Talk:Shearling

Accuracy
Is this article really accurate in stating that shearling "is made of the skin of an unborn lamb"? Googling for "what is shearling", I can't find any reference to back up the claim. One site says that "shearling is the skin of a newly shorn lamb (market age) that is tanned with the wool in tact [sic!] on the skin." Most pages refer to how the skin and wool is processed and used in a garment, rather than the age of the lamb. Another site claims that shearling "is a suede leather coat made from the pelts of lambs with the wool, which has been sheared only once." Ehn 19:39, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

It looks completely injhgbkmkhvvhj lhuigt. You can't make shearling leather out of unborn lambs. They need to be at least old enough to have been shorn once, and that means they must be between six and twelve months old. This article seems to have been written by someone trying to discourage the use of shearling leather by making it seem unusually cruel. I suggest striking the whole thing and revising. Here's the Encarta definition, which (as far as I know) is perfectly accurate:

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=1861733137

--daedalusknight

I always thought that a 'shearling' was a one year old sheep that had been shorn once. They become 'two shear' and 'three shear' in following years. This is certainly the way I have heard it used and we keep pet sheep and mix with sheep people (in the UK - maybe it's different in other countries?).

I have also seen classes for, eg, 'shearling rams' at sheep shows. If you google that, you'll get lots of links. The Encarta link backs it up.

Peter T —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.109.138.198 (talk) 21:19, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

Pardon as I am just learning. In response to the "unborn lamb" situation which has been removed from the original post (I assume), I am unfamiliar with the use of "unborn lamb". There is a type of specialty leather that falls under a different technical term and that is called "slink". Slink Lamb used to be strictly used to designate still born lamb but has evolved to include lambs that die of natural causes within about 3 weeks of birth. Birthing season in NZ in particular, but would include other large sheep raising counties, is harsh and spring snowstorms can kill thousands of new born lambs. Let us see how this post goes and I will study the rules and try to add what I can. If this works I will try to cite sources though most info comes from involvement in the industry. Fphjr (talk) 20:46, 12 September 2011 (UTC) fphjr
 * Hi Fphjr I've made some changes and added some sources, wanted to expand the article but could not find a longer text description online.Rueiwoqp (talk) 21:29, 2 September 2014 (UTC)

My apologies for any confusion
Sorry if there was any confusion; when I wrote this article, I remembered reading about the unborn lamb thing, but when I looked again for the site that said that, I couldn't find it. As soon as I noticed this comment, I changed the article. (fyi, I'm not against shearling at all; in fact I support it.) I'll remember to double check my sources before writing an article next time. Lycanthrope777 04:18, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

Confusion of two topics
The topic has confused two subjects. Shearling lambs are indeed first-year lambs which have been shorn once. It's a marketing term used to describe them for sale (usually for meat as it enables the buyer to know that they won't get any wool off these animals - just meat

As regards the use relating to skeepskin and sheepskin products, it relates to an industrial process for producing fur-effect skins. Sheep skins (of any age) are taken and tanned and dyed. Once tanned and dyed they are clipped to a suitable length. The process (as carried out by Morlands of Glastonbury, Somerset, now closed) was to spray the clipped woolen side of the tanned skins with formaldehyde solution, and then heat in large rotary irons. The ones at Morlands were hollow rotating steel tubes, with gas burners inside. The skins were hand fed under the rollers, and then pulled back against the force of rotation. The combined effect of chemical (which acted as a kind of perm), heat, and the "decrimping" effect of the rotary iron was to straighten the naturally curly wool into what was commonly known as shearling. Shearling tended to be used for shoes and cheaper sheepskin coats: higher quality coats used a similar process known as "beaverlamb" in which the decrimping process occurs after tanning, but before degreasing and dying. This gave a better products, closer to a fur. Both process were developed by a Hungarian in 1928.

I have the process details in a study from 1976, which was never publicly published. Presumably that would count as original research? I don't think you'll find the details elsewhereOlddemdike (talk) 22:23, 15 May 2011 (UTC)

Mouton/Pics
I have a doz or so pics of mouton taken today. Pics will not do much to explain as one has to feel to appreciate. But, am willing to send thumbnails to principle author of page if desired so he/she could choose an appropriate one. Can also do pics of 1" clip seat cover shearlings, veg tan, a/k/a bark tan (as opposed to chrome tan), sueded, a/k/a Doubleface/Twin Face, and long wool (unclipped) but am getting busy, might be awhile. Happy to forward for someone else's inspection. No claim to copyright. Also have old Sears Roebuck Catalog, 50's vintage, that has mouton coats pictured. I think that would be out of copyright by now. Can scan but, again, it would be awhile. fphjrFphjr (talk) 19:14, 15 September 2011 (UTC)

British Vernacular
This needs clarification. A shearling, when referring to the sheep, is a sheep that has been shorn once. It's a word that is kind of the same as "yearling", but puts the animal into a category that aligns with yearly milestones.

When sheep are shorn, the skin is NOT REMOVED. The fleece is cut off, either with manual sheers (think long scissors) or with an electric trimmer. The sheep is not harmed in this process, and can continue to provide wool every year for the duration of its life. For what it is worth, a typical lifespan for a sheep is 14 years, so they can be shorn 14 times, or more.

A sheep skin is what is available for tanning after a sheep is slaughtered. This is a one time thing, and produces the results described in this article. It is a byproduct of the sheep rearing industry where the primary output is meat, not wool. Shearling, the fabric, differs from sheep skin in that it is from a slaughtered lamb. "Lamb" is a sheep less than two years of age.

Gfmayhew (talk) 15:03, 29 February 2024 (UTC)