Oresai
11-28-2008, 07:01 AM
Part One.
This is a thread on home tanning, not the lying in the sun turning brown kind, but tanning animal skins to make furs, sheepskins, etc. :)
First, get your hide! For folks living in the countryside this can be easier than in the city. Many farmers here in Britain home butcher and if you ask nicely, will be quite happy to give you their sheep, cow or pigskin. For city folks, seek out your nearest slaughterhouse, and ask about their own skins. Most of these go straight to industrial tanners for the leather industry but they will sell you one or two, usually very cheaply, a couple of pounds for a sheepskin. You will have to choose your own and get it home yourself though, I don`t suggest carting it home on the bus. :D
It is important, if you don`t plan on processing the hide immediately, to properly store the hide as they will begin to degrade almost immediately.
The easiest way to do this is by freezing, so if you have a chest freezer, store the hide, hair side in so the flesh is turned out, in a double wrapping of plastic in the freezer.
Another way of storing hides is by salting. Ordinary table salt can be used but you do need vast quantities even for a single sheepskin, so get to your local hardware store and buy a couple of sacks of rock salt used for de icing roads and paths in winter. It does the same job, which is to dry out the moisture on the flesh side of the skin.
Lay the skin flesh side up on a pallet or thick plastic sheet. Sprinkle enough salt on it, covering to about a half inch depth. Leave overnight. Next day add more salt, much of what you put on the previous night will have dissolved and ran off the skin.
Repeat this procedure until you find the salt no longer dissolves, then add even more salt and carefully fold the hide in half. Leave as is, but check at least once a week. The skin should harden off, if any moist areas remain, add more salt as needed.
Do NOT freeze skins which have been salted.
And before you use either of these skins, the frozen one must be thoroughly defrosted and the salted one must be washed in many changes of clean, warm water until the flesh side is once again plump, wet and soft.
This is a thread on home tanning, not the lying in the sun turning brown kind, but tanning animal skins to make furs, sheepskins, etc. :)
First, get your hide! For folks living in the countryside this can be easier than in the city. Many farmers here in Britain home butcher and if you ask nicely, will be quite happy to give you their sheep, cow or pigskin. For city folks, seek out your nearest slaughterhouse, and ask about their own skins. Most of these go straight to industrial tanners for the leather industry but they will sell you one or two, usually very cheaply, a couple of pounds for a sheepskin. You will have to choose your own and get it home yourself though, I don`t suggest carting it home on the bus. :D
It is important, if you don`t plan on processing the hide immediately, to properly store the hide as they will begin to degrade almost immediately.
The easiest way to do this is by freezing, so if you have a chest freezer, store the hide, hair side in so the flesh is turned out, in a double wrapping of plastic in the freezer.
Another way of storing hides is by salting. Ordinary table salt can be used but you do need vast quantities even for a single sheepskin, so get to your local hardware store and buy a couple of sacks of rock salt used for de icing roads and paths in winter. It does the same job, which is to dry out the moisture on the flesh side of the skin.
Lay the skin flesh side up on a pallet or thick plastic sheet. Sprinkle enough salt on it, covering to about a half inch depth. Leave overnight. Next day add more salt, much of what you put on the previous night will have dissolved and ran off the skin.
Repeat this procedure until you find the salt no longer dissolves, then add even more salt and carefully fold the hide in half. Leave as is, but check at least once a week. The skin should harden off, if any moist areas remain, add more salt as needed.
Do NOT freeze skins which have been salted.
And before you use either of these skins, the frozen one must be thoroughly defrosted and the salted one must be washed in many changes of clean, warm water until the flesh side is once again plump, wet and soft.