The Cordova daily times., 1922-10-10
TANNING SKINS WITH HAIR ON
 IS FINE ART

i IduuluB Wltn the na1f on pelt IS something of an art. In reply to an l inquiry from breeder of Swiss goats at Auburn, the State College of Wash ington has passed on the following information from the U. S. Bureau of Biological Survey:
 "As a rule the first step in skinning is to make long cut on the under side from chin to tip of tail, and from each foot along the inner side of the leg, except beaver pelts which are sent to the market flat, and are slit across beneath the tail from heel to heel, and the skin reversed as the body is withdrawn The tail and the base ot the ears should be skinned out
 Fresh skins should be divested of loose fat and muscle and then either tanned at once or cured so as to be kept without deterioration until con- venient time for tanning. They are cured by stretching free of wrinkles, flesh side exposed and left in cool, shady, airy place. In moist atmos- pheres, or where haste is imperative, the flesh side may be covered with layer of salt and the skin folded, hair side out, into a compact bundle, which should be opened and refolded two or three times during the first two days to insure salt action on every part. Flat skins may be stretched by pin ming them out on the floor or frame, but in this case there should always be circulation of air on both sides.
 "Pelts of fur animals are dried, flesh side out, after being drawn over pieces of board shaped so as to stretch them uniformly. Mole skins, as an exception, are pinned out flat like beaver hides. Wolf, fox, iynx and wild cat pelts are taken from the boards and turned fur side out before they are fully dried Other kinds of belts go to market flesh side out.
 skins may be tanned with or with
 
 out the hair on, as desired. Hair can be removed from hides by soaking them in tepid water, made alkaline by I've or lime, until the hair comes out readily. Before these are put through the tanning process they should be washed to free them of the alkaline solution.
 "The following recipe for tanning liouor is in common use: To each gallon of water add one quart of salt and half an ounce of sulphurlc acld. Do not keep this mixture in a metal container. Thin skins are tanned by this in a day; heavy skins must re- main in it longer. They may remaln in it indefinitely without injury. When removed they are washed sev- eral times in soapy water, wrung as dry as possible, and rubbed on the flesh side with a cake of hard soap They are then folded in the mluole' 1engthwise over a line, hair side out' and left to dry.
 "When both surfaces are barely dry and the interior is still moist, they are laid over a smooth rounded board and scraped on the flesh side With a worn flat file, or a similar blunt ledged tool. In this way any inner layer of fat is removed, and the skins be- come nearly white in color. They are then stretched, rubbed and twisted until quite dry. If parts of the skin are still hard and stiff, the soaplns' drying and stretching process is re- peated until the entire skin is soft Fresh butter or other animal fat worked into skins while warm and then worked out again in dry hard wood sawdust or extracted by hasty bath in gasoline, increases their soft ness"