Low-tech tool kits: leather

[(E)]

Originally Posted by whswhs

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* Preparing the hide of a man-sized animal takes two days of immediate effort, and then a week more that can be interspersed with travel.

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Have I said anything that appears seriously unrealistic or inaccurate?

Salting a hide will allow the initial work to be put off for some time, in a cooler climate this maybe for months.

Skinning without a knife may be preferred if the animal is in good enough condition. This is "punching" off a skin.

From what I have read about TL2 (boat building and general crafts) there is an indication that specific purposes called for leather from specific animals. Porpoise hide ropes was one reference I recall as is cat skins for gloves, Otzi had shoes constructed from bear and deer skin, his clothes were made from at least 4 other species of animals.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by (E)

From what I have read about TL2 (boat building and general crafts) there is an indication that specific purposes called for leather from specific animals. Porpoise hide ropes was one reference I recall as is cat skins for gloves, Otzi had shoes constructed from bear and deer skin, his clothes were made from at least 4 other species of animals.

Supply may be an issue here - although I've hear of the Norse favouring sealskins for ropes, I would guess you had to work with what you had, modified for what it could achieve - for shoes you'd probably need your most hard-wearing hides or leather, whilst lighter stiff from smaller mammals (like cats?) might end up being used for finer work. A set of clothes made from multiple species might reflect different leathers for different functions, or might just be that you had to mix and match what you had.

[Hyrneson]

To add a bit more confusion --
at TL 2(?) or TL3 the art of leather tooling(carving and stamping designs into the leather) could be a skill that could accompany leather tanning and leather construction. For that I might suggest the an artist's (whitesmith?) metal working tools as a base for figuring price.