What Is This Skin?

[Avgvstvs]

Hi,

My father just found this skin in his stuff. He doesn't remember where he got it from. Any idea from what animal this skin might have come from?

It is about 10 inches wide at the widest point, 4 inches at its narrowest. About 42 inches long.

Also, with this skin there were 2 snakeskins. My dad says the skins might be over 25 years old... What should I use to condition those? And the mystery skin?

Thanks!

[Greystone]

eel ??

[Avgvstvs]

It could be some sort of eel (a huge one) but it doesn't look like anything that shows up in google with keyword 'eel'...

Edited December 26, 2014 by Avgvstvs

[MonicaJacobson]

Ha, that's pretty awesome. I have no idea, but it was fun seeing it.

[Tiara]

looks a bit like wolffish http://www.atlanticleather.is/index.php/en/wolffish-leather

generally the eel leather I've seen for sale is in panels and isn't actually eel but hagfish and is fairly smooth with a line of wrinkly skin down the center.

Oh the snake skins, which I love to work with, I've had good results with most of the usual products. Depends on how brittle they are. I have one old but still useable good sized piece of karung that is a bit brittle as well as some lower grade thin lizard skins that were rather brittle. I found some good info here on preserving old leather http://nautarch.tamu.edu/CRL/conservationmanual/File7.htm the glycerine/alcohol has helped on those with restoring flexibility but will leave it somewhat sticky and prone to pulling moisture from the air in humid conditions resulting in some translucence and made it a bit harder to glue later on. I have also used pecards exotic leather dressing on reptile leather but found that worked best for me applied after all work is done more as a surface finish--does add depth to it.

What I've liked best so far with these brittle skins prior to working with them has been http://www.amazon.com/Lexol-NF-Neatsfoot-Leather-Dressing/dp/B006CUZ2UU working small amounts into the skins with fingertips to both sides and letting sit at least overnight before adding another coat, has not darkened too much and that will lighten up again after a week or so to close to the original shade, not given me any trouble I can recall with gluing and gave the best results with being able to work softer once I have enough on and it wicks all the way through.
I tried pure neatsfoot oil once on a snakeskin I dyed that became very stiff after drying. Foolishly put on way too much and it made it so dark and oily I wasn't at all what I had hoped for. However, some alcohol helped get off a good part of that but it took time for that skin to lighten back up enough to be useable. Like 2 years of sitting in my scraps. I found that gently stretching in all directions and rolling it some with my hands, that lightened the color some more by bringing air into the scale pockets. After all this time, that piece finally was put to use as a nice cuff

[Avgvstvs]

Looks like you nailed it Tiara! It sure looks like Wolffish!

Thanks for the link on leather conservation, there seems to be a lot of useful information on that page.

I'll have to try that Lexol product!

Thanks!

[Tiara]

I've had a hankering for wolffish leather since the first time I saw it. Hoping down the line to see about getting the minimum order needed to make the shipping worth it. That and some of the cod skins looked very interesting. The company is willing to ship undyed skins in smaller amounts than dye lots. Prices not bad, it's the shipping that makes it pricier than I can justify right now. However let us know how that skin works out. It might interest some folks to consider chipping in and buying a larger amount, splitting the costs and skins.

[simontuntelder]

It's wolffish. Or Havkat as we call it in Denmark. It's quite funny seeing something that's actually made in Denmark.

But during the Second World War a lot of fish was used - especially for the upper leathers on shoes - because there was a scarcity of materials during those years.

I talked with a leather monger here in Denmark, and it turns out that his family originally made their money and built the company on fish skins that they tanned.

Nowadays wolffish mainly comes from Iceland.

[Tiara]

some of the fish leathers are very cool in their own right. as an alternative exotic leather and by product of the fishing industry, it seems like a win/win all around.
I made some items for my family--all of whom are creeped out by the idea of anything reptile except my great grand niece, out of fish leathers. belt buckles for the guys, hair pins for the gals.. but the 6 year old girl with her small snake skin covered box, decorated with shark teeth, a gator scute pendant and jewel beetle wing hair clips was ecstatic over the stuff the others could barely look at. Wants more and I"m glad to oblige.

[Avgvstvs]

General questions:

How strong/durable is fish leather? As a surface, can it resist well to abrasion or friction? How well does it resist to stretch and bending?

I was thinking about using the skin I have as a lining for a wallet or something like that but I have no idea if it's an appropriate use for that leather.

Also, any idea if pva glue is any good for working with fish leather and/or snake skin?

@simontuntelder

Funny, I didn't now fish leathers were used as an alternative to cow/horse leathers during WWII. Makes a lot of sense considering how everything was rationed, especially in Europe.

@Tiara

How bad are the shipping charges from atlantic leather (if you don't mind me asking)?

[simontuntelder]

At the moment, I work at a leather monger (not the one mentioned) - based in Copenhagen, Denmark but we have a webshop.

We have a lot of different fish skins, among them some wolffish in different colours even.

Since I don't know if I'm allowed to advertise the company's name, now that I'm somewhat affiliated, please send me a pm if you want the name of the shop.

[Tiara]

Simon you will have mail shortly.

Avg,

The fish I have tried appears much thicker. I got some sample packs from sea leather wear in Canada. I think the guy bought out the stock on a company that closed. I got a few sueded, the thinnest and softest, some satin and gloss finished that are quite thick--dyed and finished but backside not trimmed. All are quite strong but I can't say that the finish may be all that durable. There is some info on the site about tear strength etc. Fish leather overall is supposed to be quite strong compared to land critters. It sounds as if Simon would be the person to tell us about its qualities.

here is what I had as a quote from 2 years ago. I didn't save the next email but I think I had a followup asking about non-dyed wolffish and cod and there wasn't as big a minimum.

Thank you for taking interest in our fish leather. I‘m happy to send you some samples of our colors and finishes in fish leather via mail. Attached is our price and size list in USD.

We color to customers orders so we don‘t keep much stock. Our minimum is 20 pcs per color.

We don‘t have a white wolffish. We have tried to color it white but it turnes out to be more of a grey color. The natural color of the wolffish is grey.

The price of shipping depends on how we ship and the weight of the parcel. We use both post and express delivery like UPS, FedEx and DHL. The price for a small package (up to 1 kilo) is around 53 USD via UPS and around 29 USD via post.

Best regards/bestu kveðjur,

Sóley Sigmarsdóttir

Sales & Marketing

Atlantic Leather/Loðskinn

Borgarmýri 5

550 Sauðárkrókur

Iceland

Tel:+354 512 8024

www.atlanticleather@atlanticleather.is

[Avgvstvs]

Thanks for the info Tiara!