TAWING

Basically it is a mixture of un-iodised salt, alum and water. But I will get the exact proportions.

Aluminium potasium sulphate (alum) 4 parts Sodium chloride (un-iodised salt) 1 part. Added to this enough water so that the above will just disolve.

Next in the book was a description of how to first bleach the skin if you want to retain the fleece and not damage it, I can post it if you are interested, but it’s kind of long otherwise.

After cleaning, the skin is soaked in the mixture for a few hours and then 'staked'. You need something resembling a stake or plank, sticking out of the ground at about waist level. You then take the skin in each hand and with an alternating each hand up and down, motion draw the skin across the stake. This sort of 'opens up' the pores of the leather allowing more of the solution to soak in next time.

Keep on repeating soaking and staking. As you do so the skin will get whiter and softer. Eventually getting a rough texture sort of like suede.

Now briefly rinse and set aside to dry. If it becomes too stiff, stake during the drying process.

The skin is greatly improved when dry by stuffing. The leather at this stage is open in texture and a wide variety of substances can be absorbed to give greater body. For fleeced skins the safest stuffing is glycerol (glycerine) for it is the least likely to stain wool or hair. However fat and oils of any type, egg yolk, flour and starch are among substances which have been used for stuffing. Where colour is of no great moment the leather can be stuffed by soaking in the following mixture: household detergent 1 part Pure soap flakes 10 parts Neatsfoot oil 20 parts water 200 parts Warm water should be used and the neatsfoot oil well emulsified by whisking or beating into the mixture. staking during stuffing will assist in further softening of the leather,]

DRY CURING

Remove skins from animals within 24 hrs of killing the best skins are from rabbits 6-8 months old, summer skins are not as strong.

Remove the inner skin. Start at the head

Pin it onto a board, pin about every 2 inches. Stretching slightly to a oblong shape.

Mix 2 teaspoons of Alum & 2 tsp of salt together well, rub into the skin.

When this has dissolved, remove pins & fold into quarters fur side out.

Put in cool place for 3 days.

After 3 days wash in lukewarm rainwater.

Wring dry and hang furside out in a cool place to dry slowly.

Everyday whilst dryinmg it should be taken down twisted, pulled and handled to keep it supple.

Run oatmeal into skin whilst drying to absorb grease & damp

When quite dry brush both sides.

WET CURING

2 lb bran to 1 gallon (UK gallon) of water

Fold skin fur side in, immerse for 1.5 to 2 days.

Hang on a line to drain for about 1 hour

Rub 2 oz alum & 3 oz salt mix in, fold in quaters and leave fron 2 days

If all the salt/alum mix is gone after one day rub in some more. Remove inner skin and hang on a line fur out to dry very slowly

Again handle every day

CUIR BOUILLI

Information on the preparation of Cuir Bouilli , also known as hardened leather. I am aware of two methods of hardening leather; the first is boiling the leather in wax. I have successfully used this method to create a coat of scale armour. The second method I have seen mentioned is to boil the leather in water with salt and alum.

In the tanning of hides, we use salts (particularly alum) to cause the follicles around the hairs of the hide to constrict. This is important if you want to keep the hair on the hide.

For those of you with period pavilions, alum is also used as a non-toxic fire retardant for fabric. Before you apply your favorite waterproofing, soak the fabric in a strong solution of alum and let dry. This method was also used to fireproof sails on ships of war.

RAWHIDE

After thinking about it, I can think of a number of historical applications for leather, such as shield facings, where rawhide might make more sense, but there is no indication in the texts I can find.

I haven't done 'studies', but I do know that rawhide changes tension radically with humidity and moisture, far more than tanned leather. This would tend to limit rawhide in a structural application.

In what way does it change tension?

BTW, to the person who suggested that Sheepskin was used for knife scabbards so that the oils could be protect the metal, as this does not match what I can find in the archeological texts, any sources would be helpful.

Friends of mine have made small round shields about 50-60 cm diameter (that's around 20"-24" for you who don't use a metric scale) and covered them with rawhide from a bull. They made some practical tests and studies. The results??? Knifes didn't even cut or pierce them, and they REALLY tried to. We talked about shooting at them with arrows but never did. Maybe next year.

Rawhide could be a good material to make armour of.

As a rule, you have to soak rawhide for some time to get it to soften at all, and quite some time to make it pliable. When you stretch it while wet, it shrinks as it dries.

Finally from other information recieved, it would appear that since rawhide is more susceptible to rot than tanned leather, it might have been used for other things, like shield facings, and we wouldn't know.

Also some sources suggest that different forms of raw, or undressed, or green, hides have different properties, although I have not been able to experiment with this yet. It is suggested that buffalo hide when raw is in fact softer and more pliable than cow, which is why it was used for so much more by the Native Americans.