Egg/Brain-tanning sheepskins - tips - picture heavy

[Rural]

The smoky water trick doesn't exactly give you the full effect of smoking -- it just makes softening a little easier.

I hear you, and agree. Although I never set out to let a hide dry out without proper softening, it's something that has and will continue to happen. If it comes to pass after dressing with a smoky dressing mixture, I'll share my feedback on the forum.

Congratulations on the sheep skins! I'd love to see a picture of them.

My last one is in the process of being softened. It's thawing right now. (I've taken to freezing the hides if I have to interrupt softening.) It was close to done when I froze it, so it shouldn't be long. Pictures will appear shortly after this last one is done.

 

[Rural]

Apologies. I got distracted.

So it turns out that I either haven't been properly dressing these hair-on sheep-skins or that I haven't been softening them until they were fully dry. Probably a little of both. This will aggravate me until I get it fully figured out.

I've been softening by hand. No frame. The main issue with this method is how long it takes to get the hides dry. I also suspect that the wool-side remains damp well after the flesh-side feels done. This might be what's biting me. These aren't shearling hides (where the wool has only grown for six-weeks) so the long wool isn't helping to speed drying, especially when I've been drying them by placing them wool-side down on the floor. Putting the hides on a frame or arranging a way to hang them so that air can circulate on both sides might help. Softening outside rather than indoors might help with this. (It was far too cold to do so when I first attempted to tan these hides, but it's much nicer now.)

At the moment, I have three hides that need resoftening. Here's what the hides look like before I get started:

The first one that I attempted is pretty sad. In order to speed drying after dressing, I put this one in the clothes dryer on low. The heat, moisture, and tumbling started to felt the end of the tags. I then tried to soften it by hand. When it was getting close to done, with the edges dry and warming up, I decided to stop softening to see the difference between fully softened and mostly softened. When I checked it the next day, what I found was a hide that most would think hadn't been softened at all.

This is the wool-side of that hide:

My second hide was more completely softened, but not satisfactorily so. Around the outer three or four inches, it was fairly soft, but the interior was stiff. I tried carding this wool on this hide to see what it looked like when all fluffed up. My guess is that most would prefer the carded wool, but my preference is for the more natural looking tagged wool.

Here is the wool-side of that hide:

The third hide ended up just a bit better than the second. I've left it as close to its natural state as I can stand:

And here is the flesh side of that hide. Notice the holes. They opened up when fleshing because I had not properly reconstituted this hide after dry-salting. This same problem made it virtually impossible to properly flesh right to the edges of the hide. Now, I prefer wet salting. Here's the pick:

My question to Cyclingrelf: How many times did you dress the hides? I've read (in Naked into the Wilderness: Wildreness Living & Survival Skills, by John & Geri McPherson) that one should dress four or five times, drying after each application of dressing. This doesn't seem like a bad idea to me, but if it's not necessary...

 

[Cyclingrelf]

Hi Rural,

Sorry it's taken me a while to reply, I've only just spotted this as have been away from the forum for a little while. Thanks for posting, as it's really good to hear how things are going and get a chance to learn from your experiences.

I assume John & Geri McPherson suggest dressing four or five times in order to make sure the softening solution really penetrates the hide.

I've seen a variety of ways to improve penetration of the egg/brains. Some people rub in the solution, then fold the hide up with the inner skin to the inside and put weights on the hide overnight (I've tried this with rabbit pelts, and it does make a difference). Some people do what the McPherson's suggest and apply the solution several times, drying in between.

I've been applying the solution, then using a rounded stick to help me work it into the skin, then rubbing it in and applying a further coating until I've managed to get all the solution into the skin. For large sheep hides, that's 12-eggs, 1/2 (US)gallon (that's 3 1/3 UK pints) water, 6 yolks all soaked into the hide. I don't dry the hide between applications, though (or only a little bit, as I do the hides in turn, then start again with the first one so they get a bit of time to dry between coatings). For the hides I had to soak because I was working them from frozen, I used just a dash of water since they were already very wet and only 4 eggs + 2 yolks as they were fairly small. This worked fairly well, but more is probably better.

As you've found, there is no difference between partially softened hides and hides that haven't been softened at all. It's really important to keep going until the hide is completely dry. It's hard work, and time-consuming particularly with wet fleeces to deal with. I keep going with softening until the wool is all completely dry, especially at the roots when parted, and the skin is dry on both sides.

