Apparatuses and methods for stretching a pelt on a pelt board

A method of stretching a pelt on a pelt board, wherein the pelt has an inwardly-oriented leather side, an outwardly oriented fur side, a nose end, a rear end, and a pair of front leg cavities, the method comprising:

• (a) providing the pelt board defining a top end, a circumferential wall configured for facing the inwardly-oriented leather side of the pelt, and a base end opposite the top end;
• (b) providing a stretching apparatus comprising a holding device, a fastening mechanism, a length measuring device, and a controllable actuator having a velocity controller and a force detector;
• (c) holding the base end of the pelt board by the holding device;
• (d) positioning the pelt on the pelt board by arranging the nose end of the pelt in contact with the top end of the pelt board, and arranging the rear end of the pelt at the base end of the pelt board;
• (e) contacting the fastening mechanism with the rear end of the pelt;
• (f) operating the controllable actuator at a specific speed controlled by the velocity controller so as to cause the fastening mechanism to be moved toward the holding device, thereby stretching the pelt, while detecting, by the force detector, the force applied to the pelt by the controllable actuator;
• (g) measuring a length of the pelt by the length measuring device when at least one of an empirically determined force and an empirically determined force gradient has been detected;
• and
• (h) registering the length of the pelt and the at least one of the empirically determined force and the empirically determined force gradient as a first set of coherent data.