Chapter 10 DRESSING AND SOFTENING SKINS OR FURS AS LEATHER.

THE art of tanning is, as I before observed (vide Chapter I.), of the highest antiquity, as systems which are now in vogue must have been known - if even in a modified form - to the ancients. We may roughly divide the operation of tanning into two distinct classes: One which deals with skins without the preservation of the fur, and which turns the skin so operated upon into the material known as leather; and the other in which we seek to preserve the fur or hair in its normal position, at the same time dressing or rendering soft the actual skin itself. [Footnote: Some time during 1874, Mr.

Joseph Tussaud read a paper before the Society of Arts, in which he described an ingenious method of removing the fur of any animal to an artificial "backing" of india-rubber or flannel, whilst the original skin was utilised as leather.]

The first process - the making of leather - does not lie within the scope of this work; suffice it to say, that the hair or fur is first removed by lime, etc.., and that after the skin is scraped it is treated variously with oak bark, valonia, sumach, divi-divi, etc..; it is a long and tedious process, and certainly does not lie within the province of a taxidermist to attempt; and though it is possible for a tanner to preserve the fur with the skin, yet the attempt is undesirable, by reason of the false or unnatural colour it permanently gives the fur - totally destroying the character of a light one, and heightening or lowering, as the case may be, the tint of a dark fur. [Footnote: Technical works on Tanning are "Tanning, Currying, and Leather-dressing," by F. Dussance: "The Arts of Tanning, Currying, and Leather-dressing," from the French of J. de Fontenelle and F. Malepeyre.]

To obviate all these difficulties and disagreeable effects, a totally distinct method of dressing skins has been devised, which is called "white leather dressing." Before I describe this, however, it may be as well to say that no liquid, powder, or combination of liquids or powders, is known into which a skin can be plunged, and - without the aid of manual labour - come out as leather. I mention this to correct a popular error, many people supposing that labour has no part in the preparation of "white leather." To those who are not prepared to work hard, and very hard indeed, I say, Do not waste your time in reading this chapter.

The usual and time-honoured method of dressing skins, say a rabbit's skin, is - directly it is removed from the animal - to nail it on a board, and rub it in with alum four parts, and common salt one part, or plunge it in a warm solution of the same for a day or so, taking it out, nailing it on a board, letting it dry, rubbing it down with pumice stone, and plunging it again and again, and repeating the drying and pumice-stoning process until the skin becomes pliable. This is rather an uncertain process, for if well steeped the hair or fur is constantly damp, or dripping even, in humid weather, and if alum alone is used, though killing much of the dampness, it renders a fine thin skin of a parchment-like texture.

However, as anything is better than a damp skin, I have used a mixture of four parts of burnt alum to one part of saltpetre (see Formula No. 9) for small skins, finally rubbing down and dressing the skin with lard, into which a little essence of musk has been stirred, and kneading the skin with the hands in bran to remove the superflous grease.

This, and all other such processes where alum is used, must, however, give way to the following, which I have used for certain skins for years, and for which I was originally indebted to a correspondent in the English Mechanic; his formula was: "Mix bran and soft water sufficient to cover the skins, let this stand four hours covered, before being used, then immerse the skins, keeping them well covered for twenty-four hours (less in India), then take out, wash clean, and carefully scrape off all the flesh. To one gallon of water (hot) add one pound of alum and a quarter of a pound of salt. When dissolved and the mixture is cool enough to bear the hand, immerse the skins for twenty-four hours, take out and dry in the shade, and well rub with the hand.

Stir the liquor, and again immerse for twenty-four hours; dry, and hand-rub as before, and then put the skins for twenty-four hours into warm oatmeal and water, stirring occasionally. Dry in the shade, and when the skin is nearly dry, hand-rub till quite dry."

The only thing I have found necessary to guard against in this is, that the skins must be perfectly fresh before being put in the bran and water, otherwise it will be necessary to rub them in with the salt and alum first. Another improvement is, to tear up the fibre with a little instrument I have invented, or rather adapted (see Fig. 35), which is simply a "hog scraper," ground up sharp all round, and then filed up into short rounded teeth where shown; this will be found of incalculable service in tearing off the hard upper skin or dried flesh and blood, which locks up as it were the true skin, and which must be got at before the pelt will become at all flexible.

