ANRA:Lecture:Working with Leather

Here in the south, we normally use deer skins for items which are to be made out of leather. Deer skin leather is the toughest you can get and so is useful for bags, clothing - including gloves and belts - and even for weapons such as slings. I expect you have all hunted deer and are skilled at preparing leather but I will briefly outline the process.

Once you have hunted and killed your deer you must skin it using a sharp knife. The skin is quickly taken and put into salt water, which kills germs and loosens the hairs. The short hairs are scraped from the skin, which is then soaked in a bath of lime to make it more supple. The skin is again soaked, this time in water with tannin, a substance found in the bark, wood, leaves and fruits of Oak Trees. The dried skin may be conditioned with a vegetable oil and, when this has soaked into the leather, it is ready for use.

Always use a very sharp knife for cutting the patterns pieces from leather. When making larger items it is sometimes necessary to pick your leather carefully so that each skin is of a similar colour.

Lecture given by Kish'ti in Winter 2183 at ANRA, Blandenberg