How to Preserve and Tan Animal Pelts and Hides

WARNING: Some of these pictures are a little gross. Discretion is advised!

A few weeks ago I came across a deer kill while on a backcountry ski trip. I'm not sure what killed this deer. Could have been a bobcat or a lynx or perhaps it just was having trouble finding food and died of the cold. However this deer met it's demise, something picked the carcass clean. All of the flesh and organs were gone but most of the hide and fur left was left. As this deer died in the winter, it had it's full winter coat with over an inch and a half of soft fur.

Being the kind of person that refuses to let anything go to waste, I decided to take the carcass, tan the hide and use the deer pelt. I'd normally be reticent about taking a dead animal out of the woods. But in the winter you don't have to worry about bugs and at this point I clearly wasn't taking food away from any other animal.
When I got the carcass home and got a good look at it, it was obvious that this was a relatively small deer almost certainly born last summer. There was a good amount of fur left as well as the skull.
With a sharp knife, I cut away the bone from the hide, being careful not to cut the hide! I threw the skull in the compost bin. I'll try and think of something cool to do with it this summer.
With the hide separated from the bones and laid flat, I removed any pieces of meat or fat left behind. Scavengers took care of most of this for me.
Next I salted the hide. Until the advent of modern refrigeration, salting was an important way to preserve food. Curing with salt allowed meat and fish to be preserved and shipped long distances. It's hard for us today to grasp what a serious problem food preparation was for most of human existence. Any meat product that was not consumed immediately after the animal was slaughtered would quickly go rancid unless it was salted. Salted cod alone provided Europe with an enormous amount of protein for hundreds of years, changing the course of history. I recommend reading Salt: A World History. It's very interesting how this simple product that most people take for granted changed human history so dramatically.

Anyway, the important thing about salt is that is absorbs moisture and aids evaporation thereby preventing bacteria and rot. Accordingly, salting the hide will remove the moisture prior to the tanning process. After a few days you're ready to tan the hide which will make the hide pliable and strong.

There are several ways to tan animal hides. Although apparently not the cheapest or the easiest, I decided to go with the turpentine and alcohol method because these materials are readily available at the hardware store. A great overview of the tanning process is available here. Turpentine is actually made from pine trees which is why is has a pine aroma. The alcohol is, well, alcohol. Mix the turpentine and the alcohol in a 50-50 ratio and pour over the hide so it is completely submerged. A big jar or tub works for this as you'll need to shake the solution over the course of a few days to present separation of the solution.
After about 5-7 days, wash the hide with soap and water. This will take a while as the smell from the tanning solution is quite strong. The tanning process preserves and sterilizes the hide. So a lot of dirt, fat and other crud will come out of the hide. Let the hide dry.
When the hide is partially dry, it must be oiled. The guides I read say to use mink oil or other leather oil. I have some Nikwax waterproofing wax which I decided to use. While probably not the idea choice, the Nikwax did make the pelt more pliable and added moisture to the hide.
And here's the luxuriant hide after being tanned. The tanning process seals the skin, prevents rot and prevents the hair from falling out. Now I just need to figure out what to do with the pelt! There is a lot to know about tanning hides but this first crack at the process worked out well. I think next time I'd try one of the other methods as the turpentine odor is still quite strong. Plus I'm not a fan of chemicals and they're fairly expensive. I also want to figure out how to make the hide more pliable. But all and all this was a fun project!

Manhattan Meadery in the news!

New articles on Brooklyn Buzz honey wine are making a splash! See the new write-ups on Tasting Table and Time Out New York. The response has been overwhelming. Bars, resturants and wine stores are emailing us wanting to carry our products and curious New Yorkers wanting to learn more about wine made from honey. Keep an eye out for the next issue of Edible Manhattan for a big article on us. Also be on the lookout for a revamped website.