Fig. 35 - Scraper with which to dress skins.

Often a thorough wetting of the skin will considerably facilitate this operation. Constant scraping and hard hand-rubbing, similar to a washerwoman's "rubbing" of clothes, is necessary. In the cases of some skins which are obstinate, thick, or have been simply sun-dried, as are many tigers' and leopards' skins sent from India, it will be found necessary to fix them over a sloping board or on the edge of a table, and to use a spokeshave, or currier's thinning knife, to thin them down - perhaps an eighth of an inch all over - then tear the fibre up with the scraper, grease them with lard, to which has been added essence of musk, and punch them for several hours or several days with a "dolly" in a tub half full of bran or hard-wood sawdust; finally covering them with plaster of Paris, or powdered whiting, to absorb the grease; scraping off the old plaster or whiting, and adding fresh from time to time, until the skin is freed of fat and perfectly pliant. [Footnote: Professional workmen often knead the lard into skins by the medium of their feet and hands - not too clean an operation!]

To afterwards clean the fur, dress it down with a "scratch-card" (to be procured of any ironmonger) - steel wire woven on cloth in such a manner that short ends protrude like a wire brush.

Very fat skins, such as dogs' skins, may, if perfectly fresh, be nailed out and gone over with a saturated solution of borax, or a solution of one part borax to one-eighth part saltpetre, and left to dry in the shade for three months, after which they may be scraped, and their natural fat will, after all superfluity has been removed with plaster, etc.., be found to have sufficiently imbued the under or proper skin to render the final greasing unnecessary.

The two foregoing processes seem to have been modified with some success by Mr. R. Backhouse, of Stockton-on-Tees, whose process is spoken of in the Field of June 3rd, 1882, as follows:

"The skin, which should be removed from the animal as soon as possible after it has been killed, is stretched and tacked on to a board, the flesh side being outwards. This is at once covered with lard carefully spread over the entire surface, no portion being allowed to escape. As the moisture dries out of the skin, the lard enters the pores and supplies its place, and in about a week's time (the lard being carefully renewed when requisite) the skin will have altered its character, in consequence of being penetrated by the grease. It is then removed and washed thoroughly in warm water and soap until the external grease is removed.

During the drying it is necessary to pull and stretch the skin in all directions, so that its texture opens, and it becomes white, owing to the admission of air into the pores; this stretching is accompanied, or rather preceded, by careful scraping or currying with a sharp knife or razor, to remove the fleshy matters and render the skin thinner. With the larger number of skins the process is successful; but some few go bad, apparently from not absorbing the lard with sufficient rapidity."..

Possibly the species of mammals treated may have something to do with this, the skins of carnivorous animals bearing exposure better than those of the rodentia - hares, rabbits, squirrels, etc.., and insectivora - bats, shrew-mice, and moles - indeed, the latter animals must be skinned almost as soon as they are dead, or the skin turns "green" and goes bad in a very short time. No doubt the vegetable and insect food consumed by these cause fermentation after death, with the resultant putrefaction of the bowels and the thin coverings of the latter.

I would here point out, however, that small skins - cats', rabbits', etc.. - will be perfectly preserved if stretched out whilst fresh, cured with the chloride of lime preservative (No. 4), and then finally treated with lard and essence of musk, and finished off by either of the preceding methods to render them clean and supple. A correspondent who had treated some cats' skins by this method writes to say he has "succeeded in curing some cats' skins in an admirable manner" by following these instructions.

A very convenient mixture of borax and another natural salt has been brought out by Mr. Robottom, of Birmingham (see Chapter I). I have given his preparation a long and patient investigation, and can recommend it for small skins, while its convenient form, cleanliness, and low price, place it within the reach of all amateurs.

Equal parts of salt, alum, and Glauber's salts, mixed with half a part of saltpetre, the whole rubbed in several times a day, has been recommended, but I have not tried it.

A mixture of sulphur and arsenic with soft soap is sometimes used to dress skins with, and if left on for about a year certainly renders them very pliant, after the removal of the grease.

