Step 5. Next take out the skin for dehairing.

This is perhaps the messiest part of Phase 1. Before removing the hide from the lime bath, we set up a work station for the dehairing process. We placed a large plastic barrel inside the spill basin then covered the floor, the basin, and the barrel with plastic sheets to make for easy clean up.

Next, we removed the lamb’s hide from the lime bath and rinsed it thoroughly with cold water.

We then placed the hide across the barrel, wool-side up.

The moment of truth arrives to determine whether the lime bath was made too strong, not strong enough, or just right.
Luckily, the lime bath seemed to be mixed perfectly (again, we used 2 cups of lime in 15 gallons of cold water).

The wool only had a slight resistance but overall the removal of the wool from the skin was a rather easy and quick process.

Around the edges of the hide and around areas where there were holes in the skin, I found it easiest to simply pull the wool off by hand. Everywhere else I used scraping tools that covered a greater surface area and sped up the dehairing process.

With the hide completely removed of all wool hair, part 2 of Phase 1 is complete.

Next begins part 3, where the now wool-less hide is once again placed into a fresh lime bath to soak and be stirred daily for another 8 days.