Re: MtMan-List: alum tanning

[Gary Bell <micropt@gte.net>]

I wasn't the one who posted on this topic, but I would certainly like to learn
about a water and brains method!  Clearly there have been a whole mess of
postings on these topics recently, but your description appeals to me as it
sounds like the sort of approach used before fancy white man's ways.

Gary Bell

Longtrail wrote:

> >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