shows a broader and
stronger knife, five-eighths of an inch across, having a somewhat
differently shaped hard wood handle, as the knife is intended for
heavier work. Fig. 13 shows a broad strong blade, one inch across, and
of an entirely different character; this, which is useful for the
rough, large work, to be hereafter mentioned, has a perforated tang,
to which two half rounded pieces of hard wood should be bolted. Length
of blade and handle, 4 in. each.
My reason for having all of these handles of polished hard wood is,
that blood and dirt will the more easily wash off. All of these knives
are best procured at the leather sellers', for the reasons that,
first, the shapes drawn are always in stock; secondly, they are
manufactured of the finest and toughest steel; and thirdly, their
expense is trifling. The handles, however, are usually of softwood,
unpolished, and had better be replaced at the turner's. The knives
when first purchased are about 4 in. long in the blade; for skinning I
think them pleasantest to use when ground or worn down to 3 in. or 3.5
in.; this, however, is a matter of individual taste.
I have, since the above was written, found that some dealers in
leather and shoemakers' "grindery" sell knives of varied and
serviceable patterns--other than those described--all of which have
hard wood handles. Dissecting knives and scalpels, to be procured at
any Surgical instrument maker's, are also very useful for fine work.
"Transfixion" knives are of service when engaged upon very large
animals, and here also come in the post-mortem hooks.
Fig. 11, 12, 13--SKINNING KNIVES.
The next most important tool is the scissors, two pairs of which
should be procured, one pair long and fine, 5.5 in. or 6 in. long (see
Fig. 14), for use in small and delicate work connected with birds; the
other about 4 in. long, of a different shape and much stouter and
stronger (see Fig. 15). These are used for general work upon larger
birds or small mammals.
Fig. 14--SCISSORS, No 1. pattern.
Fig. 15--SCISSORS, No 2. pattern.
For still heavier work connected with mammals, and especially with
fish, I prefer a pair of small spring shears, 6 in, to 7 in. long,
similar to those used by gardeners for grape-pruning.
Fig. 16.--Bell-hangers' Pliers.
Fig. 16 brings us to a really indispensable adjunct to the
taxidermist's kit--the compound or bell-hangers' pliers; these pliers
are as the ordinary holding ones at the top, but have a cutting plane
fixed lower down (those with flat, not raised, cutters, are to be
preferred); the figure gives a good idea, but the grip should not be
quite so broad as they are usually made; from 8 in. to 10 in. is the
most useful size. The 10 in. is rather large, but is, perhaps, the
best for professional needs. [Footnote: These pliers are sometimes
made with a nick at the intersection of the joint to form a cutting
plane for thick wires.]
Fig. 17 shows the ordinary cutting nippers, 4 in. to 5 in. long,
useful for cutting fine wires or pins, in situations where the use of
the other pliers is impracticable. Remarks as to grip as before.
Fig. 17--Cutting nippers.
Both of these articles should be of the best workmanship and
materials. Buck, of London, and Stubbs, of Warrington, may be
recommended as good makers.
I lately procured a very handy little pair of cutting nippers of
elegant workmanship, used chiefly by watchmakers, and made in Paris.
These are excellent for delicate work or for cutting very fine wire or
entomological pins (see Fig. 18).
Fig. 18--French Cutting Nippers
I now figure a most necessary little pair of pliers for dressing the
feathers of birds. These are also used by watchmakers, are of neat
construction and differ from most pliers in having an obtusely rounded
point (see Fig. 19, A and B). These, which I call "feather pliers,"
are in conjunction with a small, thick, round, camel-hair brush (used
by artists for "washing in"), indispensable for "feathering up" birds,
a process to be described later on.
Fig. 20 is the next, and I fancy I hear some reader exclaim, "What on
earth has a goffering-iron to do with taxidermy?" I reply: This shaped
tool is wanted for artfully conveying small morsels of tow, etc, into
the necks and hollow places of birds' skins. It may be easily made in
this wise: Procure as small and fine a pair of goffering-irons as you
possibly can, and have them drawn out and brought to a fine yet obtuse
point by some smith, and you thus get a finished tool for about half
what it would cost to make outright. Length, when finished, should be
somewhere about 10 in.
Fig. 19--Feather Pliers
A large and a fine crooked awl with handles, a file, and a rough stone
from the leatherseller's, are other things to procure, and these, with
the ten tools previously particularised, some tow, wool, wire, eyes,
and a needle and thread, a pot of preservative paste, and a piece of
wood or a wire for a stuffing iron, are all that the amateur or the
professional requires to skin and stuff a small or medium-sized bird
or mammal. Cost of the stone and tools (which, with ordinary care,
will last for years) should be within the reach of all.
Fig. 20--Tow Forceps
The "stuffing iron" mentioned above is best made, if wanted for small
birds, from the broken steel of a wool comber's "devil," about nine
inches long, fixed in a bradawl handle of about four inches, or, if
for large birds or mammals, the iron may be made from a broken fencing
foil, to any size between twelve and thirty inches, with suitable
handle. In either case the smallest end is driven into the handle, and
the top is filed across with a smooth nick, to push in, but not to
retain the tow. See Fig. 21.
Fig. 21--Stuffing Iron
This, I would point out to the non-professional reader, is a much more
satisfactory way of getting thoroughly efficient tools than going to
the expense of ordering a box of "bird-stuffing implements," at a cost
of many pounds and finding one half of them unnecessary, and the other
half worthless.