Friday, January 21, 2011

Home Tanners’ Handbook by June Vivian.

Home Tanners’ Handbook by June Vivian.  Hardcover book published in 1976.

 

“Home Tanners’ Handbook is for the amateur tanner who wishes to tan wool, fur and hair skins — or hides — at home.  The entire tanning process — from flaying, fleshing, tanning and conditioning, to drying — is detailed clearly and concisely. The methods, equipment, chemicals, vegetable materials and tools used in this book are all suitable for the beginner’s use.  This is an invaluable guide for the country or city dweller who wishes to develop a satisfying and rewarding hobby.”

So you decide you want a “satisfying and rewarding hobby”… “flaying”, “fleshing” and “tanning”.  These aren’t activities that normally come to my mind as “satisfying and rewarding”, but you know what, there are all sorts of people in this crazy world (or should this read “crazy people in this world”) and if it’s your thing that’s OK by me.   

Look at these fun things you can do with a hide:



Maybe this is something I could get into. I can see it now “Huc & Gabet Amateur Tanner” The Blog.  

This is the author (it was 1976 and i hope that's a home tanned leather jacket):


and these are some photographs in case you don't know what...

 a temperature looks like on a temperature gauge

 ...what an egg looks like (with shell and without shell)(this can be so confusing sometimes???)

and this one is to make sure you understand that a Eucalyptus tree is actually a Eucalyptus tree.

OK, I’m not really contemplating this “satisfying and rewarding hobby”.  The reason I’ve mentioned this book is that this is another one of those subjects that I rarely, if ever, see a book about.  There are people out there who want to give this activity a go… as a matter of fact I remember my brother tanning a few hides in the back yard when I was a child and I think one of them didn’t quite do what it was supposed to do.  In retrospect this book would have been handy.

How popular is Home Tanning?  I assume a little more popular once someone purchases this book.

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