Regarding the wet fleeces, I haven't found a decent solution to that yet. The two I have that are fairly successful were wet because I had to defrost them before scraping, but I dried them on racks with the aid of a gas fire. This was expensive and you are constantly in danger of slightly singing the fleece if they get too close to the fire for too long. I am currently tanning another two fleeces, but I got them straight from the slaughterhouse and scraped them immediately, so the fleece was never very wet in the first place. I'll let you know if this makes a difference.

Dogwood was hoping to post some information about bark tanning shortly, which may help. With bark tanning, the tannins in the bark act as a preservative very early in the process, so it shouldn't matter if the fleece keeps the skin wet a bit longer, as there is less bacterial action to worry about (I found I was losing wool due to bacterial action and having to do wool-off hides instead for several of my fleeces).

Hope that helps! Well done with the progress you've made so far - I know how much work you've had to put in. I note that American Indians never wasted any of their leather, sewing scraps together to make larger items. It's only from attempting tanning some skins myself that I've come to fully appreciate why they did that!

Do keep us posted with your progress. I'm afraid your pictures don't show, but it's interesting to read about your efforts anyway. [Edit]Ah - the pictures show now - what beautiful fleeces![/Edit]

 

[Cromm]

WoW.
Just great work all round.
Thanks for your time.

 

[Cyclingrelf]

Regarding the wet fleeces, I haven't found a decent solution to that yet. The two I have that are fairly successful were wet because I had to defrost them before scraping, but I dried them on racks with the aid of a gas fire. This was expensive and you are constantly in danger of slightly singing the fleece if they get too close to the fire for too long. I am currently tanning another two fleeces, but I got them straight from the slaughterhouse and scraped them immediately, so the fleece was never very wet in the first place. I'll let you know if this makes a difference.

Following on from the above, the two fleeces I scraped immediately (so I didn't soak them to defreeze them and the wool wasn't wet) were MUCH easier to deal with. They dried completely in 1 day, making the softening process more manageable and ensuring the wool didn't slip.

 

[Cyclingrelf]

I tried to keep a record of the time it took me to tan the last few fleeces. Here is the approximate schedule. Times are for tanning 1 fleece with the wool on.

Scraping the membranes off: 2 hours
Putting the hide on a rack to stretch: 1.5 hours
Rubbing softening solution well into the hide: 2 hours
Softening the hide as it dries: 8 hours
Sewing the hide into a bag for smoking: 3 hours (by hand, as too thick for a sewing machine)
Smoking the hide: 4 hours
Washing the hide, including wool: 1.5 hours
Preparing/carding the wool: 1 hour

Total time to tan 1 fleece with the wool on: 23 hours

Not only is tanning time-consuming, but it's also extremely hard on the hands. After doing 11 fleeces altogether, my little finger got trigger finger and it was 2 weeks before I could uncurl it properly again (luckily, it didn't require surgery )

The time taken and hard work mean there is a real sense of achievement with the finished product. However, I've also gained a deeper appreciation of the people in the past who used this method of tanning as part of their way of life. And a fanatical desire not to waste any of the leather I've made!

 

[jon r]

Thanks for posting this thread, great to hear about your methods and experiences... this kind of stuff is what BCUK should have more of. Good exchange of knowledge. Thanks

 

[belladonna]

Hi there, looking to try my hand at my first sheepskin soon. I have 2 questions:
Does this method give you a washable product?
What difference would an extra long fleece have in the process/time?

I have purebred Icelandic sheep.

thanks for your time!

 

[TeeDee]

Great Thread.

 

[Cyclingrelf]

Hi Belladonna,
Yes, it's washable. They might lose a little softness after washing, but it's easy to get it back with just a little pulling around a wooden pole (I use a wooden chair back or similar). I was recommended to wash them with olive oil soap, so that's what I've been using. I don't know whether other types of soap would make a difference - best check with Dogwood over details like that

An extra long fleece will only make a difference if you get it wet. Having said that, different sheep will have slightly different skins, so that can make a difference. My older Texel Ewes proved virtually impossible to tan without the wool on because so much fat had deposited within the layers of skin, and it delaminated very easily. I couldn't scrape the wool and epidermal layer off without scraping the grain as well - in some areas. In other areas, the grain was hard to scrape off and I could only scrape the epidermal layer. This would have led to leather with very patchy thickness and not worth the effort of the tanning. I'd recommend trying with Gimmers or younger first! I'd be interested to hear your experiences with trying to tan Icelandic sheepskins - I've only ever tanned Texels, so don't know what differences there might be between the skins on the two breeds. A quick google found this information: http://www.localharvest.org/purebred-icelandic-lamb-pelt-C13782

