Talk:Sealskin


 * The following discussion is closed. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.

The result was Oppose. Discussion closed by based on the preponderance of opinion against the proposal.

Merge proposal
Wikipedia already has an article on seal hunting, covering the uses of the seal skin and its trade value. This article provides nothing more than a content fork of that article. WikiDan61 ChatMe!ReadMe!! 12:23, 14 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Thank you for pointing this out. I was very surprised that there was not an article about sealskin already - but now I see that the article on the hunting of seals also covers the by products. Would it not be sensible to have both articles however? There are separate articles about leather, rawhide, tanning and livestock. Seal Boxer (talk) 12:33, 14 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Yes, there are those separate articles, because the process of creating leather is separate from the process of raising livestock. However, the process of obtaining sealskin is intimately linked to (and in fact, is one and the same as) the process of seal hunting.  Since the production of leather or other products once the skin has been obtained is identical whether the skin is obtained from a seal, a cow, a beaver or any other creature, we really don't need an article on sealskin.  WikiDan61 ChatMe!ReadMe!! 12:40, 14 March 2013 (UTC)


 * oppose leather (in its many forms) is a perfectly valid topic, aside from livestock. Sealskin is an unusual form of leather (or rawhide) and has several aspects that could be expanded here: the one-way nature of the fur and so its use for ski bases, the thermal resistance of it, compared to leather, and so its use for high-altitude flying suits. Andy Dingley (talk) 13:18, 14 March 2013 (UTC)
 * oppose - Culturally, sealskin is a significant fabric in clothing and accessory design, particularly in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. It was one of the first furs to be widely used for making entire coats and garments, where previously, fur was mainly used as a lining or a trimming 1. There is much that could be said about how it has been used in both Native cultures (including as a material for kayaks 1 and in the Western world, particularly in relation to how emotive and significant a subject it is nowadays. At the very least, this should be an entry on and redirect to List of types of fur, not a redirect to Seal hunting, if it is about the skin/pelt, although sealskin is not used solely for clothing. Mabalu (talk) 15:19, 14 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Oppose. We have lots of other articles on particular sources of leather (e.g., ostrich leather, shagreen). There should be enough sources to support an article on sealskin too. —Psychonaut (talk) 16:04, 14 March 2013 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.