Maasai Shield

[nkante]

I recently came across a short film from 2012 called "Blood and Leather: The making of a Maasai shield". Although it is technically rawhide and not leather, I was hoping someone could help me out. It appears to be a pretty straight forward process. They stretch the hide, staking it to the ground flesh side up and scrape it. At about 1:50 into the video they cover it with a power substance. That is the part I could use help with. any ideas what the powder is. At first I thought salt, but in my opinion it looks too fine to be salt. Then I thought maybe it was some kind of wood ash. What do you folks think?

[grmnsplx]

Yes I think it's wood ash. It's alkaline and should help de-hair the hide. I think.

Edited February 17, 2016 by grmnsplx

[TinkerTailor]

It may be alum. Alum tanning is much more common in desert regions because it requires less water, and no tree bark, which is rare in deserts. If this is the case, it would mean it is not rawhide at all.

[grmnsplx]

Makes sense

[TinkerTailor]

Makes sense

Alum is a salt so you may have been right at first with the salt. Look up alunite, it looks similar in colour to what they used. They may very well have mixed it with wood ash and normal salt as well. I bet the documentarians would tell all with an email inquiry. .

Edited February 18, 2016 by TinkerTailor

[Thor]

Alum would require access to that chemical compound and since this is supposed to be traditional and the old tribes certainly didn't have access to this I doubt that it is Alum.

Ashing hide is the second step in preparation just after watering. Since the video doesn't really show anything past this point which could be considered tanning this should just be rawhide.

Also you might want to read the article to the video here http://www.conserventures.org/news/ finding this text line "But one icon of Maasai history—those tall, intricately decorated rawhide shields, so universally recognizable that one features centrally on Kenya’s national flag—seemed lost forever, save as dusty relics in museums, rare and expensive objets d’art from exclusive curio dealers, or, tragically, as cheap, undersized, shoddily made tourist souvenirs."

[TinkerTailor]

Alum would require access to that chemical compound and since this is supposed to be traditional and the old tribes certainly didn't have access to this I doubt that it is Alum.

Ashing hide is the second step in preparation just after watering. Since the video doesn't really show anything past this point which could be considered tanning this should just be rawhide.

Also you might want to read the article to the video here http://www.conserventures.org/news/ finding this text line "But one icon of Maasai history—those tall, intricately decorated rawhide shields, so universally recognizable that one features centrally on Kenya’s national flag—seemed lost forever, save as dusty relics in museums, rare and expensive objets d’art from exclusive curio dealers, or, tragically, as cheap, undersized, shoddily made tourist souvenirs."

Alum is a naturally occuring mineral that was used by the egyptions as early as 1500bc, as well as traded around the world from the western egyptian deserts. (ancient borders, not current). Alum most certainly would have been available to these people, however it may have been valuable, and only used for important things like shields. Look it up on wikipedia. It has also been used more extensively as a dye mordant.

From your link:

"a stiff rawhide face backed by a carved, tensioned center stay and handgrip, the perimeter laced with goatskin around flexible Cordia wands. Then, alchemist concoctions of charred bone, ocher, limestone, and cow’s blood (the latter amusingly stored in an old Famous Grouse whiskey bottle),"

Alum and limestone occur in the same places in nature and sometimes are intermixed in the same rock. These people may have a special sacred source for the best limestone for the shields, which just may be an alum containing source.

Another link on alum:

http://www.wovepaper.co.uk/alumessay1.html

"The Ancients had discovered that alum possessed certain valuable qualities not found together in any other common substance: its extreme readiness to crystallize; the absence of colour as an indication of its purity (extremely important in dyeing); and its natural occurrence. Its sources were, therefore, identifiable with relative ease. Singer has pointed out, "that alum was obtainable pure was thus a technical accident and not the result of any considered rational plan or of any refined system of manufacture". The sophisticated methods of manufacture, referred to above, took millenia to evolve. The process that is of most interest to us in the present context, the one used in the alum industry of North Yorkshire, has been described as "a marvel of empirical industrial chemistry".[2]

The extension of the alum industry from Egypt to other regions is an extremely complicated subject, partly due to the linguistic problems it raises, ensuring that one is concerned with alum and not with another substance; and, more important, the confusing effects on trade of one empire after another being superseded in Asia Minor and Eastern Europe, from Persia in the east, through North Africa to Spain in the west, continuing from early periods right up to the Middle Ages. The Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Arabian civilizations were all involved, together with other sources of influence, penetrating this world from India and, by the silk route, from China. For detailed information on the effect they had on the supply and use of alum, reference must be made to Singer's monograph.

It was from all the sources mentioned above that the first methodical statements on the nature of alum were derived. The findings are set out in 8th-10th C. (A.D.) Arabian alchemical documents. By this time the Arabs had conquered the whole of North Africa and thus confronted, and even penetrated, the southern borders of Europe. Trade links between the two were strong and there was no shortage of European scholars who were able to read arabic and assimilate its learning. It might be noted at this juncture that it was just after this period that papermaking was undertaken for the first time by Europeans, albeit the use of alum in this activity lay sometime in the future."

[Thor]

Nothing wrong about that TinkerTailor if referred to the general term Alum.

If we are using Alum for tanning today, we are usually referring to a Chrome Alum sulfate complex (technically chromium and potassium) as pure Alum only provides poor binding features with the fibers. Further tanning by just spreading pure Alum powder (would still be crystals) on the hide and let it cure in the sun doesn't happen. Even with today's Chrome Alum tanning compounds it takes 3 - 6 hours in a drum tanning process.

