[Sca-cooks] 13th Century Icelandic Fish Skin Tanning Techniques

[Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir]

Drakey asked:


> Does anyone have any info on 13th Century Icelandic Fish Skin Tanning
> Techniques?

I might be able to find something but not tonight, as I'm working 15-hour
days at present. Are you just interested in shark skin, or any fish skin?

The shark would have been Greenland shark. The thick skin was used for shoes
but I'm not sure about other uses. Ropes, maybe. It wouldn't slip since it
is so rough - like "hákarlsskrápur" (sharkskin) we still say when we want to
describe something that has a really rough and scratchy surface.

The skin of some other types of fish, especially ocean catfish, was used too
for shoes but only when nothing better was available, as these shoes didn't
last long on the rocky Icelandic roads - mountain trails were even measured
or graded by how many pairs of fish skin shoes you were likely to wear out
by walking them. "Sex roðskóa leið" meant you needed at least six pairs of
fish skin shoes if you are going that way and back again, as you were likely
to wear out five pairs. You can see a drawing of such shoes, worn with leg
wrappings of skate skin, here:

http://www1.icetourist.is/domino/umm/ummlist.nsf/Leit/8195D37D71D43988002566
7B004E4B83

Tanned fish skins are currently being made in my old hometown in the north
of Iceland but they are certainly not using traditional methods there. I´ll
try to see if I can find anything. I know how ocean catfish skin was treated
in the 19th century, however. No actual tanning was involved - you tore the
skin off dried fish, ate the fish and soaked the skin until pliable. Then it
was cut and made into shoes. And when the shoes were worn out, you could
wash them, boil them and eat them. I'm not making this up.

Ocean catfish skin was also used for wrapping butter and such.

Nanna