We're currently available for sale at:

• Astor Wine & Spirits- 399 Lafayette St, New York NY
• Chelsea Wine Vault- 75 9th Ave, New York, NY
• Big Nose, Full Body Wine Shop- 382 7th Ave, Brooklyn, NY
• Spuyten Duyvil-359 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn, NY
• Abigail Cafe and Wine Bar- 807 Classon Ave. Brooklyn, NY
• Camaje Resturant- 85 Macdougal St, New York, NY
• Perilla- 9 Jones St, New York, NY
  

Racking the 2008 Harvest

My 2008 vintage has been aging gracefully in glass carboys for several months now. Sediment has been collecting at the bottom so it's time to rack. Racking is a fancy word for siphoning from one container to another, leaving the sediment behind. This is necessary several times over the course of the wine making process. It's also a chance to add sulfites and check the specific gravity to see if there is any fermentation activity. I'd prefer to not use sulfites as they are essentially preservatives but unfortunately they are required wine making ingredients. Sulfites prevent the wine from absorbing oxygen and spoling. In most cases, wine would not last until maturity without sulfites. After I rack them into new containers, I blanket the top of the wine with CO2. This is a little insurance against oxygen absorption. If you don't have a CO2 tank, you can top off the wine with another sacrificial bottle of wine.
Racking is also a chance to taste the wine to see how it is maturing. This wine is coming along nicely. Still a little sharp but the flavor complexity is certainly there. About a year from now this should be pretty great wine.

How to Mount Bindings on Skis

Mounting downhill ski bindings is a simple job. The only challenge is steeling your nerves and drilling into an expensive brand new pair of skis! Ski shops often charge around $50 to mount ski bindings, a job that takes them only a few minutes. It will take you longer, but this is a straightforward job that anyone with a drill can do.

The hardest part about mounting skis is lining up the bindings on the skis. All skis have a centering line over the "sweet spot". This line matches up with the centering line on the middle of your ski boots. These are actual indication lines on the skis and boots. If you can measure the bindings so these lines match up, and don't mind drilling pilot holes in your skis, then you can mount bindings.

The heel part of the binding adjusts forward and backward (with a screw on the back of the binding) but the front does not. Accordingly, measure from the front backwards to make sure that the line on the ski will always line up with the line on the boots. If the boot doesn't fit perfectly, you can then adjust the heel piece as necessary. The boots I am mounting today are about 10 and 3/4th inches long with 5 and 3/8ths inches from toe/heel to the center mark. Be sure to measure backwards from the boot toe lug receptacle on the toe piece of the binding (not any other part of the binding) to the center mark, because this is measurement you took from the boot. With these measurements in mind, I laid out the toe binding piece 5 and 3/8ths inches from the center line. For the heel binding piece, make sure that the adjustment on the binding is in the middle of its range as described above. When you measure from that setting you will be able to adjust the heal piece later if the boot doesn't fit exactly right.

Once the binding piece is at the proper distance from the center line, and centered side to side on the ski, mark the screw holes with a magic marker. Ski shops have templates for the bindings which saves them some time. Your bindings may have come with paper templates. But if you're careful, it's not hard to lay the bindings out on the ski using the binding itself (or the mounting plate if they are separate pieces). Measure twice, cut once takes on special meaning when you're mounting skis!
To install the heel part of the binding, tie back the brakes. This will make it much easier to mount the heel section. As I mentioned above, measure the heel piece from the heel piece when the binding is in the center of its adjustable range. However to install the binding, you may need to adjust the binding backward or forward to access the screw holes. You may also need to engage the binding (click it down) to access the holes. Just like the front, use a marker to mark where you'll drill your pilot holes.
Most skis require a drill bit that is 3.5 millimeters. Though to be honest, I just eyeballed the bit after looking at a screw. The top sheet of the ski will be hard to drill through, but once you get through, the core will be much softer. Therefore, mark the bit with a piece of tape so you do not get carried away and drill through to the bottom. Should you do so, you can always patch the hole with P-tex, like you would for repairing a gouge after hitting a rock.

After you drill the hole, the top sheet may rise up slightly around the opening. This must be removed with a chisel or the binding will not sit flat on the ski.
Once you have the holes drilled, simply lay the binding over the holes and install the screws. These are strong screws so torque them down tight. Check whether there is a gap between the binding and the ski. It should be completely flush.