If you can scrape the skin shortly after it is removed and then work it without getting the fleece wet beforehand, then you're much more likely to have success. For my first batch, I had frozen them and was putting them in a tub of water to defreeze them. However, this then meant the skins took ages to dry. Bacterial action mainly occurs in damp conditions, so the damp fleece meant the bacteria were active for too long and the wool fell out on most of my first batch. For the next skins I did, I scraped them directly after slaughter and worked them without getting the fleece wet - I had no problems with the wool falling out. After the skin has been smoked, there is no problem with getting it wet. Even though it will take a while to dry, the tannins from the smoke prevent bacterial action and the wool should stay attached. For this reason, I would wait to wash the fleece until after the hide has been smoked (which is probably a better order to do things in anyway)

Good luck! I'm happy to share my experiences if you've got more questions, though there are other's on the forum more knowledgeable on this topic than me

 

[shaels]

I have tried several fleece on hides thus far, and agree with other members that it is definitely best to flesh a hide as immediately after slaughter as possible, even warm still is great.

The main reason for this my my latest method, based of a Native American method, with input from Deerskins to buckskins and a few internet sites (like http://shilohtv.com/?p=3257). Here goes:

Flesh immediately, brain as soon as possible after than (within a day, I like to put the brains in a blender with just enough boiling water to make it blend- looks like a strawberry shake, the warmth helps with penetration, and the color helps me see where I have spread it). Spread the paste on the skin, then fold flesh-to-flesh so there are no flaps to dry out. Leave the brains on for up to a week to ten days (depending on the time of year, warmer weather leads to a quicker chemical reaction). Check for doneness by pushing your fingernail into the hide, if the indent stays, it is done.

Here is where I deviate from any method I have heard so far: Now I am going to stretch and dry the hides with all the brains and blood and debris still on them as to avoid the problem of wet wool. After this, I will smoke them, then wash them. I will want to wash after the smoking to remove a bit of the smell anyway, so I am holding off on any wash until the very end so the process won't be impeded by the wet fleece, my biggest contribute to failure in the past, here in western Washington, it is really moist in the fall and spring, when I have the fresh skins available.

So that is my method, right now they are under cover outside, brains on, day 7. I am taking pictures and will update how it goes as things progress. One note: Using a dull draw knife (for peeling bark off logs) is by far my favourite tool for fleshing.

 

[Cyclingrelf]

Hi Shaels, thanks for posting - I'll be interested to see how things go. I only brained mine for 24 hours, as I was afraid the damp and bacteria would make the fleece fall out - do you get that problem with yours? Or do you find it holds ok anyway? Is it very cold in Washington at the moment?

 

[eanne06]

Hello all! I am new to this forum and new to tanning in general. I recently obtained 3 sheepskins that I hope to make into rugs or blankets. I had not planned this or prepared for this at all before obtaining the sheepskins (they were going to be thrown out and I decided to give this a try). The sheep were killed and skinned yesterday (Feb 16). I pulled as much meat and tissue off as possible, but had no idea about the membrane. I then poured salt all over the hide (as directed by a friend that has little experience doing this as well). I want to keep the wool on, but it is extremely dirty at this point. I have also saved the brains and have them in the freezer. Right now all the skins are salted and rolled up until I figure out what to do next. I have several questions on how to proceed and would greatly appreciate any feedback from anyone.

1. Since I salted the hides, will I need to soak them before I pull the membranes off and any remaining meat I may have missed? If so, how long will I need to soak them?

2. How and WHEN should I get the wool clean? I have read several methods, but I don't know which is best or at what point to wash the wool (before or after tanning).

3. After the wool is washed, do I need to brush it? There is some blood on it, how can I get it out during the washing process?

4. Do I need to tack the hides up to something? If so, at what point and for how long?

Basically if someone could describe the process I need to go through from this point, I would really appreciate. I have read through this forum, but no one has started off with salted skins, and there isn't much detail about cleaning the wool itself. Again, any help or advice is much appreciated.

 

[eanne06]

Did you smoke the hides? If so, at what point? Doesn't the wool take forever to dry once it's washed? This is my first time tanning. My hides are currently salted and stored until I figure out what to do.

 

[eanne06]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP!!! I started the process of TRYING to flesh my first hide and I am failing MISERABLY!!! I started just trying to scrape with the salt on after two days of letting it sit. This did not work. I ended up pulling most of the flesh and membrane off with my hands, but there is a ton of membrane and fat strings still left on. I then tried to soak it for about two hours, but that didn't do anything either. Now I am stuck with WET wool and a hide that still has membrane on. The hide does not feel dry. It's really tacky, but the more I work on it with my bark knife the more I cause little holes in it without getting the membrane off! Is there any way to salvage this hide? PLEASE help me get the remaining membrane off! I still have two hides that are still salting. How can I go about starting to flesh them? Do I need to soak them? PLEASE HELP!

