How do you home treat an sheep skin?

Question

I am not into killing anything but if you came across road kill for instance how would you prepare the hide, without any nasty chemicals at home as a hobby project

Answer 1

Are you sure you would want to take on a project of this size? It is a very time consuming, and physically demanding job.

First you would have to skin the animal. (If it was road kill this would be an exceptionally unpleasant task!!!!) You would have to use a sharp knife and do this part properly, or you will have ruined the hide already.

Once you have the hide free from the body you have to scrape all the flesh and fat from the back (inside) of the hide. This has to be a very through job or the hide will rot. It also has to be done very carefully or you will hole the hide and ruin it. Now you have to salt the hide. Rub a large amount of salt into the flesh side of the hide, then roll it up tightly.

You still with me?

Now use the time the salt cure takes to get on the net and look up all the different methods of naturally tanning a hide. Some of the methods that I know of include tanning with the brains of the slaughtered animal, or there's soaking the hide in urine, then there's smoking, bark tanning and about a thousand different people who will give you a thousand different variations on how to, and what to use.

Now after several weeks of soaking in the solution you will have to stretch and scrape the hide several times over the next few weeks.

If you got this far you may end up with an almost usable hide, having wasted several weeks, had your neighbours screaming at you regarding that reek from your back yard, and your hands will be stained by the tanning solution.

But good luck anyway.

Answer 2

Hopefully your 'roadkill' will not be too badly split or mushed by heavy lorries, you need to cut through the skin at neck, wrists and ankles, and a longitudinal cut should also be made from the centre of the throat to between the back legs.

This must be done without damaging the muscular structure beneath the subcutaneous tissue (otherwise it gets rather messy).

The skin complete with wool can then be peeled from the neck towards the rear and down the legs until fully removed.

The pelt must now be cured to stop it going rotten, to do this you need to stretch it as tight as possible across a framework and then with a sharp knife, remove as much of the fat coating as possible.

The skin must then be covered with a mixture containing saltpetre to preserve it fully.

The final pelt will be stiff so ok for a rug, but if you want it for clothing it will have to be treated by manipulation to soften it and make it flexible.

My guess is that the roadkill will stay where it is !!!

Answer 3

I used to do goat hides, but I had plenty of time, and was a lot younger. I would suggest not doing it. As one of the answerers said, if you don't skin the animal properly, the hide is useless, If you purchase one you will have saved a lot of money by converting labor and time to cash.

Answer 4

stream clean and detrox and good weather. it is all you need to prepare the fur and skin. And to kill all germ and bad smell, you put it in the chest freezer. (in a bag)
It is not easy to do at home, you will need lots of space to hang the sheep skin and storage.

Answer 5

Thats discusting! Your sick. And if you dont think you are, dont worry you will be soon.