While all bindings are different (and hopefully come with instructions) many bindings have longer screws for the toe piece than for the heel piece. This is because the toe piece is often thicker than the heel piece. But because all bindings are different, don't be afraid to dry fit the screws to see how far they protrude under the baseplate of the binding. They should all protrude the same length.

A note about epoxy. Many people fill the pilot holes with two-part hobby epoxy before installing the binding screws. The thinking here is that this keeps the screw in place and keeps out moisture. I've heard that people swear by this and other people say it's unnecessary. I've never done this myself and I've never had a problem. Though I don't see how it could hurt!

Also note that most bindings come with the tension set to its lowest setting. This is because the spring inside will eventually loose its power if set at high tension for a long time, such as during shipment and while it is sitting in the store. Be sure to adjust the tension (measured as a DIN number) according to your skier type before you go skiing. This setting controls when the binding will release in a fall (and save you from injury!). Therefore, more aggressive skiers need a higher setting than more conservative skiers. Keep in mind that tension in the spring will eventually decline and so on older bindings, the DIN shown may not be the tension that the binding is actually applying. Along these lines, it's a good idea to set the DIN to its lowest setting after your last day of skiing for the year so the spring isn't compressed when the ski isn't being used. Even if you do so, the interior spring will eventually wear out and you'll need a new pair of bindings.

As with so many other things I write about, this is something that an expert may chastise you for trying yourself. But, like so many other things I write about, there is no magical specialized knowledge that a professionalized ski tuner acquired after years of study. People in trades tend to overestimate the difficulty of most jobs to ensure the demand for their services. Don't be afraid to tackle projects yourself. It's fun and it will save you some money!

Making Bread Crumbs

Making your own bread crumbs is an easy self-sufficient project. It's a great use for stale bread that would otherwise end up in the compost pile and it's far superior to the bread dust of questionable origin from the grocery store. All you need is the once ubiquitous hand powered meat grinder. This relic of kitchens past is a tremendously useful tool. If your parents have one in their attic or if you see one at a yard sale, grab it! It comes in useful for so many projects. When bread is rock hard, with almost no moisture left, chop it into little pieces and feed it through the grinder. A food processor would also work.
And viola, your very own bread crumbs from something you would have probably thrown away.
Throw these in the fridge and use the next time you're cooking with bread crumbs. Why would anyone ever buy store bought bread crumbs when you can make something better out of something you'd probably throw away! Live frugally. Waste nothing.

Custom Cabinetry using Wine Crates

What to do with all these wine crates?
I've made some interesting things out of wine crates. I've made a few coffee tables, used them for storage, planters and other interesting uses. In fact, I need to keep finding new things to do with them because I keep finding new ones! Again last week I found another four crates. One would think that rich folks would not be drinking so much expensive wine in this economy but my garbage barometer indicates otherwise.

Wine crates are essentially very similar to dresser drawers. So I thought, why not make a built-in cabinet in my closet? In a busy New York City apartment, clever storage solutions are very important. And a built-in cabinet made of wine crates is a cool project!
I will also be using Ikea pine boards. This seem to always be in the trash. And they are always coming in handy for little projects! With the found wine crates and the free Ikea wood, this project is costing me all of $0 (well maybe 25 cents for the cost of a few drywall screws).
The width of the closet is slightly wider than the wine crates and therfore I will need to add some spacer strips to each side of the closet. These strips will also serve as mounting posts for the rails that each drawer will slide on. Notice that I put one strip higher than the other to compensate for the floor molding. This will give a nice even surface to mount the drawer rails. Be sure to use a level to make sure the posts are plumb.
I mounted the Ikea rails on the other side as well. The width of these four Ikea boards minus the width of the closet opening is only slightly larger than the legnth of the wine crates. This means that the crates will slide on the rails but will not come off the rails. I screwed the Ikea posts into the drywall. Not that strong, but most of the weight will be pushing down on the floor not pulling away from the wall.
With the posts in place, I took three additional Ikea boards and cut them down the middle. Then I cut them off slightly longer than the wine crate is wide. These pieces will serve as the rails upon which the wine crates will slide. The Ikea boards are also already rounded over on one side, which will reduce the chance of snagging on the crate.