 

[Cyclingrelf]

Hi eanne06, first off - well done for attempting to save the skins! It's good to keep in mind that even if they don't turn out how you hoped, then you haven't lost anything and will learn loads from this process. As well as getting a neat workout. Your first skin probably won't go according to plan (mine didn't) so I recommend starting with one and only do the next one once you've learned from doing the first.

I'm afraid I can't help that much with the salt, as I've only done fresh, unsalted hides. But there is a note on this site http://www.mullerslanefarm.com/braintan.html that suggests you need to get the salt out before you attempt tanning. So I guess you wash it really well.

Make sure the hides are thoroughly soaked through before you attempt to scrape the flesh/membranes off, as it'll be easier than if they were dry. However, you might find you get problems with wool-slippage with having to wet the wool so early in the process, especially if the temperatures where you are aren't too cold. Kelly Myers, on this site, gives the following process to pickle the hide and prevent the wool from slipping:

Hydration: The first step is to bring the skin back to fresh condition. If its frozen, simply set it out in the sun and stretch at it occasionally. If its dried it will need re-hydrated. If you need to re-hydrate, or if you are worried about hair loss, now is when we have to pickle the hide to set the hair. A hide tanned fresh will not need this step.

If you want to tan something with the hair on, make sure to get it fresh. To pickle the hide, you will need vinegar, water, a large tub or plastic trash can, and a ph meter (litmus paper is not accurate enough). As bacteria sets in, the ph will go up. We will add vinegar to bring the ph gradually down to about 1.

Fill your tub with enough water to completely cover the hide. Add about 1/2 gallon of vinegar to the water, stir and add the hide making sure to get it soaked up all over. Check the ph. In 4-6 hours check the ph again. It should have gone up. Add another quart or so of vinegar. Check the ph. Eventually the ph will be 1 when you do an initial check. Keep repeating this process until the ph does not go back up. The hide is now pickled.

If you pickle the hide, then it shouldn't be a problem to keep it wet a bit longer, so you'll be able to soak it with the brains mixture for longer too - so that's a good thing.

R.e. scraping the membranes off
I'm not sure what your set-up is for scraping the hides - in an ideal world, half an old, smooth, telegraph pole or similar wooden pole leant against a wall can be used to drape the hide over and scrape against. I don't know what a bark knife is - is it sharp? If so, you might be better using something else. I didn't use a knife at all, but the edge of a panel of metal - so it was like using a very blunt knife. How old are the sheep the skins came from? If they are older than 1 year and a species like Texels (bred for meat and wool), then you may find them very difficult anyway as their skin gets fat globules in it and tends to split into layers and go into holes more easily when you scrape it.

The idea of getting the membranes off is to help the brain solution to soak into the hide thoroughly so you can soften it properly and don't get hard patches. You can actually get away with a teeny bit of membrane left on, so work hard on them to get as much as you can off, but once you've done that then try moving on to the next step in the process. Especially if it's getting so the hide is going into holes instead of getting any more membrane off! To some extent, if a hide doesn't work out the first time through the process, you can repeat everything on it and see if you can rescue it with a second working. (Though you have to be pretty determined, as this is really hard work you've let yourself in for!)

So, here's what I suggest as a plan of action now you've got so far with your first hide:

