Chapter 3 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.