Chapter 26: Chapter 26: Tanning Beaver Pelts

Lin Yu’an’s addition undoubtedly injected new vitality and points of interest into the potentially huge China market.

When the first episode aired, sparking waves of heated discussions in the civilized World miles away.

Lin Yu’an knew nothing about it.

At this moment, the sunshine along the Chilco Lakefront was filtering through the sparse pine trees, casting over his naturally styled stone house shelter.

Two fresh beaver pelts were being sun-dried on a simple wooden rack outside the shelter.

All his focus was now entirely on these two invaluable beaver pelts.

“Today’s main task is handling these two precious beaver pelts.”

“Beaver pelts are densely furred and excellent for warmth; if successfully tanned, whether made into hats or used as bed padding, they can greatly enhance my quality of life.”

He picked up one of the beaver pelts still carrying some fat, shimmering under the sunlight, and showcased it in front of the camera.

“Alright, gentlemen, and ladies, I’m going to start working now.”

Lin Yu’an spread one beaver pelt flesh side up, exerted force to stretch it flat over a relatively smooth birch log placed at a slight incline.

This inclination helps the scraped-off fat and flesh bits to slide off.

He didn’t have a professional scraping knife, but the tools in his hand sufficed; a shale piece knocked off a stone, carefully polished, was adequate to serve as a scraping knife.

While roughly scraping off the large chunks of grease from the pelt’s flesh with a stone knife piece, he explained.

“The first step of tanning, also the most labor-intensive step, requires thoroughly scraping clean the inner side of the pelt from fat, flesh bits, and that tough inner membrane.”

“If these things are not removed, the pelt will stink, harden, and simply cannot be tanned.”

He started from the tail end of the beaver pelt, leaning forward, using the weight of his upper body to aid in exerting force, steadily pushing and scraping forward.

“The angle is crucial when scraping pelts, generally around a 30 to 45-degree angle, and the pressure must be even.”

“Our goal is to scrape until the white dermis layer is revealed, but without damaging it.”

“This craft I learned as a kid from a neighbor who slaughtered sheep; it’s barely enough for scraping a beaver pelt.”

He scraped very meticulously, especially near the edges and irregular parts, being extra careful.

Sticky white fat, red meat fibers, and translucent tendons constantly rolled up and fell off under the scraping of the stone flakes.

Scraping just one beaver pelt clean took him nearly two hours.

When he finished handling both pelts, it was already afternoon.

The flesh side of the pelts now appeared clean white or pale yellow, no longer greasy to the touch.

Subsequently, Lin Yu’an took the scraped clean beaver pelts to the stream, thoroughly washing off the surface grime with cold creek water.

He didn’t carry out complex “pit tanning” or alkali treatment, just soaked the pelt in fresh water for one or two hours to allow the pelt to fully absorb water and expand.

“Now is the most crucial step, making natural tanning agents using the material the beaver itself has prepared for us—its brains!”

“In the wild, tanning hides using the animals’ brains is one of the most traditional and effective methods.”

“This may sound a bit primitive, but it works very well; this method has been circulated worldwide for thousands of years.”

Lin Yu’an carefully extracted the brains intact from the two beaver skulls he had preserved.

He placed the brains into a small clay bowl, added approximately equal amounts of warm water.

Using a smoothly sharpened stick, he began to mash and stir vigorously.

“We need to thoroughly mash the brains into a paste, letting them fully mix with water, forming a slurry-like brain paste.”

Patiently mashing for a long time until the mixture in the clay bowl turned into an even, milky white, slightly foamy brain paste liquid.

With the brain paste tanning agent ready, Lin Yu’an spread a wet beaver pelt again on a fallen log, flesh side up.

Using a gloved hand, he smeared the warm brain paste. The pungent smell instantly hit! But he still forced himself to withstand the odor, coating the entire flesh side evenly.

“Though it looks a bit disgusting, the smell is even worse! Every inch of the flesh should be covered, especially the edges and thicker areas.”

Lin Yu’an carefully kneaded the brain paste into the fibers of the pelt.

Then, he folded the pelt smeared with brain paste, fur face to fur face, continuing the “brain soak” process for several hours.

When Lin Yu’an assessed that the brain paste had fully penetrated, he proceeded to the most labor-intensive step in the entire tanning process – “breaking the skin.”

“Now it’s time to continuously subject the pelts to physical action, breaking the internal fiber structure so that it remains soft even after drying.”

He unfolded the brain paste-soaked beaver pelt, starting a series of high-intensity twisting and stretching actions.

Approaching a hardwood stake he had polished to extreme smoothness, he draped the flesh side of the pelt over the stake top, grabbed both sides of the pelt with both hands, and forcefully pulled back and forth.

Also twisting the pelt like wringing a towel, exerting strong opposite pulls with both hands.

For particularly thick or challenging areas, he used his hands to knead like dough repeatedly.

This “breaking the skin” process is continuous; once started, the pelts must not be allowed to dry completely.

Lin Yu’an switched between handling the two beaver pelts, his arms almost too sore to lift; this process occupied almost half his day.

When the skin breaking reached a satisfactory level, Lin Yu’an hung the pelts to fully dry in place, cool and well-ventilated.

Another day passed, the time came to the afternoon.

Fully dried beaver pelts would become very soft, like a thick plush cloth, showing the unique milky white or pale yellow color of brain tanning.

To make the tanned beaver pelts more durable, preventing rot and insect attacks, Lin Yu’an carried out smoke curing.

The waterproof tarp smoke curing room reactivated.

He ignited a mix mainly comprising birch wood, moist pine needles to create a “smoldering fire.”

Wrap the dry soft tanned beaver pelts fur side, securing it with steel fishing lines into a cylindrical shape, carefully hanging above the smoldering fire.

“Smoke curing can not only give the leather an attractive, glossy color, but more importantly, chemical substances in the smoke make the fur more durable.”

The smoke curing process lasted for most of the day until the leather showed an enchanting golden hue and carried a unique smoky aroma.

When both smoked beaver pelts were finally taken down from the smoking rack, they emitted a faint smoky fragrance and the unique toughness of leather.

Lin Yu’an finally revealed a relieved smile of task completion on his face.

He stroked the soft, resilient flesh as well as the still glossy and substantial beaver fur.

“Hey, look at this!” He fully displayed a tanned beaver pelt in front of the camera.

“Purely handmade, pure natural brain-tanned beaver pelt! Though the process was grueling, the result is absolutely worth it!”

“I haven’t decided on what to do with it yet, so I’ll store it for now!”

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(Beaver pelt image)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep