Re: MtMan-List: alum tanning

[Longtrail <ezra@midrivers.com>]

>here's a question for you folks. I've got 4 hides that I'm in the
>process of alum tanning. I dehaired them, soaked them in the tanning
>solution and now I'm staking and stretching them. The thing that I've
>noticed is this. When I dehaired them, ashes weren't doing the job very
>well so I switched to lye. Now I notice that the one hide that I
>dehaired with ashes alone is staking and stretching much easier than the
>3 that had lye added. Any thoughts?
>
>
>Kirk Mill
>
>(just a pilgrim from PA)

Kirk
Why use ashes or lye when water alone works fine without the ash or caustic
lye.
We send out six to eight very soft, fine quality hides a week using NOTHING
BUT water and brains in the process.   Sure theres more than one way to
skin a cat, but as we sit here daily reading about all those ways and all
the additional ingreedients we realize there are alot more folks who write
books about doing hides than there are folks who have it down to the fine
art of producing six to eight quality hides a week.
Contact me personally and I will email you our instructions if you are
interested.    Longtrail