[Jacob-list] Re: Sheepskin prep

[gordon johnston]

Salting the skin will help to dry and preserve it, but if you want it to be
supple and to last for years then it needs to be properly tanned.  We have
never tried that here partly because it takes a long time and a LOT of hard
work, but also because we have no way to dispose of the chemicals and
contaminated water generated by the process.
Here Britain there are very few licenced tanneries any more because of the
complicated and expensive measures required to comply with current
legislation.   In addition laws have just come in (from the European Union)
preventing us from getting our hides back from the abattoir.   I recently
sent off a batch of salted skins to a very good tannery in the south of
England, which will return them to me as beautiful soft, delightful rugs.
This will probably be the last time I shall be able to do this unless the
law can be changed here - such a waste of a lovely product and an important
part of the small producers income.
So I suggest you read up on how to do it yourself properly or find a tannery
which is happy to deal with small numbers and can guarantee you get your own
skins back.   By all means salt them initially, and do this within a couple
of hours of death if possible.  They can be held stacked and salted for a
year if necessary , as long as they are in a dry shed, while you find out
what to do next.
Juliet in Scotland UK