Yes, that little home-made scraper has a humble appearance and a benign demeanor. It doesn't look like it would do much, but let me say: that thing works like a charm! Lay the hide hair side down on a flat surface. Rake off tissue with a raking motion, and when you build a ridge, lay down the tool pull with your fingers. When tissue clings to the little blade teeth, just pop it off and keep raking.

The biggest 2 problems I have had in fleshing hides is 1) putting an unwanted hole through the hide, and 2) having to work too hard to pull off what needs to be pulled off. All fleshing tools need to be sharp- but not too sharp, and dull- but not too dull. This tool solves both problems.

There are many hide preparation schemes. I salt the hide, wrap it in newspaper, and let it sit 24 hours in the refrigerator, then shake off the salt and re-salt, re-wrap in paper, and let sit 24 hours in the refrigerator. This time/salt/temperature has resulted in better condition hides than any other combination.