I installed the rails by measuring the height of the wine crates and making sure that there was slightly more than that distance between the top of one rail and the bottom of the higher rail. I also drilled pilot holes in each rail because small pieces of wood like these are proned to splitting. Make sure that each rail is level and that the height matches the rail on the other side so that the drawer will also be level.
And the finished product! I'll probably take a sharpie and label each of these drawers. A cool project and a free storage solution!

Street Find: L.L. Bean Tote Bag

Leon Leonwood Bean is probably turning over in his flannel lined casket. The notion that someone discarded one of his legendary tote bags while still in such great condition! I found this bag this morning in the garbage, with about 40 years of useful life span left. Such waste! But their loss is my gain!

Fixing things with Fiberlglass

Fiberglass resin is a multi-purpose repair tool. It's sort of like glue, but instead of being applied between two pieces you want to bond, it's applied around the outside of the two pieces. Because the strength of the bond depends on the surface area connecting the pieces to be joined, fiberglass creates a very strong joint. Fiberglass is especially useful when you are joining two flat things end to end because they will have very little surface area between them for glue to hold on to.

In this project I am repairing a cracked car rack box. Fiberglass can bond many things well, but it is especially good at bonding things already made of fiberglass. This is why fiberglass repair kits are frequently used on boats. Fortunately my Thule box is also made of fiberglass!
Fiberglass has three parts. The fiberglass resin, the hardener and the fiberglass matting. The resin is the epoxy glue in a liquid state. Unlike regular glue, it doesn't harden when exposed to oxygen, it hardens when mixed with the liquid hardener. The hardener comes in a little tube of clear liquid which is mixed in equal ratios with the resin.
The third part is the fiberglass mat, also called sea glass. The resin is very hard but brittle. The mat gives the resin significantly greater strength, much like rebar strengthens concrete. Cut the mat to the size of the repair you are looking to make, usually about two inches wider than the crack you are joining. Mix the resin and the hardener in equal ratios (not equal amounts!). In other words, the entire container of resin will take the entire tube of hardener, half will take half, and so on. Note that the resin curing process is endothermic and therefore the ambient temperature is very important. On hot days the resin will set quickly and on cold days it may take a long time to set. On really cold days the resin may not cure properly and it's best to wait for warmer weather or move indoors. Between 60 and 80 degrees is the perfect range and the epoxy resin will begin to cure within a few minutes.

Mix the resin quickly with a disposable brush. This makes it easy to spread the resin and reduces the chance that you will spill it or get it on your fingers. When you're ready, paint the resin on the mat, wetting it through to the surface of the item to be bonded. Make sure that the mat is sticking to the item or the bond will not be nearly as strong. When the resin dries, the repair will be very strong. If you're bonding cracked fiberglass, the bond will be almost a part of the original fiberglass.
One of the great things about fiberglass, aside from its stregnth, is that you can sand it and paint it. If you're fixing a fiberglass boat, you can sand it down until it is perfectly smooth. Just use breathing protection because you do not want to inhale fiberglass dust. Once you get good at fiberglassing, you'll be able to do repairs so well that you won't be able to tell where the crack was. For the Thule box, I don't care about aesthetics, so I think I'll skip that step. Happy fiberglassing!

Wassail: Report

In November I brewed up a batch of my version of the traditional holiday drink called Wassail. I tapped the first keg for Christmas but you could tell that it just wasn't ready yet. The flavors were still sharp and discordant. With such strong malt and molasses flavors, this is not a quick maturing beer. I put the keg back into storage for another month, and what a difference a month makes.
This frothy brew is spicy with a strong molasses aroma but with very little molasses flavor. The body is actually quite mild but the finish is intense. The musty, charred, spicy flavor is pleasant and it lingers on your tongue for a very long time. Like an entire holiday cake compressed into one bite. This is an intense beer for cold winter nights. Time to warm up with a cold one!

