[MR] help needed for pelt tanning

[rmhowe]

Rupert Gaddy wrote:
> Greetings to the Tavern....
> Not to spoil anyone's drinking, but.....
> A couple of people in my household are thinking about tanning some sheep
> pelts, but we have NO idea what the heck we are doing.
> 
> Does anyone have information on period or non-period tanning methods and
> materials we will need to do this?

One of my odd informational posts of the past:

[medieval-leather] Bronze Age Experiments in Tanning Sheepskin
      1 Oct 99 rmhowe <magnusm at ncsu.edu> medieval-leather at egroups.com
      I've been reading the current issue of Discovering Archaeology
Oct 1999.
Among other goodies such as:
    A nicely written and illustrated article on the Scythians and 
an upcoming travelling exhibition of 165 gold items excavated 
since 1975 from the Ukraine. If you've ever seen the Met. catalog 
of twenty years ago you undoubtedly hope for a new one.  
    The medicine chest from the Mary Rose.
    A French colony kit ship that sunk in a Texas Bay in 1686. 
    Human viruses killing off the megafauna, including mammoths, 
as they spread across the world roughly 13,000-18,000 years ago.
    A depiction of Otsi's shoes made of leather and grass.
    There is an article on Bronze Age Family Life, and experiments 
in a simulated village.
    Among other experiments was the natural cleaning and tanning 
of sheepskin by sewing it in a bag, hanging it from a tree, filling 
it with water and bark, and waiting for the maggots to eat all the
fleshy bits off with the results that leather was left and the 
wool came off in one big bit. Clever, eh? 
http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/
 - Master Magnus Malleus, OL, Atlantia; GDH

Sorry it's a bit late - too many lists - too little time.
Maybe the maggots have already started for you. ;)

 Magnus
 
> Assistance by knowledgeable and experienced gentles will be greatly
> appreciated!
> 
> Thank You
> 
> Ld Rupert the Persistent
> Household of Griffin's Moon