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January 19th, 2004 | #1 |
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Making Catgut lacings And/Or Sausage Casings
Making your own "Catgut" or Sausage Casings is winter weather work, and difficult work at that. Most everyone has heard of catgut, but few continue to make their own in this day and age. It is worth the effort and very useful if you ever find yourself living off the land and need lots of strong cording. Catgut is useful for sewing leather, buckskins, rawhide articles, and has sundry other uses.
Commercial catgut is made from the small intestine of sheep or horses, but home-made catgut is usually made from the intestines of hogs, as are sausage casings; but game animal guts serve as well. Rabbit guts are generally a lot more hassle than they are worth. (Obviously cats would fall under that category too!) If you have the option, keep the animal away from feed for 24 hours to keep the residue mess to a minimum. There is a good bit of effort involved in creating catgut, (or sausage casings) but it is worth the effort. However, it is not an operation for the faint of heart (or stomach!) You will need to do this out of doors, with running water from a hose or faucet. Your hands will probably get mighty cold, but it is important you use care, because guts tear easily. A large tub or trash bags are good to rest the guts on. Bits of grass will stick and make your job more unpleasant. Cut the small intestines from where it starts just below the stomach. Cut the other end away from the large intestine. You may leave it full length (about 25 feet or so) or cut the intestines to manageable lengths, remembering that processing will shorten the length, as well as twisting and drying. If you have a use already in mind, judge the ideal length then add perhaps a third more. It is your option. Next you will want to remove any internal matter. This is best done by running water through the guts and allowing everything within to spill out. Further strip the lengths by rolling up like you are rolling up a toothpaste tube, or by running the gut through your right index and second finger while pulling the end with your left, thus pushing out all excess water. (If you have a helper, you can pull the guts through two smooth rods, dowels, or even knitting needles, to squeeze out the excess.) Guts are generally pretty slippery so it helps to roll the "pulling end" around a piece of dowel two or three times then grip the whole as one unit and pull. Sausage Casing: After the internal is fairly cleared out, take a blunt knife and scrape away all fat and blood vessels clinging to the outside of the guts. It can tear so care is needed. Tie one end off and push it gently inside the length of gut. Your aim is to turn it fully inside out. Water pressure makes the job go a lot faster. After it is fully turned inside out, repeat the squeezing to remove all excess water. Rinse. Repeat. Store in cold water until you stuff them with sausage meat. If that will be a long while, you can freeze the casings and then soak in warm water before using. Catgut: After the internal is fairly cleared out, take a blunt knife and scrape away all fat and blood vessels clinging to the outside of the guts. It can tear so care is needed. The guts are then soaked in a COOLED lye (potash) solution, made from a gallon of hardwood ashes to 3 gallons of boiling water, over night. Drain. Wash. Squeeze out excess. Repeat several times. Make up a salt-alum solution to soak the guts in for three days. A good amount would be two and a half pounds table salt and a pound of powdered Alum to five gallons of boiling water. Stir until dissolved. Cool to bloodwarm. Add guts and let soak for 3 days, stirring several times. Drain. Wash. Squeeze out excess. Cut gut into thin ribbons. It can be used while still damp or twisted and dried into a strong cord. Smoking it like one does buckskins improves the finished product. This article is copyrighted material, and is not to be used elsewhere without my express permission. Contact me for information. All Rights Reserved Copyright 1-19-2004 Aislinn Morgan Last edited by Aryan Goddess; January 20th, 2004 at 10:42 PM. |
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