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i have a moscoselkatan (even if i cant spell it right now) kata and i was thinking it might be quite nice to get some skins to put in it, with it having no proper floor and all. i saw these people http://www.tregear.me.uk/nordic.html sell very nice reindeer skins but they are quite expencive and i was wondering if anyone knew of anywhere knew of anywhere doing them cheeper (doenst have to be reindeer of course) so if anyone has any info..... Thanks :)
Ihave to ask
What is a "moscoselkatan (even if i cant spell it right now) kata " ??
Basically a tipi.
Very nice and very expensive.
Go have a look at their site http://www.moskoselkatan.se/
FJS90-91
25-02-2004, 14:39
Skins of good quality are expensive.. Try the local sheepfarmer the usally sell sheep skins at a better price..
Which one do you have TomTom?
If you contact Casper at light my fire www.light-my-fire.com
He in case you didnt knoe is the UK importer for your tent, he quoted me £80 each.
However I was speaking with a chap from this company www.stertsakiansheepskins.co.u k
regarding skins of various types and he said that due to the reindeer hair being hollow they are not very hard wearing as the hair snaps off.
He recommended Stag skins as an alternative.
Taking into consideration that he sells both and had both in stock at the same price, I would say that there was no other reason for this comment other than its the truth. :-)
i have an Arran 5.
Thanks Chopper, there are now quite a few uk importers for moskoselkatan in the uk, which is great as i ordered mine direct and it was very difficult!!!
what did www.light-my-fire.com quote you £80 for skins?
thanks for the http://www.stertsakiansheepskins.co.u k/index.htm link its great!!
Skins of good quality are expensive.. Try the local sheepfarmer the usally sell sheep skins at a better price..
Just for info - on Keswick market in the lakes last week, single sheepskins were selling for £30 each, and doubles (two stitched together) for £60. Quality was very nice to my untrained eye.
These were from a local farmer who had a stall on the market and better goods than a more commercial outfit who also had a stall. I didn't take any contact details but market day is Thursday. :-D
Hi tomtom,
Yes the £80 was for skins.
Who are the other importers in the UK, as I am looking at the Varrie 9cp for my scouts?
mmcniven
25-02-2004, 20:41
Dont know if this will be of any help but when i was in Finland last year i got a reindeer skin at the airport for £35 it might be worth trying to find a web site in Finland that sells them and get some sent over.
Regards
Michael
Great Pebble
26-02-2004, 07:10
First catch your reindeer....
Nick in Belfast
No personal experience, but I think reindeer skins do shed hair. I've read references to this in polar literature.
http://www.bisonbushcraft.co.uk/ and http://www.woodlandorganics.com/ are both uk importers of moskoselkatan though neither appear to have it posted on their websites have it on their web site. not 100% on woodland organics, but bison are defo dealing with them
Isn't the thing about reindeer fur/hair being hollow, what makes it desirable? I mean aren't they supposed to be super-warm for this reason? I wonder if the guy in the shop recommended the other skin because he thought it'd be used as a hearth rug. I mean, how much wear will a "tent throw" get?
Well....................that depends on what you are going to do on it??
And what you will do with it when its not in the tent!!!!!
:-D
ditchfield
27-02-2004, 21:22
tomtom,
I go to college in Street, and there is a lot of leatherworking and sheepskin shops there. I will have a look around on Monday and see if I can beat the £30 price that alick quoted, if you're still interested.
Martyn is right ! The thing about reindeer fur/hair being hollow is exactly what makes it desirable ! The hollow hairs trap air, and insulates from the cold big time (the same thing with icebears) - a good skin should insulate at least as well as a thick Thermarest (I know as I use both).
The skin will shed hair as you use it. How fast this happends partly depends on the individual skin, but the main thing is at what time of the year the reindeer was killed and skinned. During winter the hairlayer is a lot thicker than during the summer. During autumn the hairlayer will get thicker, and during the spring the reindeer will shed hair preparing for the summer season.
Here in Norway a tanned reindeer hide from a late autumn bull costs about £ 44. A raw skin (no tanning - just dried) from a bull costs about £ 21. These are average prices for bull skins, female and calf skins are cheaper.
The skin most used as a sleepingmat is the dried and not tanned version. It is prepared by treating the fleshside with boiled linseedoil (several coats), which is allowed to dry. This skin will soak up a lot less water and is somewhat stronger than the tanned skin.
Wow, I got somethin right. :-D :-D
Thanks Tvividir, great and informative post. :wink:
When I was talking to Casper from light my fire about skins, he told me the same thing, but when it came to the importing side of things, he said that you can only legally import the tanned skins and the dried skins would not be let through customs.
So be careful when ordering, if you try bringing the dried skins in and they are found you will not only lose the skins, but also your money.
stuart f
28-02-2004, 22:25
also Reindeer skins SMELL believe me, because when i was a young un my old man brought back one from Norway and hung it on the wall behind the sofa, now as a teenager i used to lie on the sofa to watch the telly while the skin gave off a bit of a niff, the thing is my folks started to blame my feet for being whiffy and so for years my folks were convinced it was me. I had an inferiority complex about it :oops:. It was,nt till i got married and left home that they discovered it was,nt my feet after all it was that bloody skin :shock: PARENTS :roll:
CHEERS
STUART F
PS you have been warned :lol:
must have been the way it was treated/taned etc, none of the skins we've ever had though here have had any noticable smell
also Reindeer skins SMELL believe me,......... started to blame my feet for being whiffy and so for years my folks were convinced it was me.
:rolmao:
Yep, the dried skins might smell, and they may even smell pretty bad :shock: when they have been wet. But then after a week or two on the trail, you don't really care about the smell of the damp skin :roll: compared to your feet :yikes: .
Tanned skins doesn't really smell (oh well, they obviously have their own distinct smell, but it isn't a bad smell).
herry2107
22-10-2004, 02:37
The reason some reindeer skins are smelly and shed fur is because these are cheaper ones that are low-grade. I bought one in Helsinki a coupla years ago and it developed an acute case of alopecia the moment I threw it over my sofa when I got home! And it minged so it had to go.
If you want a decent one that doesn't shed fur and doesn't smell you have to be prepared to shell out £80 plus; I bought one from www.nordicarts.com which is in the UK, a few months ago and I'm absolutely delighted with it. After a chat with them they told me that there ARE several grades, the lower ones being more likely to shed and stink, and the grade1 being the best-tanned (which is what I got).
Oh, and a mate of mine bought one from a posh high street store in London (mentioning no names but it was one that sold reindeer skins from all the way over from their natural habitat) for £120 and it shed fur. Nordicarts do shedloads of other stuff too like Marttiini knives and loads of Lapland stuff from Sweden. I got a Lapp "witches tooth" carbon steel knife from them and it's the sharpest piece of kit I own (and the best-looking!).