Last couple of weeks have been good ones for auction going. I picked up a lot of stuff. The coolest thing I picked up THIS week was a huge bearskin rug. Actually, they auctioneer called it a buffalo robe, and maybe it is, though I have never seen a jet black buffalo. It is pretty coarse as well, like bearskin, but on the other hand, when I think of the buffalo I have actually seen on the hoof, the hide was always covered in matts, fleas, and flies. Its not like they even OWN a comb. The downside of course if to figure out how to get the musty smell out of it. I have never had such a bad smelling hide (cept for those uncured deer hides I got a Pensic a few decades ago....)...they smell like an old trunk left in the basement. That "old suitcase smell".
The robe has a nice wool back covering that I was sort of hoping to keep. There is no water marks or anything to indicate the thing had ever got wet, so the problem is purely that of high humidity for too long.
Anybody have any idea how to get rid of the musty odor? I would think that washing it in water with detergent, borax and detol might cause the wool to shrink. And I don't know if detol kills mold. The detol odor is not really all that nice a replacement odor come to think of it. Vinegar maybe? Gasoline? Its not something you do in the winter time, or anytime static can build up, but I have washed leather and hides in naptha in the past. Brenda suggest I remove the backing regardless...and I am inclined to go along with that idea except for the problem that I will have to sew something back on afterwards. If I can get away without all that sewing, I would be happier.
2 comments:
Wish I could help. I know nothing about washing animal hide. Sounds cool, though. Show us a photo when you get it all cleaned up nice and pretty!
perhaps if you didn't bath for three weeks the smell of the hide wouldn't be so noticible...just a thought.
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