Todays makings hat and potlid

[John Fenna]

OK - work is slow at the moment..
Today I made a Sheepskin hat (well - it will be winter soon...) and a neolithic-ish pot lid come bakestone inspired by those I have seen from Skara Brea and Ness of Brodgar, crossed with a good Welsh bakestone (Llechfaen)...
Hat - made from some of a Charity Shop sheepskin jacket bought for £4 - lots of sheepskin left!


Stone thing - made from good local Welsh slate shaped by chipping and abrading then oiled with Flax oil


I do like making things.... but work calls for the next two days!

 

[huntersforge]

Nice work there John. The hat suits you well

 

[Dave]

Nice hat. Like that

 

[Macaroon]

You won't get cold in that, eh? Lovely job.

 

[sunndog]

Bloody good hat for 4 quid that mate

 

[Robson Valley]

Interesting in that the wool is on the outside. Skin side out, the wool would make a good insulating layer
in the efficient styly of Inuit winter clothing. As an experiment, make another in Inuit style.

 

[John Fenna]

Interesting in that the wool is on the outside. Skin side out, the wool would make a good insulating layer
in the efficient styly of Inuit winter clothing. As an experiment, make another in Inuit style.

Sheep wear the wool on the outside.... who am I to argue with them?
I may try the alternative - when I get time....

 

[sunndog]

Sheep wear the wool on the outside.

As a sheep farmer i can confirm that

 

[dewi]

I want one of those hats John!

 

[Goatboy]

Lovely job, I've a very similar sheepskin hat (except the sides flap down to cover my lugs). My longest serving hat I think - bought it driving down from Inverness in a car with no working heater back in about '87. Temp was reading -11 inside the car and my bonny new hat kept my head toasty.
Like your slate pot lid too. Take it you can keep something warm on it while it's on a pot?
Cheers for posting up sir.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[Robson Valley]

JF: wait until it is -40C. Do the experiment. It is relatively silly to put the moisture-soaking wool/fur on the outside.
Either that or we might think that 20,000 years of Inuit experience is a fake.
My sheepskin and rawhide coats are all Inuit style coats with all of the insulation on the inside. .. like a good northern house.

 

[John Fenna]

JF: wait until it is -40C. Do the experiment. It is relatively silly to put the moisture-soaking wool/fur on the outside.
Either that or we might think that 20,000 years of Inuit experience is a fake.
My sheepskin and rawhide coats are all Inuit style coats with all of the insulation on the inside. .. like a good northern house.

-40C?
Around here it rarely gets below -10C even with windchill!
I am not saying that the Inuit experience is fake but only that the wool is designed by growth to be weather resistant - many cultures that wear furs and hides wear the skin side in...
I did a little experiment last night, soaking a piece of the skeepskin in water... the wool shook to dry-to-the-touch - the skin was still damp this morning. Unless I treat the skin (there-by reducing its very desirable breathability) I think that the wool will still keep my head dry and warm worn on the outside...
I might still make a wool-side-in version just to try it

 

[Twodogs]

Sheep wear the wool on the outside.... who am I to argue with them?
I may try the alternative - when I get time....

 

[tombear]

Nice makes!

incidently I've had success with relanolinising sheep skin that you don't want to soak in water with my lanolin in isopropyl alchahol mix. It helps if the alchahol is warm when you are dissolving the raw lanolin. You can then spray it on or in the case of greasing the inside of a lined scabbard I used a length of thin stiff tube as a dropper, releasing the finger on the end as I pulled it out. Even then the alcohol evaporated gff very quickly. Apply multiple coats until its as greasy as you want.

ATB

Tom

 

[Goatboy]

-40C?
Around here it rarely gets below -10C even with windchill!
I am not saying that the Inuit experience is fake but only that the wool is designed by growth to be weather resistant - many cultures that wear furs and hides wear the skin side in...
I did a little experiment last night, soaking a piece of the skeepskin in water... the wool shook to dry-to-the-touch - the skin was still damp this morning. Unless I treat the skin (there-by reducing its very desirable breathability) I think that the wool will still keep my head dry and warm worn on the outside...
I might still make a wool-side-in version just to try it

I was going to say that the Inuit aren't really known for their sheperding skills. White sheep in all that snow! They'd be a bit like Little Bo Peep.
Coldest sustained temps here was about -20 for a week a couple of years back. My sheepskin hat did me proud though it is inverted to yours. The only thing is that it can be a tadge too warm for UK use.
In the past I've proofed it with lanolin (though the smell gives me bad memories of shearing time on the farm) & I've also used baby lotion mixed with water which works very well and smells better. (You can use it on other woolens too).
Charity shop sheepskins are a good way to go. I picked up a new with tags long lambskin coat for under a £10'er a year or two back. After removing the buttons and sleaves it made a wonderfull sleepmat for my mates new bell tent. And he still has the arms to play with/make something from.
That and cheap sheepskin rugs make good blankets/mats. The dog used to take his camping and we'd sometimes share it when he decided to sleep in my bag.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[Robson Valley]

Even as far south as I live at 53N, the big issue in the winter is wind and wind-chill.
It's OK in the forest but wild out in the open.
Thus, I have the windproof layer, the skin or canvas, on the outside.
Whatever the inside insulation is, the air trapped in it, next to me, doesn't move
much, spilling my body heat to the atmosphere.

The Inuit have inhabited the far north for somewhere between 10,000 - 30,000 years. . . . . with success.
If you Google UBC/MOA and select the Online Collection, you can sift through more than 40,000 objects. Good Iniut collection.

 

[John Fenna]

Even as far south as I live at 53N, the big issue in the winter is wind and wind-chill.
It's OK in the forest but wild out in the open.
Thus, I have the windproof layer, the skin or canvas, on the outside.
Whatever the inside insulation is, the air trapped in it, next to me, doesn't move
much, spilling my body heat to the atmosphere.

The Inuit have inhabited the far north for somewhere between 10,000 - 30,000 years. . . . . with success.
If you Google UBC/MOA and select the Online Collection, you can sift through more than 40,000 objects. Good Iniut collection.

A good collection - worth anyones time to view!
However - not all the native Arctic gear is fur in....http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-pe...an-sitting-in-snow-alaska-1960s-19749799.html
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...10.jpeg/180px-Canadian_man_fur_coat_1910.jpeg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...uit-Kleidung_1.jpg/220px-Inuit-Kleidung_1.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...Alaska,_1929,_Edward_S._Curtis_(restored).jpg
http://collection-online.moa.ubc.ca/collection-online/collection_images/12/main/12501V09.jpg
I am not argueing with the logic you bring to bear - just that it is not the oly way of doing things
I have had a good trawl through the museums Inuit clothing collection and it seems to me most of the Inuit OUTER garments have fur out - it is the inner garments that have the fur in....

 

[John Fenna]

I have now had time to make a "Wool in" version - boy oh boy it tickles the bald pate!


I am posing looking "aggressive" as I think that I look a bit like one of Ghengis Cohens Mongol Horde....

 

[bushwacker bob]

Ghengis Cohens Mongol Horde....

Was he the first Jewish mongol?

 

[John Fenna]

Was he the first Jewish mongol?

Nephew of Cohen the Barbarian ...