Tanning my First Sheepskin | Permaculture Life

[@lisalines4413]

What a beautiful wool. I can see why you wanted to tan that. I also do tanning and have worked on several cattle and one goat hide, not sheep yet. You should be able to rehydrate it and get it soft again as it is already tanned. As long as it's tanned all the way through where there's no rawhide, your good. A better emulsifyier then egg yolk is Lecithin. It's a food nutritional additive you should easily find at any grocers. When put in water it acts just like egg yolk, without the bad smells and you can make a decent amount to properly soak in the hide, which is where it will make it more supple.

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

Thanks for that Lisa! I thought it was a list cause - will try again & look out for lecithin!!

[@lisalines4413]

@@huttonsvalleypermaculture No worries. Another process that would assist in suppleness and future pest proofing the leather is cold smoking it. I use the tannins I leach from local barks to tan my hides, so I need all the help I can get, to get it as workable as possible. Sorry I should have introduced myself again. I'm Nathan. Freinds of your neighbours. The one who does mead too 😆.

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

Sorry Nathan - didn’t remember!! I’ll certainly have to do some more investigating methods before I process the other two skins & the cow hide!! Did you get the cow hide supple??

[@lisalines4413]

@Huttons Valley Permaculture Not the last one unfortunately (big rug). I made the mistake of not obtaining enough bark (tannins) to completely tan the skin all the way through. Hair started slipping and It came out stiff, but for the thin parts that did, once I stretched it a bit, it relaxed well and kept good. The other smaller cattle projects like bike handles came out really well, and that was before I knew about Lecithin. Probably would have been better if it was alum tanning too. One thing I've learning working with cattle is it that it requires lots of practice, trial and error to get the product you aiming for. But every step is a learning experience.

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

I might try another sheepskin before I tackle my cow hide - don’t want to ruin it so a little more practice first can’t hurt!

[@countrymousesfarmhouse497]

Well done. That is hard work. I'm pretty bad at skinning and even worse at scraping. We still haven't bought the tool . Last time we had a friend use their rubber scraping tool , kind of looks like a window washers tool. They did great. I finished several rabbit kit skins when we were in NSW , to the point of the last dry before softening and we couldn't keep the rats from eating them. Our dogs were terrible at trying to get to the sheep ones. We want to try tanning using brains next. That sheep skin looks like a little bear skin.. lol. I love the frosted tips. Might be fantastic to put under foot in the kitchen while cooking. Thanks for taking us along 🤎

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

Wow sounds like you’ve done everything Naomi! The stretching of the skin was easy to start with but got tougher as it dried then I totally forgot about it lol. I’ve been using the skin in my ensuite and it feels luxurious under my feet 😊

[@countrymousesfarmhouse497]

@@huttonsvalleypermaculture you know that saying" Jen of all trades, master of none ". I love to give everything a good try ,even if I'm not much good at it . 😉

[@countrymousesfarmhouse497]

@@huttonsvalleypermaculture p.s. I hope I never sound like I'm bragging 😬❤

[@LittleGardenBigDreams]

You are a woman of many talents Linda🙌🏼 Such a worthwhile project! I’ve tried an emu skin once and it was a lot of work, but a great learning process. xx Cathi xx 😘

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

Wow - what have you done with the emu skin?? It is a lot of work but rewarding when it’s done. Not looking forward to the cow hide but determined not to let it go to waste!! Xx

[@LittleGardenBigDreams]

@@huttonsvalleypermaculture it was when I was living in WA, so it never made it back here with me. I was going to sew it into a carry bag as it was a lovely fine leather. It was from a roadkill, so not sure I’d find another one these days as not a lot of farms have them now the 90’s emu craze is over😬 xx Cathi xx 😘

[@countrymousesfarmhouse497]

Wow Cathi... that sounds awesome 👌

[@deborahlee8135]

Brilliant! I was expecting mashed brains or something to tan it with. Perhaps I've read too much Clan of the Cave Bear 🤣

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

Haha - yeah as soon as I saw you can use eggs to do it I was willing to give it a try

[@deborahlee8135]

I presume it is something to do with the protein. Will check out the link to satisfy my curiosity and potentially put me in another rabbit hole 😂 Hope the weather is reasonable for you. I'm over the chilly morning but we've barely had any rain. I hope August fixes that.

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

Yeah I think it’s all about the protein! We’ve had some rain here but not the usual and it’s been really mild and spring like which is a worry really. Don’t know if winter is still coming or an early summer - who knows. Good luck with your rain 🌧

[@horseblinderson4747]

I've heard walnut husk, not the shells the the green blackish stuff that the nut shell comes in.

