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!