The North American Indians, I believe, smoke their deer skins, etc.., and after working them, use brains to dress them with.

The skins of mammals in the flesh may, if bloody, be washed, should the blood be new, or combed with the scratch card (see ante) if it has dried on the hair or fur. In old skins washing is effective when the animal is relaxed. Freshly skinned deer and bulls' heads should always be washed and combed, and wrung out before having the preservative applied.

Mammals' fur is also considerably improved in tone by being well brushed with stiff horse or carriage brushes, and afterwards wiped down with turpentine, followed by benzoline.

When a skin is properly cleaned and finished, it may be lined with red or black cloth, or baize, and a "pounced" border of cloth attached. The tools for "pouncing" are to be bought at most saddlers' or ironmongers'.

I have been asked many times what to do, if camping out abroad, supposing you shot a tiger or a bear, and wished to preserve the skin as a "flat." Simply lay it on the ground and slit the skin underneath, in a straight line through the under lip to the tip of the tail, then make four cross cuts from the median line along the inside of the limbs down to the toes, and skin out the body by stripping it in a careful manner, not allowing any pieces to be cut away, in case you might change your mind and wish it mounted as a specimen.

Take out the skull, clean and preserve it, and though skinning out the toes completely, be careful to retain the claws in their seats. When the body is removed, "flesh" the skin, which means scraping and cutting away all superfluous flesh and fat, then lay it out flat and rub it well in with the burnt alum and saltpetre (Formula No. 9). In dressing thick skins, it will be advisable to make a paste of the alum and saltpetre by mixing it with a little water, and repeatedly rub this mixture into those parts where the skin is thickest, such as around the lips, eyes, ears, etc.., taking care that not a wrinkle in any part escapes a thorough dressing, otherwise it will assuredly "sweat," and the hair come off in such places.

The skin may now be rolled or folded together for travelling, but the next day, when settled in camp, it must be dressed again - twice will be quite sufficient for any but the thickest or most greasy skins; after that it must be exposed day by day to the sun and air, taking care meanwhile to guard it against all possible enemies. Treated in this manner, it has no "nature" in it, but is "as stiff as a board;" before this happens, however, it will be advisable to roll it, unless you have plenty of space at disposal on the floor of a travelling waggon, etc.., in which case it may be folded to fit. A folded skin is, however, worse to treat, subsequently, than a rolled one.

Valuable skins should be, when practicable, sprinkled with insect powder, turpentine, or pepper, and sewn up in sacking until they can be tanned, or made into soft leather, by any one of the processes previously described. If time is no object the skin may, after the first rubbing-in of the preservative, be stretched by the old-fashioned method of "pegging out," or by the more efficient professional "frame," made of four bars of wood, to which the specimen is "laced," or sometimes made of bars of wood and stout sacking, adjustable by means of wood screws, which open the bars and stretch the attached skin in a proper manner to the required size.

When alum, etc.., cannot be obtained, recourse must be had to common salt, which is generally procurable in any part of the world; a strong - almost a saturated - solution with water must be made of this in a tub, and the skin placed in it. If possible, change the liquor after a few days and add fresh; head the tub up tightly and the skin will keep many years. I received the skin of a polar bear, sent from the Arctic Regions to Leicester for the Town Museum, simply flayed and pickled in this manner, and after a lapse of two years it was examined, and found to be perfectly sweet and firm - quite fit for mounting when opportunity served.

Of course, these salted subjects are terrible nuisances either to mount or to treat as flat skins, having to go through many processes to rid them of the salt which pervades them. The first process is thorough washing and steeping in water, constantly changed; after that experience alone determines the treatment to be pursued. If alum were mixed with rough salt in the proportion of two parts of the former to one of the latter, the solution would become more astringent in its operation. A pickle made of oatmeal, saltpetre, and boiling vinegar has been recommended, but I have not yet tried it.

I think I have now put the would-be tanner and currier in a fair way to do some of the dirtiest work imaginable, and if after a fair trial he does not cry, "Hold, enough!" and hand all future leather-dressing over to the professionals, I shall indeed think him "hard to kill."

In conclusion, I can only reiterate to those who wish to do skins well by any of the foregoing methods, that nothing can be done without hard work.