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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
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 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
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KARD PROCESS FOR ■ '* 
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 SMA.LL SKINS AND FIRS, 
 
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 Entered according 1 to Act of Congress, in the year 1884 
 H, STEPHENS. 
 In the Office of the librarian of Congress, at Washington, IX C 
 
 
3 
 
 PROCESS FOR PREPARING 
 
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 SHEEP AND OTHER SMALL SKINS, 
 
 WITH THE HAIR OFF FOR GLOVES, MITTENS &C. 
 
 In the first place read this- book through, and be 
 sure you understand it. 
 
 In taking off skins rip them down the belly, and be 
 sure not to cut the grain in trying to rid them of flesh 
 and fat, as the fleshy substance can be got off easier 
 when there is some fat left on. After the skin is off 
 nail it up somewhere out of the sun, and let it stay until 
 you are ready to use it. When you are ready to tan it 
 take it down, and soak it soft. Then the best way is to 
 have a small log, with the bark off and the small knots 
 and uneven places planed off smooth, and large enough 
 so that the skin will not reach around it. Tack the skin 
 to the log and let it dry; and as it dries rub and scrape 
 it with some dull instrument, and you will find it a very 
 easy matter to rid it of grease and flesh. You will find 
 too, that by nailing the skin to a log it is much easier 
 scraped than it would be if nailed to a flat surface. 
 
 If you wish to make a nice piece of leather of any 
 kind you must -have your skin perfectly free from grease, 
 and in order to have it so you must rub it well; and if 
 you apply a little gasoline to the flesh side it will help to 
 cut out the grease. A good tool to dress skins with is a 
 piece of new steel buggy tire with the corners ground 
 square and smooth, but not too sharp, or a chisel is a 
 very good tool, as it has two square and two round cor- 
 
4 
 
 riers, and answers the purpose very well. And by hold- 
 ing the tool in both hands you can rub it until the grease 
 is entirely out. 
 
 This way of ridding a skin of grease will apply to 
 almost any kind, although the tighter the skin the more 
 careful you must be. 
 
 After you have cleared the skin of the grease and 
 flesh, put in water made rather strong with lye or soap, 
 and let it lie until it has soaked thoroughly soft, as it 
 was when taken off . 
 
 To Remove the Hair. — Slack about a quart of 
 lime in a pail of water or about the same proportion, un- 
 til you have water enough to cover your skins; put them 
 in and let them lie three or four days, or until the hair 
 will slip off easily; then scrape off the hair and wash 
 your skin clean in strong soap, so as to rid it of all signs 
 of grease, and it is ready for the tan. 
 
 Take Sulphate of Soda, 4 ounces, 
 of Potash, 3 " 
 Sulphur, 3 " 
 Alum, 4 
 Salt, 2 " 
 This is sufficient for one dog, one sheep, four wood- 
 chuck or five cat skins. Other skins in the same pro- 
 portion as to size. 
 
 Dissolve this in warm soft water, and put the *kins 
 in a stone crock or wooden vessel, and mix the above in- 
 gredients with water enough to cover them. Let a sheep 
 skin lie four days, dog and cat skins five days, and wood- 
 chuck skins a week, stirring them every day while tan- 
 ning. 
 
 At the end of this time take the skin out of the tan, 
 and hang it in the cellar or some place where it will not 
 dry too fast, for a week or until you are ready to finish 
 it; then stretch it on your log or some smooth surface 
 

 and let it dry hard; then take sandpaper and sandpaper 
 the thick parts at the head and neck, until you have 
 thinned it down with the body of the skin. Also rub 
 the whole surface until it is smooth, first with coarse and 
 then with fine sandpaper until finished. 
 
 After this lay the skin in warm water from one to 
 two hours, according to the size of the skin. Now wring 
 out the water as dry as possible, and stretch it on a 
 board, and put in a few nails to keep it in place. Then, 
 if you want to give it a buff color, take a teaspoonf ul of 
 Picric Acid Crystals, and dissolve them in a pint of soft 
 warm water, and with a paint brush paint it over. Now 
 lay it away in the cellar or some damp place a day or so, 
 until the color sets; but don't let it dry. If it does you 
 must dampen it again, so that the skin is damp all over 
 alike; then spread over it a coat of tanners' or neats foot 
 oil, and work the skin with your hands, pulling and 
 stretching it until it becomes dry, and you will find you 
 have got a very good piece of leather. 
 
 When tanning never apply oil to a dry skin. If 
 your skin becomes dry soak it until it becomes thorough- 
 ly soft, then oil it. Neats foot oil is best, but more ex- 
 pensive. 
 
 To Tan with the Hair On. — If you wish to tan 
 with the hair on, rid your skin of flesh and grease, then 
 soak it soft, and wash it with good soft soap until thor- 
 oughly clean; then have the same material for tanning 
 pulverized fine, and sprinkle it over the skin on the flesh 
 side; then sprinkle it over with water; then rub it over 
 with a brush until it is spread evenly over the skin; then 
 fold your skin together, and lay it in the cellar for the 
 same length of time mentioned before; then wash it 
 
6 
 
 clean, and nail it to a smooth surface and let it dry, and 
 sandpaper and smooth it down as much as you wish. 
 When that is done remove it, and soak it in warm soft 
 water until perfectly soft, (and if you wish to stain it do 
 it now); then oil it on the flesh side, while it is damp, 
 and as it dries work and stretch it, in order to have it 
 soft. 
 
