cmfarm":34nxgs1z said:
What is the easiest, cheapest way to do it?
The
simplest and
cheapest way I know to produce a hair-on pelt would go:
1: Flesh
2: oil (brains, egg, mayo, oil soap, olive oil, neats foot, whatever. Different "oils" will produce different results)
3: dry + break(work soft) <- this is done in one step. Better to err on the side of starting to work a pelt too wet than trying to work one too dry.
Brained pelts are often smoked as a final step.
I can get a lot more complicated if you'd like a chemical method that has less chance of slip, more consistent results, and will produce leather that lasts forever.
__________ Mon Apr 06, 2015 9:48 pm __________
Basically there are other steps that can be added for various different purposes.
Salting helps prevent slippage and is a good way to store skins.
An acid pickle kills bacteria that causes slip, and prepares a pelt for tanning.
De-greasing is an absolutely necessary step for working with oily pelts, like raccoon.
A tanning agent can be a preservative like alum, or it can alter the proteins in a leather permanently such as with tannins(for making veg-tan leather, not fur) or syn tan agents.
All the real work is in the fleshing and breaking, and those two steps are unavoidable..
