Domestic Manufacture of Furs.—The skins of raccoons, minks, muskrats, rabbits, foxes, deer, cats, dogs, woodchucks and skunks are all valuable. Handsome robes may be made from the skins of the last two animals, and the writer has seen fur coats made from the skins of woodchucks, well tanned, dyed and trimmed, which were elegant as well as comfortable, and no one but a connoisseur would be able to guess their origin. Of the finer and nicer furs, beautiful collars, muffs, cuffs, caps, gloves and trimmings may be made with a little ingenuity and perseverance; and who would not feel a greater satisfaction in wearing a nice article, from the fact that it was something of their own manufacture—a product of their own taste and genius?
Very handsome floor-mats are made by tanning sheep pelts and dyeing them some bright color, which is done with very little trouble; the art of dyeing is now so familiar to almost every household. Furs may be dyed as easily as woolen goods, notwithstanding the impression that it is an art known only to the trade. Any dye that will color woolens will also dye furs, only care must be taken not to have the dye too hot, or the texture of the skin will be injured.
The mode of tanning usually followed by city furriers is to rub the skins well with rancid butter, then tread them thoroughly in a tub or vat, after which a large quantity of sawdust is mixed with them, and the process of treading continued until all the grease is absorbed, when they are finished off by beating, working and rubbing with chalk and potter’s clay, whipping and brushing. An old trapper practiced this method with small skins, first washing with a suds of soap and sal-soda to free them from grease, then rinsing in clear water to cleanse them from the suds, then rubbing as dry as possible, after which they were put in a mixture of two ounces of salt to a quart of water, added to three quarts of milk or bran-water containing one ounce of best sulphuric acid, and stirred briskly for forty or fifty minutes; from this they are taken dripping into a strong solution of sal-soda and stirred till they will no longer foam; they are then hung to dry, when they are very soft and pliable.
A very good and simple process in use among farmers is to sprinkle the flesh side, after scraping it well, with equal parts of pulverized alum and salt, or washing it well with a strong solution of the same, then folding the flesh side together and rolling it compactly, in which state it should remain for eight or ten days; then it is opened, sprinkled with bran or sawdust to absorb the moisture, and rolled up again, and after remaining twenty-four hours, the process is completed by a thorough rubbing and manipulation, on which the pliability depends. Skins, when taken off, should be freed from grease or flesh by thorough scraping, when they may be dried, and left to await the leisure of the owner. Previous to tanning they must be well soaked and wrung dry.
It is no extravagance to assert that every farmer’s family may furnish their own fur collars, gloves, robes, and other articles of dress and ornament, with trifling expense, from the resources within their own reach; but from want of more knowledge on the subject valuable skins are wasted or disposed of for a mere fraction of their real value, and articles of apparel that should be made from them are bought at extravagant prices of fur dealers.
Indian Mode of Tanning Buffalo Skins.—The hard and incessant labor that is necessary to properly “Indian tan” a robe is not easily to realize unless one may see the work go on day by day from the first step, which is to spread out the pelt or undressed hide upon the ground, where it is pinned fast by means of wooden pins driven through little cuts in the edge of the robe into the earth. The flesh side of the robe, being uppermost, is then worked over by two and sometimes three squaws. The tools used are very rude, some being simply provided with sharp stones or buffalo bones. Others, more wealthy, have a something that much resembles a drawing-knife or shave of the cooper. The work in hand is to free the hide from every particle of flesh, and to reduce the thickness of the robe nearly one half, and sometimes even more.
This fleshing, as it is termed, having been thoroughly accomplished, the hide is thoroughly moistened with water in which the buffalo brains have been steeped. For ten days the hide is kept damp with this brain water. Once each day the hide is taken up and every portion of it rubbed and re-rubbed by the squaws, who do not have recourse to anything like a rubbing-board, but use their hands until it would seem as if the skin would soon be worn off. There seems to be no definite rule as to the length of time which the robe shall occupy in curing. The squaw labors until the hide becomes a robe, which may require the work of one week or two, sometimes even more; but I think that ten days may be considered as the average time which it takes to properly cure a robe.
To Dress Deer Skins.—Put the skin into the liquid while warm, viz: eight quarts rain water to one pint soft soap. Warm it. Then punch the hide, or work it with a soft stick, and let it lay one day. It is then to be taken out and wrung—rolled between two logs—or even a wringing machine will be better. Then stretch it until it is dry, in the sun is best, or by a hot fire. Then oil it thoroughly with any oil convenient.