1) Wash it really thoroughly and make sure you've got ALL the salt off.
2) Get yourself a ph meter. Put your hide in a tub that allows you to cover it with water (I used a wheelie bin), then add 1/2 gallon of vinegar and stir very well. Check the ph. You are aiming for a ph of 1. Every 4-6 hours check the ph again - if it has gone up, add another quart of vinegar. Once it reaches a point where you check the ph and it is still 1 then the hide is ready, pickled and the wool should have been saved from slipping.
3) I'm not sure how much you've already scraped this one, but make sure you've done as much as you can to get the membrane, fat and flesh off. The hide will take ages to dry again because of the wet wool. Wring it out as best as you can and wait for it to dry a bit so it's just tacky and no longer wringing wet.
4) Lay the hide out flat, inside up. Mix your sheep brains with warm water (warmth helps it to soak in) and use a blender to make them into a thick, pink milkshake-type gloop. Work as much of the gloop into the hide as you can. Seeing as the hide is pickled and I think you can keep it wet a bit longer than I did without worrying so much, have a go at soaking it in the brain solution for a bit longer than I did with mine. This may help it to soak in where you couldn't get the membranes off so well. I suggest folding the hide in half, gloop inwards, and wrapping in some plastic sheeting (to stop it drying out) with maybe something heavy on top. Leave for at least 24 hours, but longer is likely to be better - a few days. Shaels above suggests a week to 10 days, but as you want wool on, I'll leave that to your discretion.
5) I would now stretch the hide on a frame, as it's easier to work it that way. If you can't get hold of a big enough frame, then you can get away without using one but it'll be harder on your hands pulling the hide about to soften it and the hide may go more mis-shapen than if you did have one. Instructions for this are in the first post on this thread.
6) Your aim now is to be there constantly whilst the hide is drying, pulling it about and stretching it - which you can do by poking it with a stout stick if it's on a frame, or pull it over your knee and around a taught rope/wire - until it starts to change colour - you start to get small white patches appearing that show it is nearly dry. This is going to be several hours work depending on the temperature you're working in and speed of drying. The hide should still be soft all the while you're working it - if you start to get hard patches, work extra hard on those bits, especially with the wire/rope (take it off the frame again if you need to, once it starts to get dry enough to be going hard then the real work begins.)
7) Once the hide is nearly dry, it's a good idea to start pulling it around a taught rope or wire. Keep going until the hide is absolutely bone dry and you don't see translucent patches when you hold it up to the light. It should be dry and soft by this stage. The hide really has to be totally dry - if it isn't, and you leave it, all your hard work will be undone and it will go hard. You can re-brain it and start the softening process again, but you won't want to!
8) Hard work is largely done now You can store the softened hide in a dry place where pests won't get it until you get the other hides done, then you can smoke them all together. DO NOT get them wet again until after you have smoked them.
9) Smoke the hides. (Details of how I did this on the first page of this thread).
10) Wash the fleeces and prepare them however you want them. You might want to save the smokey water from the initial rinse, as this is helpful for future tanning efforts.
Bars of olive oil soap are good for washing most of the muck out of the fleece. If they have coloured dye on them, then there isn't much you can do. You can try bleach, but it's strongly alkaline, so protect the underlying skin with vinegar before you use it and try not to get the bleach on the skin. It will also make the wool more brittle, so don't over-do it.

Hope that helps, and good luck!

 

[eanne06]

Wow! Thank you so much. You definitely gave me a second wind and I no longer feel like I am fumbling in the dark. I know a lot of that information was on this forum, so I apologize and appreciate that you repeated it. There are just so many steps on here, taken in different orders and with different circumstances, that I suffered a little bit of information overload. Thank you for giving me clear direction with my specific case. I have washed then soaked the hide in the vinegar solution. It is hanging out to dry a little and I will go ahead and put the brain on tomorrow. I will keep everyone posted on my progress. Thanks again for all of your helpful advice! You may have just saved my hide =)

 

[Cyclingrelf]

You're welcome I hope it works out - I haven't tried the vinegar process before, but it sounds ideal if it stops the wool slipping - I only got 2/9 hides with the wool on when I did my first batch because I had to soak the fleeces to defrost them and the bacterial action made the wool slip on most of them. Do keep us posted, as you learn something new with each one.

By the way, if the wool does slip, then it's still worth doing the hide as you get some nice chamois-type leather to play with. It's actually surprisingly difficult to ruin a hide completely, you'll be pleased to hear.

 

[eanne06]

One more question. Should I stitch up any holes before I stretch and work the hide with the brain on?

 

[shaels]

Hi Shaels, thanks for posting - I'll be interested to see how things go. I only brained mine for 24 hours, as I was afraid the damp and bacteria would make the fleece fall out - do you get that problem with yours? Or do you find it holds ok anyway? Is it very cold in Washington at the moment?

Well, the wool is still dry, and the brain paste isn't very wet, so it just penetrates on the flesh side where it is spread, and the wool side (which is to the air as it's folded flesh to flesh) stays dry and I have never had trouble rotting this way. The only time I have had the fleece slip is when I was trying to stretch/dry it while the wool was wet, or when I tried to do the acid/pickle which is why I decided oil tanning is better, especially with a dry fleece!

My process was interrupted and the leather got a little stiff on half of the hides, so those I am going to soak the skins in soapy water and wash the fur, letting them hydrate (4 - 6 hours). Then I will dry the wool with my heat gun, and soften then on a cable while they dry. Then I will smoke them one or two times, and have some lovely sheepskins for making hats and such.

I read it was okay to brain, stretch and dry, then wash, then soften/dry from the book 'Leather' by Lotta Rahme. It is a great book now available in English on North American and European traditional methods of tanning and skin preservation by a Swedish woman who even tans salmon skin! A great book though not always specific in its methods.