Tanning a Trawling Net

New Zealand Listener, Volume 1, Issue 24, 8 December 1939, Page 45

Tanning a Trawling Net

Dear Aunt Daisy, Could you please ask the advice of the Daisy Chain for the recipe for tanning a new trawling net? I do love your session, and as others say, it is so nice to sit down with you for a chat in the morning, when the rest of the family have gone to work and to school.- Christchurch Listener." Yes, that half-hour’s " spell" after the early morning rush is really good for I %! housekeepers, isn’t it? Now about "the trawling net. Several listeners wrote ot telephoned their methods of tanning one. One man said he used to do this fifty years ago "way up north." He used Tanakaha bark, climbing over the logs, which were lying ready to float down the river to the sawmill, and chopping off lumps of the bark. He then cut these into pieces about two inches long until he had a kerosene tin full. Then he would put it all into the copper, and arrange the net — (ropes and corks and all) — on top, and cover well with cold water. The net had to be in the middle, and kept from touching the sides of the copper. The fire was next lighted, and all boiled up together hard for 4 or 5 hours. He had to watch that the copper didn’t boil dry, adding water from time to time. Then the fire was allowed to die down, and the net was left in for about 24 hours. After this, it was just thrown over the clothes line to dry; but it had to be watched in case of rain, which would undo all the work. When thoroughly dry, it was soaked in salt water — sea water for preference — but the first wetting must be in salt water. All that remained to be done then was the scrubbing of his Mother’s copper with sand-soap! I’m sure he enjoyed telling me about this, too — he was a boy again for a few minutes. Nowadays, they just buy wattle-bark, from a tannery or a shop which sells fishing-gear, and boil up a big double handful or even more in a kerosene tin for an hour or two. Then they take out the bark, and put the net in to soak for 24 hours or more, keeping the water hot by covering the tin up with sacks. Then they dry the net, and afterwards soak it with salt water, as my. first informant did. Perhaps I had better copy one letter for you. ’ Dear Aunt Daisy, I heard you asking how to go about tanning a trawling net. My father used do quite a bit of fishing, and he used to tan his own nets. He said to use about ten pounds of tan to a fiftyfoot net. First of all, put the tan in a large container (Dad used to use the copper!) — and pour on enough water that would cover the net. Boil the mixture for twe hours. Wet the net with clean water, and then soak it in the tan, leaving it in as long as possible — say twenty-four hours, or until the net is as dark as you want. (DO NOT BOIL THE NET). Then hang it on a fence or clothes line to dry. As the lady lives in Christchurch, she could get the tan from the tanneries near there-Yours Truly, " Christchurch."