Anyhow, the shields are obviously rawhide and the limestone is part of the mixture for the colors etc. No point to argue over it.

[TinkerTailor]

Agreed, The only correct answer can come from an analysis of surviving old shields and testing them, as well as testing the fairy dust they used in the video to see if it is historically correct.

It could be mostly sand and just used as a desiccant, and/or as a scavenger deterrent for all we know.

I am quite interested in traditional leather use in Africa, though there is precious little info that i can find. Most of the history is likely lost because it was oral history that was never written down, and has been lost to colonization and all the other stuff that has happened in Africa in the last 250 years.

[Thor]

There's quite a bit of info on that available from organisations from and in Africa. There's even a Maasai Conservation organisation. The most info on leather tanneries etc. in Africa you would find in Morocco. Terms such as Fes Morocco Leather Tannery should return you some search results to start with.

[Birdman]

I spent my teens in Kenya, so here is my kumi centi ( ten cents) worth!

The Masai (Maasai) would have had access to many naturally occurring chemicals like potash of alum and sulphour/sulphurous componds.

They controlled a vast area of plains that has active volcanoes and sulphur springs. ie Ol Donyo Lengai--- translates from the Masai as Mountain of God, and Mt Longonot and Hells Gate.

In my time there I saw both Masai and their near relatives, the Samburu preparing hides. The one thing that sticks in my mind is that hides were buried for a few days, (having had the fats etc removed) in the cattle 'boma'.

This is small enclosure walled with thorn brush, where cattle were kept overnight. The ground was well saturated with, ------well I guess you can work it out!

Referring to the video above there is a brief sequence of a moran ( a masai warrior) having a tussle with a lion. I was told by the Masai boys I was at school with, that in the not to distant past, a moran who wished to marry, had to kill a lion single handed with spear, shield and simi ---a short stabbing sword.

The lion was encircled by the moran warriors and bated. The moran who who was to kill the lion went into the circle and threw his spear, at the lion. When the lion charged, the moran had to hold his nerve and fall backwards as the lion jumped onto him, his shield held out straight arm to take the lion, and the simi is then thrust through the shield killing or severely incapacitating the lion.

The moran would wear the lions skin as a badge of honour at ceremonial functions.

But as a leather worker, the points I would like to offer is, when you have a lion on top of you, would you want to push a stabbing sword through rawhide, or something that had been made softer by tannage of some sort?

Or did they have a battle shield and a lion hunting shield? Or could the battle shield have been wetted prior to taking on Leo?

I spent six happy years in Kenya, I owe the country.

[nkante]

Thanks for all the input. There is a gallery of pictures at the end of the article that gives more information. http://www.conserventures.org/gallery/blood-and-leatherre-creating-the-maasai-war-shield/ The captions say it is ash being rubbed into the hide. It also shows the dried hide being buried in the boma like Birdman suggested. It also shows a few steps are still missing. Can someone explain what effect being buried would have on the hide? Is it ammonia in the urine or something in the feces that causes a reaction?

[Birdman]

Can someone explain what effect being buried would have on the hide? Is it ammonia in the urine or something in the feces that causes a reaction?

Probably both!

The pounding by the cattle may also have some effect in loosening up the fibres and allowing for better penetration?

[Thor]

I'm not absolutely certain on that particular step as for rawhide I don't think it is necessary. The so called staining process (sorry not sure what that relates to in the English explanations - maybe liming) usually follows the decalcification and would be used to promote further dilapidation of the hide to open the fibre structure for the following and actual tanning process. Pounding of cattle has a negative impact on the skin, but luckily it only damages the hypodermis, which is removed anyways. However, it doesn't help in loosening up fibres as adrenaline and the occurring bruising start a process we're trying to prevent today.

But again, a fair amount of water would be needed to get this process really going. Traditionally dog, chicken and pigeon feces have been used for this procedure. Pigeon feces are still used a lot in Morocco for tanning goatskin. Unfortunately I'm not having a very good answer for this step but to guess that they are trying to make the rawhide more durable and making it "heavier" and therefore thicker. We are speaking of a swelling process.

And yes it must be the ammonia in the urine and feces. Today's industrial mixtures are a combination of ammonia, pancreas extract and sawdust.

[Birdman]

Hi Thor,

You may have misunderstood re 'pounding'?

I was referring to the pounding given to the hide by the cattle (above ground) by their hooves whilst the hide was buried beneath them, not by a pounding given to the skins of the cattle whilst they were still alive!

The Masai are very good towards their cattle. They are currency and wealth. They also believe that Ngai (God) gave them all the cattle in the world and as such they should repossess any that were not already in the possession of Masai.

The result was many skirmishes with other tribes. They had perfected formation fighting similar to the Romans, and were a disciplined, fit fighting force. The Masai were fearsome fighters on the plains, second to none.

Regards.

[Thor]

I definitely did misunderstand that part... The only sense this would make to me is to get the acids into the hide better than just letting it sit on it.

[nkante]

OK... So I contacted the group that created the video. They told me there was a book that accompanied the video and website. I bought the digital copy and it had most of the information I was missing. They said the dried hide was buried in the cattle boma for up to a week to cure. Then it is rubbed with round river stones to remove the hair. I can reproduce the ashing process and stone scrubbing, but can someone suggest an alternative to the cow manure? Would soaking it in ammonia have the same effect?