1:30pm, 32*F.

My soap tanning dressing did get a bit stiff on the hides last night – it went down to 10. The deerskin looked fine and I’ll leave it another night before I scrape again and start breaking.

The sheepskin, which was dressed after the solution had cooled considerably, was a bit stiffer and some of the dressing looked frozen.

It was just barely stuck together when I unfolded it, but since it shouldn’t be stuck at all I decided to scrape and redress it.

More work for my trusty ulu. And look – more membrane! It’s like it never stops with sheep hides.

Each time I get to scrape a hide it does thin and soften it, so it’s good in the long run.

I’ve been wanting to try egg yolk and oil as a tanning solution, and I have a theory that it’ll freeze at lower temps than my soap and oil solution, so I decided to try it with this sheepskin since it’s already been dressed once.

I used 3 egg yolks from my chickens, hot water from the tap, and about half as much olive oil as egg yolk. On to the sheep it went and I rubbed it in thoroughly, just like with the soap.

I like the color. I wonder how the final result will differ from a soap tan.

In fact let’s see a before and after.

My last task for today was to select the next hide. It’s a sheepskin that’s looking pretty rough and wasn’t fully fleshed before salting.

Another fairly large one. I started an initial scrape on him but didn’t finish because life, nursing a baby, etc.

I also did a quick once-over on the beam with my ulu of the sheepskin that’s done and just basically waiting to be smoked.