[@thedukesadventures4323]

I tan with the alum & salt bath method aswell as with eggs sometimes . I find removing the fat and membrain with a presure washer on sheep is quicker and easier thinner skinned animals like fox i still scrape with a knife .

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

Thanks for that advice. I still have a couple more to do and may try that method instead. Do you think it would work with a cow hide?

[@thedukesadventures4323]

@@huttonsvalleypermaculture yes i would so .. ive heard some large presure washers can cut threw the skin i use a kärcher k4 it works perfect for me

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

Mine isn’t a big one - I’ll give it a go! Thank you!!

[@judyholdsworth7096]

Really enjoyed watching you working on this project. Thanks for sharing

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

Thanks Judy pleased you’ve enjoyed it

[@SeekerofEndurance]

Hi Linda. Great job. Such cute animals you have. Do you have the recipe for the tanning solution?

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

Hi there and thank you! The recipe I used I got from another persons youtube video kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y6GVd5quirR8iKs , so check that out if you are planning to do this. I have had someone comment that this isn't a true tanning process (read through my comments to see exactly what was said) - so maybe a bit of homework on the subject so you make the right decision for yourself. My sheepskin is still lovely - I'm using it as a floor mat! Thanks for watching!!

[@nigeleastment3184]

TheDukes Adventures - you are so right, a good jet wash is a brilliant way to ‘flesh’ a sheepskin. You just need to keep the water jet moving to avoid making holes. I only picked up the idea in a comment on KZbin but it works and saves so much effort I am really surprised it has not been adopted more widely. My 2 Shetland sheepskins turned out great using salt, alum and egg tanning.

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

I’ll definitely be trying the jet wash next time. When I bought my fleshing knife from a taxidermy place the guy there had said that’s what they do. Would have been a lot quicker if I’d followed that advice! Thanks for your comments and for watching!

[@jeanmyers7833]

you did amazing job for your first try i have been trying to do my own too hope yours are going better than mine have good luck to you

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

Thanks Jean 😊

[@sueperkins8853]

This is SO interesting.

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

Hi Sue I love that you find it interesting because I do too 😄

[@lynda3833]

Wow Linda you are amazing! Love watching your videos.

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

Thanks Lynda! I love watching KZbin videos myself & can’t help but give it all ago. So pleased you enjoy them ☺️

[@naturewoman1274]

I love the respect you have for animals, and your a talented woman, very impressive, how's the spinning journey going? I thought of you the other day the local op shop had massive bags of raw mohair

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

Oooh raw mohair 😍. I knitted my hat but I think too much alpaca - lost it’s shape very quickly haha

[@leisurenewvision]

I love the respect you have for animals, and your a talented woman, very impressive my friend. Nice video and channel. Well done!

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

Thank you very much 😊

[@irenesgardenandmore]

🌸🌸🌺thank you for showing us how to do it ! Thanks for sharing !

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

Thanks for watching ☺️

[@backtonature433]

Wow, you've done it amazingly 👏 👏👏👏👏👏,it's not so easy and it requires a lot of work,,great job👌👌👌🤗🤗🤗🤗

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

A bit more stretching next time, but practice makes perfect, so they say 😄

[@backtonature433]

@@huttonsvalleypermaculture 🤗🤗🤗

[@hajirahibraheem9501]

Where do you get the tool used in this video to scrap the remaining flesh off with?

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

It's called a fleshing knife and I just searched online and found one at a local taxidermist. When I rang he told me it was easier to use a high pressure hose for fleshing as long as it didn't oscillate - don't have one of those so bought the knife!

[@scottmacdonald5170]

Great job!

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

Thanks Scott!!

[@InamAkhtar-l3v]

Thankyou for this.🎉

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

My pleasure 😊

[@InamAkhtar-l3v]

Where are you from mam.

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

@user-os7ni9kx7e I’m in south east Australia

[@a.n.a.critters328]

What tool is that?

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

Do you mean the fleshing knife? The one I scrap the skin down with

[@michelewilson9383]

Do you have a link to buying aluminium sulphate?

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

Hi there I just bought it at Bunnings - in the pool section - it’s called Hyclor Flocculent

[@ourstoneycreekjourney5702]

@@huttonsvalleypermaculture thanks for that info. We are about to process some skin and I was keen to do a skin or 2. I will look in Bunnings as cannot find alum in the shops where I live. My closest Bunnings is a couple of hours away 😆

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

Good luck with your skin processing!!

[@stonecarver9612]

Good job

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

Thank you 😊

[@specialsomeone-]

if you cared about animals you wouldn't be doing this. I will never trust a person capable of looking an animal in the eyes and then slaughtering it for absolutely no good reason.

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

👍