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Author Topic: DIY sheepskin rugs  (Read 3128 times)

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
DIY sheepskin rugs
« on: June 27, 2015, 12:04:17 pm »

We have a wee Shetland cross lamb that I managed to miss with the debollockation machine when he was younger. This gives me a dilemma as he'll be too small to send away this year, but equally a pain in the bum (not to mention a risk to my neighbour's champion Beltex virgins) to keep over the winter.

However, he does have the most gorgeously soft fleece on him, which by winter will be just the right size for warming my feet on when I'm sitting at the computer working reading TAS.

An old thread mentioned a home tanning kit from Snowdonia Supplies, so I was just wondering if any of you have used it or similar in the past, and if so, how difficult / time consuming was it to do, and what the results were like?

Cheers! :thumbsup:
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: DIY sheepskin rugs
« Reply #1 on: July 01, 2015, 12:52:36 pm »
I'll take the deafening silence as a 'no' then!?  :roflanim:

I've got to do SOMETHING with this wee chap - just caught him attempting to get jiggy with one of the Zwartble gimmers (He's less than three months old for goodness sake! - heaven knows what he'll be like by Christmas!?).

I swiftly 'weaned' him over the fence into another field and am SO so hoping he didn't manage it. If we end up with lambs in November, I'm going to tan that boy's hide..... literally!  >:(
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

Bionic

  • Joined Dec 2010
  • Talley, Carmarthenshire
Re: DIY sheepskin rugs
« Reply #2 on: July 01, 2015, 02:34:26 pm »
I send mine off for tanning but it wasn't cheap
Life is like a bowl of cherries, mostly yummy but some dodgy bits

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: DIY sheepskin rugs
« Reply #3 on: July 01, 2015, 02:47:41 pm »
I'm sure someone did do it themselves, and wrote it up, Womble - you'll just have to trawl / search, sorry  :(

ETA here you go
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: DIY sheepskin rugs
« Reply #4 on: July 01, 2015, 07:05:46 pm »
Christmas will be too late, as the fleece will fall off in the processing.  Depending on where you are (climate), about early November is the last time for taking the skin off.  Collect it from the abattoir asap after slaughter, so you can get it home and covered with salt within 2 hours of slaughter. Don't be surprised at the 'purse' dangling there.   Your lamb will be pretty small at that time, but if it's just for home consumption, and the reason for slaughter is to get a good skin, then it's no problem.

I've never tanned a sheep skin myself - way too much work to do all that pummeling and stretching.  My boys did try tanning a grey squirrel and it turned into a Frisbee.

We'll need feedback on how you get on.
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: DIY sheepskin rugs
« Reply #5 on: July 01, 2015, 07:23:43 pm »
Stunning - thanks Sally, I don't know how I missed that one when I searched before?

Fleecewife - Early November it is then - probably when the other tup goes off to work. He'll still be very small I guess, so we'll probably do a home kill if we're going to do the skin ourselves too. Should still make a reasonably sized frisbee with any luck?
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: DIY sheepskin rugs
« Reply #6 on: July 01, 2015, 09:12:16 pm »
Sounds fine - he'll fly long and high  ;D


Womble, I love your "slugs - they can't run but they can hide".  Makes me smile every time  :thumbsup:
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

 

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