Abstract

For a number of years, the South African Leather Industries Research Institute has assisted the Karakul Board of South-West Africa and South Africa with physical testing and quality assessment of Karakul pelts subjected to various curing treatments as well as examining the incidence of damage in market reject pelts. These trials and assessments have necessitated the adaptation of existing methods of physical testing to Karakul pelts as well as the development of new forms of test and a volume of performance data has accumulated using these methods. The present report describes the nature of the test procedures applied together with typical performance data and the effects of processing variations on pelt properties.