Valorisation Patrimoine Sud Tarn
Panel 7
The sweating process involves bringing the skin to the precise state where the wool will detach easily and completely from the root. This process, known as ‘sweating process’, involves placing the freshly scraped and soaked skins in small closed heated rooms. It's an extremely delicate operation, the conditions of which vary throughout the day: it ranges from thirty-six hours in summer to five to six days in winter, depending largely on the type of skin.
In this very hot and humid atmosphere, bacterias appear that will open the hair bulb and then release the hair, emitting a very strong ammonia smell.
Pulling: Skinners stretch the skin on a wooden board and begin with the peeling off process, so called pulling, which consists of removing the wool from the prime areas such as the shoulder, back, and sides. Subsequently, on another wooden board, they perform 'dagging' or sorting of the soiled parts such as the legs and belly.
Like the deburring operator, the puller works piece-rate and departs, leaving the subsequent operations to the handlers or 'marragos'.
Illustration from the book "Le délainage et sa capitale Mazamet" by Gaston POULAIN – 1951