The making of parchment:

'Next you must withdraw the skins and unhair them.'

The skin is laid on a beam. This is a half round stem that stands at an angle to the ground. Using a blunt, concave knife the hair can be easely scraped from the skin which is laid over the wood and moved as necessary. It is important that as much as possible is removed including the sweat pores, hair roots, sebaceous glands and surrounding materials. If this is not properly carried out the skin can quickly deteriorate, or become hard and with too much fat, cause ugly flecks. Using onther knife as much of the fat and fibre as possible is removed from the flesh side and the skin is thoroughly rinsed until the water remains clear.