Kegging Caramel Coffee Ale

It's been almost two weeks since I brewed a caramel coffee ale with Edible Manhattan. It's always fun to brew in the cold. It's like standing around a camp fire on a cold day. This brew fermented strongly and quickly and cleared nicely. So after just ten days, it's time to siphon it into the five gallon kegs. The beer stayed true to it's name; like coffee and caramel! Keep an eye out for the next issue of Edible Manhattan for the story!

How to Build a Bicycle Wheel

Building a bicycle wheel sounds more complicated than it is. While it's true that a high performance bicycle wheel is a work of art created by a master wheel builder, constructing a basic bicycle wheel is fairly straightforward. The skill isn’t in arranging the spokes but rather in making the wheel perfectly true with no wobble side to side or bounce up and down. Most bicycle wheels have 32 or 36 spokes and are laced in what is called a cross-2 pattern. There are several other exotic lacing patterns, such as radical lacing that go straight from the hub to the rim, but these are advanced wheels for specialized applications that the DIYer probably wont tackle until they become wheel building experts.

With a standard 32 spoke wheel with a cross 2 lacing pattern there are 4 different spoke orientations: the inside and the outside of the left hub flange and the inside and the outside of the right hub flange. Therefore, there are eight spokes in each orientation and they take turns going around the rim. This means that out of four spokes, 1 and 3 are going to one side of the hub (each exiting the hub flange on opposite sides) and 2 and 4 are going to the other side of the hub (exiting the opposite hub flange on opposite sides).

With a little practice, you can build your own cross-2 pattern wheel. Your first wheel should probably be a beater because it will take a little practice. I’ve done a bunch of wheels and still haven’t been able to make any that come out flawless. So leave the high performance wheels to the professionals, but don’t be scared to make wheels for a beater bike, replace broken spokes or true a bent rim.

My neighborhood cruiser bike suffered a seriously bent rim when it was chained up on the street. This bike has been on the street for nearly two years and this is the first time anyone has messed with it. The rim was way too banged up to repair, so I decided to replace it. Fortunately there is an ample supply of discarded bike parts in the trash here in New York City. I found a wheel in the trash a few weeks ago. It has the same number of spokes as my cruiser wheel so is a good candidate to lace up to my cruiser hub. Plus, because I am putting a new rim on a wheel that is already laced, I can simply move the spokes over one by one, keeping the pattern intact.
I started by removing the spokes from the new rim. I unscrewed the nipples with a spoke wrench and finished them off with a screwdriver from the other end of the nipple. Save these spokes- you never know when they might come in handy!
Next remove a nipple from the bent rim and move it over to the new rim. Work your way around the rim, removing nipples from the old rim and moving the spoke to the new rim, keeping the pattern intact. Don’t tighten the nipples too much at this point, just connect them. To keep the wheel as true as possible, you tighten the nipples evenly all at once. Once you get about half way around the rim, you can push the spokes out through the rim and remove them without the rim being in the way.

Once you’ve moved all the spokes over to the new rim, begin tightening them uniformly around the entire rim until the spokes are tight. This uniform pressure around the entire wheel is what makes the wheel true. When the spokes are tight, mount the wheel and give it a spin to see how wobbly it is. When you identify a wobble, tighten the spoke that pulls the rim to the opposite side of the hub (or loosen spokes going to the same side of the hub as the wobble. Eventually you’ll eliminate the wobble and you’ll have a reasonably true wheel. As I mentioned above, it’s really tough to make a flawless wheel, but for a basic wheel, this is certainly a project you can tackle yourself!

