The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1889-09-25
MAKING FUR GARMENTS.
TRANSPORTING RARE PELTs INTO
WEARING APPAREL.
Curious Details of the Furriers' Bust
ness-Cheap and Costly Skins
MufIs of Muskrat and Erminc.

NUNS Oh MuSkfat ana ErmtnC.
At tlcast one thousand men and women in
New York are busted in making fur gar
ments. There are factories employing
many scores of workmen. and there are din
gy little shops where a few journeymen
work together, with small capital, low rent
and moderate profits. In this particular
shop there are only four men at work-iust
the number required to complete garment
under the division of labor usual in the
fur business. One man stands at the
counter with pile Of muskrat skins at his
left hand, and in his right keen little
knife, shaped almost exactly like the out
stretched wing of bird. The skin of
the furs has been dampened so that it is
plant. The cutter, as he is called, seizes
a skin. turns the fur down and rapidly
cuts out defects with his bird Swing knife.
Scarcely one skin in n hundred is per-
feet. There are shot holes. scars from
bites and scratches, tears, and other dam
age the result of careless curing. BY
the time all defects have been cut out it
may have been necessary TO divide the
skin into twenty strips and squares
About twenty per cent. of the fur is lost
by the process of cutting; though the
smallest pieces, even those not more than
an inch square, are carefully saved, so
long as they are well covered with
hair.
As the knife slips through the leather
you notice that the under side of the
fur is a rich, golden brown, while the
outer surface is a black. The fur has
been dyed, but the dye has not penetra-
ted to the skin. The dyeing and curing
are done elsewhere at factories which re-
ceive 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 trapper on
pointed shingles.
From the cutters table the skins 90 to
the sewer. He sits in corner and
works q strong sewing machine, whose
needle is easily driven through the skin.
Ordinary stout thread is used, and the
sewer manages TO piece together the vari-
Gus scraps in such a way that no scam
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 as
strongly held together as an uncut pelt.
From the sewer the material goes to
the blocker. In this instance it is
muH that they are making. The "block"
is in seven pieces that tit together and
form an implement that looks almost ex-
actly like big wheel hub. The skin.
which has been sewn end to end so as to
form hollow cylinder, is placed on the
block form. 1t extends little beyond
the block, and little wooden disk is
placed in each end of the latter. To
these disks the ends of the skin are nailed,
and the whole thing is then placed in the
window to dry.
When the skin is partly dried it is re-
moved from the block and turned over
to the finisher. He puts in wadding
and Inning and sews on the cord and tas-
sells, if the muif is to be thus orna-
mented. Finally the fur is carefully
brushed until it is smooth and glossy.
Then it is put into a round pasteboard
box ready to be shipped to the merchant,
through whom it is distributed to the
retail dealers here and elsewhere.
-Four men working together thus ten
hours a day can make three dozen mufTs.
Cutters earn from S15 to S1S Il week and
blockers and linisherS from so to S12 n
week. Women are sometimes employed
rs tinishers at about the same wages. The
busy season is from June to December.
September, October and November are
perhaps the most active months of the
season. In the spring and winter bust
ness is dull, and the few men employed
are at work upon inferiormaterial which
cannot be worked proftably in the busy
season.
Fashion in furs changes slightly from
year to year, and the growing taste 70.
summer furs now has to be taken into
account. Boas, capes and muffs are now
being made for next winter. The cheap
est and most abundant skin is that of the
hare; the costliest are those of the beaver,
sable, seal, black fox and ermine. The
last named is extremely rare. The dis
pissed polecat contributes fur to the COM
fort and ornamcntatiOn of beauty, and
nobody turns up their nose at him. His
unpleasant characteristics disappear IN
the curing, Pretty boas are made of
the harc's skin and costly capes of the
lynx, sable and beaver fur. Some of the
costliest furs are imported but the great
mass of fur garments are made from ma
tive skins.
Foreigners have been pioneers in the
fancy fur business of New York, and
there are still many Frenchmen, Germans
and Italians employed in the work; but
native Americans are taking to the trade
more and more. 1t requires from one to
five years 10 become an expert cutter.
but other branches of the trade are more
quickly learned, The costliest furs are
made up in large factories, because it
takes considerable capital TO keep a stock
of raw material on hand The business
is rather dirty, but it is not specially un-
wholesome. .-Net0 York StaT.