Low-tech tool kits: leather

[whswhs]

One of the players in my TL1 fantasy campaign is looking to have her character own a leatherworking tool kit. Consulting GURPS Low-Tech, I see that it lists a "tailor's kit" as suitable for working with cloth or leather.

1. Will the same kit work for both cloth and leather, or do you need two sets of slightly different tools for the two materials?

2. The kit doesn't seem to include tools for producing the leather in the first place. What would go into a tanner's/furrier's kit?

Please comment/suggest.

[Anders]

You should ask the author of Low-Tech. :)

Let's see. I found this how-to guide. Seems you need:

1 large bucket.
Some form of scraper - a large knife would probably be fine.
Some abrasive to scrape the epidermis off the hide.
Leather awl
Ropes and a wooden frame
A blunt blade or rowing paddle to sleak the hide

In addition you will need
Lime solution, made from seashells or bone (?)
Large amounts of suitable bark (oak or hemlock in the source material)
Greenwood to dry the leather
Oil to waterproof it

You will also need three to nine months, most of will be spent in a tanning solution. So patience would be recommended as well.

[whswhs]

Yes, well, I believe the author of that chapter of Low-Tech is still active here.

The list of recommended equipment is helpful. Can you suggest a total weight and price?

[Turhan's Bey Company]

For a leather sewing kit, I'd double or triple cost and weight from the tailor's kit. Similar gear, but more heavy duty.

For a leather-making kit, the tools aren't that complicated. You'll want a set of scrapers of different shapes (at TL1, probably mostly stone but some metal as well; call that $100, 2 lbs.), and stakes (a bunch; $40, 5 lbs.) and rope ($5, 1.5 lbs.) for stretching hides. If you're thinking of a portable kit, this would involved a couple of tubs for soaking operations ($113, 32 lbs.), though leather production often involved fixed installations with purpose-dug pits. Then there are materials, whose costs vary. Leather gets treated with a variety of unpleasant substances which might include wood ash solutions, concentrated urine, alum, and the animal's own brains.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

For a leather sewing kit, I'd double or triple cost and weight from the tailor's kit. Similar gear, but more heavy duty.

For a leather-making kit, the tools aren't that complicated. You'll want a set of scrapers of different shapes (at TL1, probably mostly stone but some metal as well; call that $100, 2 lbs.), and stakes (a bunch; $40, 5 lbs.) and rope ($5, 1.5 lbs.) for stretching hides. If you're thinking of a portable kit, this would involved a couple of tubs for soaking operations ($113, 32 lbs.), though leather production often involved fixed installations with purpose-dug pits. Then there are materials, whose costs vary. Leather gets treated with a variety of unpleasant substances which might include wood ash solutions, concentrated urine, alum, and the animal's own brains.

What about simply digging a pit in whatever temporary location you've moved to? It doesn't seem as if you would carry a tub full of tanning solution on a journey, though I suppose you could load it onto an oxcart.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by whswhs

What about simply digging a pit in whatever temporary location you've moved to? It doesn't seem as if you would carry a tub full of tanning solution on a journey, though I suppose you could load it onto an oxcart.

You'd need to line it with something (stones? clay?) so that whatever vile solution you were using didn't soak out over the course of several days, but yes, I'm sure that would work.

[Anders]

Bury a clay pot. It's called a tanning pit.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

You'd need to line it with something (stones? clay?) so that whatever vile solution you were using didn't soak out over the course of several days, but yes, I'm sure that would work.

If you're not in a hurry, you can oak tan the hides by layering oak (or other suitable tree) bark and hides in a pool and leaving them there for a good long time (months, usually). Hope you didn't need that pond for anything else, though.

[Anders]

My source said you should change solutions every three months, and that three months is the minimum time.

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by whswhs

One of the players in my TL1 fantasy campaign is looking to have her character own a leatherworking tool kit. Consulting GURPS Low-Tech, I see that it lists a "tailor's kit" as suitable for working with cloth or leather.

1. Will the same kit work for both cloth and leather, or do you need two sets of slightly different tools for the two materials?

2. The kit doesn't seem to include tools for producing the leather in the first place. What would go into a tanner's/furrier's kit?

Please comment/suggest.

At TL 1, neither tanning nor tailoring are probably things. Most textiles into the Iron Age were woven to shape not woven in long narrow pieces, cut up and sewed back together, and most leather until the Roman imperial period was alum-tawed or oil-cured or brain-tanned but not tanned with tannins.