How to Build a Snow Shelter

For winter camping trips and in case of emergencies, knowing how to build a snow cave is a valuable skill for any outdoorsman. Although it may seem counter-intuitive, being under the snow in a shelter is significantly warmer than being on top of it. Snow is a great insulator because it holds a lot of air which means it insulates on the same principle as a puffy down jacket or sleeping bag. Your body heat will slightly melt the walls of the shelter, forming a thin layer of icy crust. The shelter will then get as warm as 25 or 30 degrees. While that may still seem cold, if it’s minus 5 degrees outside, your now shelter is providing up to 35 degrees of insulation by reflecting your body heat. That’s like the difference between 45 degrees and 80 degrees. Plus it’s keeping you out of the wind and weather. Temperatures and conditions will vary, but you will certainly be significantly warmer in a snow shelter than outside of one. If you’re lost in the woods in the winter without equipment and night is approaching, building a snow shelter can save your life. On more routine camping trips, snow shelters are a great way to spend a cold winter night.

The type of shelter you build will be determined by the quantity and type of snow you have. Most people are familiar with the igloo, where blocks of snow are constructed in a dome shape. These actually take a lot of practice and skill to build. You need a snow saw and firm heavy blocks of snow that are typically found near maritime environments. You’ll have a hard time building an igloo out of dry mountain powder. Unless you really know what you’re doing (which doesn’t include me), stick to the snow cave.
Usually you’ll have more luck building a snow shelter out of a snow drift. If there isn’t enough snow where you are, you can shovel it into a big pile and let is settle or “sinter” until it is solid, usually about an hour. Don’t be afraid to walk on the snow pile with skis or snowshoes to pack it down. Always pick a site that is out of the path of any potential avalanche. While there may be a big pile of snow at the bottom of a slope, it’s also an indication that the slope has been sliding! Also, start digging on the leeward side of the snow drift so your entrance is out of the wind. If on a slope, start downhill and dig up. As described in more detail later, this will help keep warm air in the shelter.

It’s a good idea to probe the drift with a ski pole with the basket removed or an avalanche probe so you don’t start digging only to find a bush in your new home. Don’t under estimate how big the pile of snow should be. If you’re planning on building a decent sized shelter with room for a few people, make sure the snow pile is 10 feet tall and 20 feet wide. Harder snow means the pile doesn’t need to be as large but you don’t want it collapsing on you. Along these lines, don’t build a snow shelter alone except in an emergency. If it collapses on you, you need a buddy to dig you out.
To make the entrance, dig down in front of your entrance and pile snow to the sides in order to build a wind break. When you have a good wall of snow in front of you, start digging into the drift. You want to dig in and up, so you will be climbing in and up to the main chamber of the snow shelter. Because heat rises, you will create and inversion layer of warm air in the snow cave that can’t escape because your entrance is below the main chamber of the cave. But you’ll also still have an open entrance to provide for a small amount of air circulation for ventilation.

Once you’re done with the entrance, start hollowing out the main chamber. I’ve heard of people getting really creative with their snow shelters. Building sleeping platforms, shelves for equipment and food, etc. At a minimum you should make the ceiling large enough to kneel in and wide enough to fit your party comfortably. As you’re removing snow with your backpacker’s shovel or ice ax, push it out the entrance of the cave where your partner will shovel it out of the way. When the cave is of sufficient size, poke a small air vent through the top with a ski pole or similar instrument. I’ve read competing schools of thought that you can suffocate without this hole and also that it’s unnecessary because snow breathes and you have an entry way for extra oxygen. My opinion is that your body heat and condensation from your breath will form a crust on the walls of the cave and thet will lose some of their breath-ability. Better to have a vent ready to go which you can uncover if need be. A vent will also cut down on condensation.
When the shelter is complete, lay a tarp on the ground to insulate you from the snow and keep you dry. If you don’t have a tarp, cut some pine boughs and lay them on the ground of the shelter. Also, it may seem obvious, but don’t start a fire or cook on a camping stove in the cave. Aside from the heat weakening the walls, they will build up fumes like carbon monoxide which can be deadly. You’re better off making a cooking area shelf outside the cave sheltered from wind.

Note that snow is in a constant state of motion. Even when it’s freezing outside, the snow will be settling and moving. Over the course of a few days, the ceiling of the shelter will settle a few inches. You can install a center support pole to slow the process but re-sculpting may be necessary. Make sure you have enough snow on top of you to prevent cave-ins. Be careful and be safe.