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Tanning
Going right back to the beginning of time, from ice men to Indians tanned 
skins/ hides of animals, that they had hunted for meat. Tanning is a way of preserving a raw skin/hide and turning it into a soft piece of material that can be used in endless ways.
In the modern days of , " plastic throw aways" there is nothing to my mind more luxurious than a well tanned piece of leather or soft warm fur.
For people, like us who raises their own meat for the table or the hunter who shops in the wood rather than the super market, it is far better to turn the animals hide into a useful leather or fur item, which would otherwise, have been wasted.
There is many different ways of tanning, vegetable, chemical, oil and salts.
Like the Indians I believe each animal is special and if we do have to take an animal for meat, we should use all that mother nature offers, and not throw anything away.
Tanning is a labour intensive process guarantied to give you lots of blisters
Steps are:
- Skinning the animal ( without making holes and on the right layer)
- cooling
- washing ( out stains, grease and dirt with soap and water)
- Fleshing ( removing all the fat, meat, and unwanted membranes)
- Tanning
- Washing again ( to stop the tanning and freshen)
- Drying ( flat drying or frame drying)
- Stretching ( stretching the skin/hide to its limit as it drys)
- Softening ( rubbing the leather side until even and soft)
- Finishing ( brushing and fluffing up the fur/hair)
for our tanned items for sale
NOTE: we do not believe in breeding or culling animals just for thier fur, hide or skin .
