Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-10-18
MAKING FUR GARMENTS.
TRANSFORMING RARE PELTs INTO
WEARING APPAREL,
Curious Details ofthc Furricrs' Bust,
ncss-Cheap and Costly Skins
Nuns OF NIusIrnt and Erminc.

At least one thousand men and women in
New York arc busted In making fur gar,
ments. There are factories employing
many scores'of workmcn, and there aro din,
gy little shops where II few journcymen
work together, with small capital, low rent
and moderate profits. In this particular
shop there are only tour men at work-i,lst
tho number required To complete a garment
under the division of labor usual in tho
iur business. Ono man stands ut the
counter with II pile of musllrat skins mt his
left hand, and in his right keen little
knife, shaped almost exactly like the out
stretched wing of IL bird. The skin of
the furs has been lumpcncd so that it ia
plinnt. The cutter, as he is called, scizes
skin. turns the fur down and RAPIDLY
cuts out defects with his birl's-wing knife.
Scarcely ono skin in hundred is pcr.
icct. There are shot holes, scars from
DitcS and scratches, tears, and other dam
age, the result of careless curing. By
the time all defects have been cut out il
may have been necessary to divide the
skin into twenty strips and squares.
About twenty per cent. of the fur is lost
10y the process of cutting; though the
an inch square, are carefully saved, 80
long us they are well covered with
hair
AS the knife slips through The leather
You notice that the under side of the
fur is II rich, golden brown, while the
outer surface is II black. The fur has
been dyed, but the dye has not pcnctra-
ted TO the skin. The dycing aud curing
are done elsewhere at factories which re.
ccivc the raw skins by the thousand from
the West and South. They come turned
wrong side out and looking like great
Japanese slippers from having been
stretched and dried by the irappcr on
pointed shingles.
From The cutters table the skins go to
the sewer. He sits in corner and
works II strong sowing machine, whose
needle is easily driven through the skin.
Ordinary stout thread is used, and the
sewer manages To piece together the var-
o'iS scraps in such n way that no seam
shows on the hairy side. The seams on
the under side appear like straight ridges
or cords. The skin comes from the
sewer II patchwork of leather almost M
strongly held together ns nm uncut pcIt.
From the sewer the material goes 10
The blocker. In this instance il ia II
muli that they are making. The "block"
Is in seven pieces that iii together and
form an implement That looks almost cx.
ncily like big wheel hub. The skin,
which las been sewn cnd to end so as to
form hollow cylinder, is placed on the
block form. II extends II little beyond
The block, and II little wooden disk il
placed in each end Of the latter. ia
these disks the ends of the skin are nailed.
and the whole thing is then placed in The
window 10 dry.
When The skin is partly dried il is re.
moved from the block aud turned over
to the iinisl,cr. He puts in wnddinn
and lining and scws on the cord and las.
sells, IL the nuir Is 10 be thus orna.
mcntcd. Finally the fur is CAREFUL,
brushed until il is smooth and glossy.
Then it is put into round pastcbonrd
box ready to be shipped to the merchant,
through whom it il distributed TO tho
retail dcnlcrs here and elsewhere.
-Four men working together thus Ten
hours day can make three dozen mllls.
Cutters earn from Sl5 to Sl8 week and
blockcrs md iinishcr, from $40 to St2 n
week. Women are sometimes employed
ms inishcrs at about the same wages. The
busy season is from June to December.
September, October and November are
perhaps the most active months of tho
season. In the spring and winter bust
ness is dull, and the few men employed
arc Mt work upon inferior material, which
cannot be worked prolitably in the busy
season.
Fashion in furs changes slightly from
year TO year, and the growing taste for
summer furs now has to be taken into
account Bons, cRpcs and muifs arc now
being made for next winter. The cheap
est and most abundant skin is that Of the
hare; the c0stlicst are those of the beaver,
sable, seal, black fox and crminc. The
last named is extremely rare. The dis
pissed polccat contributes fur to the COM
fort and ornamentation of beauty, and
nobody turns up their nose aL him. Ills
unpleasant characteristics disappear in
the curing. Pretty boas are made of
the harc's skin and costly capcs of the
lynx, sable and beaver fur. Some of the
costlicst furs arc imported but the great
mass Of fur garments are made from M
tive skins
Foreigners have been pioneers in the
fancy fur business of New York, and
there are still many Frenchmcn, Germans
and Italians employed in the work but
native Americans arc taking to the trade
more and more. It requires from one to
live years to become an expert cutter,
but other branches of the trade are more
quickly learned. The costliest furs arc
made up in large factories, because it
takes considerable capital to keep stock
of raw material on hand. The business
is rather dirty, but it is not specially un-
wholesome York Star