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Basil: Hemlock-Bark-Tanned Sheepskin Fleshers for Linings, Strengthened Every 36 Hours (Davis, 1885)
Bark-tanned sheepskin for shoe linings and bindings, from C. T. Davis's The Manufacture of Leather (1885): split, wool-free sheepskin fleshers soaked and tanned 10 to 12 days in hemlock-bark liquor (or sumach for light colours), the liquor strengthened every 36 hours, then drained, loft-dried on hooks, wetted and tacked out on boards, dried and finished.
Intermediate
About 3 weeks
Instructions
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1
Tanning schedule
Tanning schedule
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Read The Manufacture of Leather, ch. XXXIII
Read The Manufacture of Leather, ch. XXXIII
"The materials used for tanning this variety of leather are usually hemlock bark, sumach, and alum."
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Prepare the skins
Prepare the skins
Use sheepskin fleshers, split from the skins in the pelt, free of wool (imported ones arrive green salted). Wash them in clean water if needed, and soak them.
Materials for this step:
Sheepskin12 piecesTools needed:
Tanning Vat4
4
Tan in hemlock (or sumach)
Tan in hemlock (or sumach)
Put the skins in hemlock-bark liquor (sumach liquor instead for white and fancy colours) and keep them there about 10 to 12 days, raising the liquor's strength every 36 hours.
Materials for this step:
Hemlock Bark1 piece
Tanner's Sumac (Rhus coriaria)1 pieceTools needed:
Tanning Vat
20-Liter Bucket5
5
Drain and dry
Drain and dry
Lift the skins out with a hook, pile them to drain (Fig. 263), and hang each on two hooks in an airy drying loft so that no two skins touch.
Tools needed:
Tanning Vat6
6
Put out and finish
Put out and finish
Wet the dried skins and tack them out flat on boards, hang them to dry again, then finish them (rolled, glassed or pebbled), or dye them first and finish after drying.
Materials for this step:
Lasting Tacks1 pieceTools needed:
Pine Board
Hammer
Edge Slicker
Wide Paint Brush7
7
Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting
Basil troubleshooting.
Flow
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History and honest limits
History and honest limits
From Charles Thomas Davis, **The Manufacture of Leather** (1885), chapter XXXIII, section I (checked on the archive.org scan manufactureoflea01davi, pp. 555-557). He gives no liquor strengths or bark quantities, and calling the hemlock-tanned sheepskin "basil" (its British trade name) is ours.
Materials
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Tools Required
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