 For Tanning Deer Skins. — To remove the flesh 
 and fat from a deer skin, nail it up to a smooth surface, 
 stretching it tight, and rub it over with fine salt; then, 
 as it dries, scrape it with a dull knife; then, when it is 
 dry, sandpaper it. After this soak it soft, and to remove 
 the hair use lime, the same as in the case before men- 
 tioned; let it lie in the lime until the hair comes off free- 
 ly; scrape it off and wash your skin (dean, and soak in 
 cold water eight or ten hours, and your skin is ready for 
 the tan. I T se the same process for tanning as before 
 mentioned, let it lie in tan live days, take it out and 
 hang it up five days more; then soak it soft and work 
 into it a half pint of tanners' oil, and let it dry again; 
 then soak it soft, and wash and pound it in soft soap, to 
 get out the oil, and as it dries work it to make it soft, 
 and if a reasonable amount of work does not soften it 
 wash it again, and work it as before. When you got it 
 soft enough to suit, soak it in clear water until it is en- 
 tirely wet; then stain it to suit, and apply while wet a 
 coat of neats foot oil, and work until dry. 
 
 Another Process. — Treat the skins in ever}- way 
 as given above, but for tanning use white vitriol, alum 
 and salt, of- each a tablespoonful, dissolved in water 
 enough to cover one skin, and let it lie in the liquor 
 
7 
 twenty-four hours, then proceed as above. 
 
 For Tanning Calf, Dog, and other Skins for 
 Shoe Leather. — In preparing skins for leather remove 
 the flesh and hair the same as before mentioned; then, 
 for a 12-pound calf skin, take 
 
 Terra japonica, 3 lbs., 
 
 Salt, ' 2 " 
 
 Alum, 1 " 
 
 put them in a copper kettle, with sufficient water to dis~ 
 solve the whole by boiling; then put the skin into a ves- 
 sel with sufficient water to cover it, put in a pint of the 
 tan, and add a pint each day for three days, when you 
 will put in the whole. Stir it two or three times a day 
 while tanning. A calf skin will require eight days; a 
 dog skin four. Then remove it and wash it off, but don't 
 soak it; then nail it to a smooth surface and let it dry 
 hard, then sandpaper it. Then take it down and soak it 
 in soft water two or three hours, or until soft; then 
 wring it out, and while w T et work into it as much tanners 
 oil as you would think necessary for a piece of leather 
 of that size which has had all the grease worked out of 
 it, and work it as it dries. When dry blacken it with 
 ink used by leather workers for that purpose, and can be 
 had of druggists. 
 
 To Tan Sheep Skins with the Wool On. — 
 When the skin is taken off nail it up to a smooth sur- 
 face, and rub it over with fine salt; and as it dries scrape 
 it off with a dull knife to get off the flesh and grease; 
 when this is done take it down and soak it soft, and 
 
 wash it clean with soft soap; then take 
 
 Terra japonica, 8 ounces, 
 Salt, ' 6 " 
 
 Alum, 3 " 
 
8 
 Prepare it as in the other case, put the skin in a vessel, 
 cover with water, and add gradually, as in the case be- 
 fore, and let the skin lie in tan five days. Then take 
 it out and nail it up, and let it dry perfectly dry; and if 
 you wish to smooth it do it now with sandpaper; then 
 take it down and soak it soft, wash it clean and let it 
 dry; and if you want your skin soft work it a little. 
 
 This amount of material is for a short wool skin, but 
 if it is a long wool you must add half as much more. 
 
 This process will color the wool dark, but if you 
 wish to keep the wool white proceed in the following 
 manner: Nail the skin up, salt it, and scrape off the 
 flesh and grease, and wash it clean as before, but instead 
 of putting it into the tan^ nail it to the floor, and with a 
 whitewash brush paint it over with the same material 
 several times a day for five days, not allowing it to get 
 dry until finished: Then let it lie five days more, or 
 until dry; then take it up and soak it soft, lay it on a ta- 
 ble, and fill the wool with soft soap, wash it clean, and 
 rniil it up again to dry, and your skin is done. 
 
 If when done your skin is not soft enough to suit, 
 you must soak it soft in warm soft water, and apply a 
 coat of tanners or neats foot oil while the skin is wet, 
 and work it and stretch it as it dries, and you can have 
 it as soft as you wish. 
 
 This last plan of nailing the skins to the floor and 
 painting them with the material, may be used for tan- 
 ning any kind of light furs, and works well. The first 
 recipe for tanning with the hair on is also good for furs. 
 In tanning never apply, oil to a dry skin. 
 
 All the articles in this process are very cheap if 
 bought by the pound, but if bought by the ounce are 
 sold much kigher. 
 
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