Air compressor to assist skinning

J@son

J@son

Well-Known Member
Does anyone have experience of using a compressor to pump air under the skin in order to make skinning easier? Seen a couple of videos online (mostly sheep) which suggest this really does speed up skinning and produces a nice and tidy carcass. I am sure someone on SD must have tried it but I suspect if using compressed air to lift the skin away from the carcass made much of a difference people would refer to it here more often.... and no one seems to. Anyway, i would be interested to hear from anyone who does use / has tried using a compressor.
 
J@son said:
Does anyone have experience of using a compressor to pump air under the skin in order to make skinning easier? Seen a couple of videos online (mostly sheep) which suggest this really does speed up skinning and produces a nice and tidy carcass. I am sure someone on SD must have tried it but I suspect if using compressed air to lift the skin away from the carcass made much of a difference people would refer to it here more often.... and no one seems to. Anyway, i would be interested to hear from anyone who does use / has tried using a compressor.
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I believe that in UK abattoirs it's not permitted, but in some countries it is.
The objection is that you risk forcing contaminated air (eg, containing oil from the compressor) into the meat.
If you do do it, you have to use the kind of filters that are used when filling dive air bottles.
 
`I have no experience of skinning using an air compressor. What I found really useful when skinning large Fallow was a pair of molegrips. It saves the fatigue on the hand that is pulling the skin, and is much more substantial to get hold of than the skin.
 
J@son said:
Does anyone have experience of using a compressor to pump air under the skin in order to make skinning easier? Seen a couple of videos online (mostly sheep) which suggest this really does speed up skinning and produces a nice and tidy carcass. I am sure someone on SD must have tried it but I suspect if using compressed air to lift the skin away from the carcass made much of a difference people would refer to it here more often.... and no one seems to. Anyway, i would be interested to hear from anyone who does use / has tried using a compressor.
Click to expand...
As VSS said you will need breathing air grade as service compressors are wet & oily if you have ever drained a home compressor the light brown water is what they make.
Had spray shops and water in the line was something you had to be on top of.
Pumped 100's of dive tanks (and tested them) and you could see the ones which were filled from poor filtration come time for testing.
Nice idea but best left for the videos from the USA lol
 
I actually have done it with a neck shot roe buck. Might be ok with muntjac, but roe have membrane between skin/pelt and meat which traps the air, and it takes ages to disperse. Afraid in my enthusiasm, I put too much air in and it's testicles blew off.
It was an oil free compressor, so no contamination.
 
More of an issue than dirty water (judging by the state of deer I've seen in the game dealer, that doesn't seem to be a concern for a lot of stalkers, especially those not doing a suspended gralloch😜😂) is that you've got to get the deer to the air compressor before you start cutting it open and making holes for the air to escape before it's had a chance to pull the skin away.
 
csl said:
You get water from compressing air in the atmosphere... but I do agree on a tripe knife though! :thumb:
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yes then you filter it store it then use it, glad you like a tripe knife...
My 4 stage 300bar compressor came from Marconi's used for filling some hp measuring equipment also on micro bore so I re plumbed it to 1/4" did away with one stack as 4 was just not needed so it has a wet stack and 3 dry ones.
 
Tim.243 said:
yes then you filter it store it then use it, glad you like a tripe knife...
My 4 stage 300bar compressor came from Marconi's used for filling some hp measuring equipment also on micro bore so I re plumbed it to 1/4" did away with one stack as 4 was just not needed so it has a wet stack and 3 dry ones.
Click to expand...
I think we are both of the opinion that using compressed air to skin is a terribly American idea and it leaves the flesh tainted in most cases! 👍
 
What about the CO² tyre inflators for mountain bikes? Clean, inert easy.to transport could use a needle for inflating footballs?

Granted it wouldn't do a whole carcass but may assist in certain areas🤔
 
csl said:
Excess CO2 in the meat? 😫
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All interesting replies - thanks everyone.

Re CO2.. I suspect exposure to CO2 would not affect the meat. I think CO2 is using in food packaging and
pigs are often killed using CO2 with no adverse effects (...to the resultant pork. Obviously the pigs would have a different perspective on the benefits of the process.) I am not sure that the CO2 would be absorbed by the meat. And if it was I think it would be quickly re-released.

I take the point about oil contamination. Although I think lots of entry level compressors are oil free these days. And electric - so you don't have to worry about recycling engine fumes which is the big risk when filling dive cylinders.

Anyway thanks again for the replies. I can see that there are some potential problems.
 
As a lad in the slaughterhouse calves were always "blown up" before skinning. It was standard practice. As far as I know, no one died from rust poisoning from eating veal!
 
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