Tanning - Part Three

In my work, I use chemical degreasants, but you can do a good enough job by washing the skin in a strong solution of cheap washing detergent. Try to get the old fashioned, blitzes-every-stain-going kind, not the high tech wash at thirty degrees and is kind to your clothes kind. You really want something pretty tough, that will cut through the remaining skin fats and dissolve it.
If you aren`t squeamish or precious about your kitchen or washing machine, throw it into that, on a wool wash, having first put a good big cupful of washing powder into the drum.
If you don`t want to risk your washing machine (though if you use it for this, a simple empty wash afterwards on the hottest cycle cleans the machine fine ) then you`ll have to wash it by hand.
In a tub, or bath, put plenty lukewarm water, not too hot and not cold, and add double the amount of washing powder you`d need in the machine.
Dissolve it and add the skin, depending on how mucky the skin is, sets how long you`ll need to wash it.
Don`t scrub or rub the wool or hair, just swish it around in the water, gently pressing and agitating the worst stained bits. Blood especially needs a gentle hand to get out.
Leaving it in the bath, empty the water out and rinse well in more lukewarm water.
If you`ve used the automatic washing machine, the whole thing has been washed and spun for you.
If you did it in the bath, you`ll have to gently squeeze out the excess water and transfer it to another tub to carry out to where you`ll tan the skin. Wet skins bigger than dog size weigh pretty heavily when wet. Mind your back!

Once it`s washed, it`s ready to be pickled.
Pickle is an acidic solution applied to the skin, in order to prevent bacteria acting on it and slow down natural decay, and also plumps up the flesh, like opening grain in wood, to allow the tanning liquor to be more readily absorbed.
You can purchase bulk bags of citric acid for this purpose from food stores.
The general solution is one pound of salt to one gallon of water, and add citric acid by the cupful until it reaches a PH of 1.5.
To find the PH value, you can buy strips of paper from any chemist used by diabetics. Simply dip one strip in the solution for the PH value.
If you make up enough, either in the bath or a large tub (try old propcorn barrels if you live in the countryside, any farmer will give you one, or an old rainbarrel) then simply place the skin into this solution and leave for twenty four hours.