- 1 day ago
Mike Rowe gets stuck into another unsavoury occupation. This episode finds him harvesting hops in Yakima, then converting animal hides into paper in New York's Hudson Valley.....
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TVTranscript
00:03My name is Mike Rowe and this is my job.
00:08I explore the country looking for people who aren't afraid to get dirty.
00:12Look at that, like a Brazilian.
00:14Hard-working men and women who earn an honest living.
00:17If ever there was an understandable place to puke.
00:20Doing the kinds of jobs that make civilized life possible for the rest of us.
00:24Now, get ready to get dirty.
00:28Coming up on Dirty Jobs.
00:30How long did it take you to learn how to do this?
00:32One day.
00:33One day?
00:34In Yakima, Washington.
00:35Down, down, down.
00:36Up, up.
00:37I do some damage to a hops harvest.
00:39Then wipe the post.
00:40Don't hit the post.
00:41Then the hops do some damage to me.
00:43It's nice the way they're sharp.
00:45Unbelievable.
00:46And later, long before regular paper came along, this is the only thing people had.
00:50My works of medieval magic.
00:52We're going to turn the goat into a piece of paper.
00:56Dirty Jobs.
00:58Getting down to it.
01:00Dirty Jobs.
01:02Ain't nothing to it.
01:04Dirty Jobs.
01:05Someone's got to do it.
01:07Someone's got to do them dirty jobs.
01:15Back in the good old days, like way back, in the ancient world, there were wonders.
01:20And one of those wonders was the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
01:23Nobody ever saw them, so I don't know what they looked like.
01:25But I figured it might have looked something like this.
01:27Or maybe not.
01:28This looks like Mike Schmidt.
01:30How are you?
01:30Good.
01:31Mike, nice to meet you.
01:32Nice to meet you.
01:32Mike runs a, is it called a ranch?
01:35Yeah.
01:35Loftus ranches.
01:36And these aren't Babylonian hanging gardens?
01:38No, they're not.
01:39What are they?
01:40They're hop vines.
01:41Hop vines.
01:41So the stuff that goes in beer.
01:43Exactly.
01:44And these are cascade hops.
01:45How many varieties of hops are there?
01:47In the United States, I think there's 26 or 27.
01:50And we grow about 10 or 11 on this farm.
01:52What is the purpose of putting these things into beer?
01:57Well, originally they were used to preserve beer.
02:00Then after many, many years, what they determined was that to take hops out of beer, even though
02:06we didn't need them to preserve it, the flavor would go away.
02:10So the bitterness in the beer and the aroma in the beer is imparted because of the hops.
02:14We just got used to the way it tastes.
02:16Exactly.
02:16Well, they're pretty.
02:17Do they grow up or do they grow down?
02:19Or how do you have your whole thing configured?
02:22Well, here's the plant itself.
02:23It's a perennial.
02:24And in the spring, we will put strings into each one of these hills.
02:28And then as these vines grow up, we actually wrap the vines around this string.
02:32They're growing up the string that was hung from these cross strings up here.
02:37Exactly.
02:38Now those are 18 feet above the ground.
02:40And they're seven feet apart.
02:43What is it about this area?
02:44What is it about Yakima that is so conducive to proper hops growing?
02:49Yakima has just the perfect climate for hops.
02:52Very long days in the summer.
02:54Very dry.
02:55They used to grow hops in California, but it was too far south.
02:57Eighty percent of the hops are grown in this valley by about 40 families.
03:01Eighty percent of the U.S. hops.
03:02Okay.
03:03So the way your operation works then, it looks like a truck starts it and then that device?
03:07Right.
03:08Well, first we've had a tractor come through and cut the bottoms, right?
03:11So we had to release them from the ground.
03:13And then the empty truck comes in and the machine in back called the top cutter will load the truck.
03:19We're going to pick the next row over where we saw the bottom cutter.
03:22And you're going to get up here with custodial and load the next truck.
03:26You're a custodial?
03:27Yes, sir.
03:27Mike, how are you?
03:28Good.
03:31How long did it take you to learn how to do this?
03:33I learned in one day.
03:35One day?
03:35Yeah.
03:37What are these?
03:38It's brakes.
03:39Brakes?
03:39No need for brakes.
03:42All right.
03:43Only a little bit up.
03:43This goes a little up.
03:44Yeah, a little up.
03:59Okay.
04:00The truck driver has to steer because the top cutter is actually pushing.
04:05The truck's engine isn't even running.
04:09The tough work is done by the guys who have to guide the hop plants into the truck as they're
04:14cut.
04:16There are about 675,000 of those plants here.
04:20These should be done by noon.
04:21Down, down, down.
04:22Down, down.
04:23The tricky part of this job is not to cut the cross wires that the vines are hanging on.
04:28It could be a disaster.
04:32Down, down.
04:34Oh, that down.
04:34All right.
04:35And then watch the post too.
04:37Don't hit the post.
04:38Don't hit the post.
04:39So there's a lot of things you don't want to hit.
04:44Yeah.
04:45Then pass the wire, put more down.
04:47Up.
04:48Up.
04:48Yeah.
04:50Okay.
04:50Yeah.
04:51It's easy, huh?
04:53Piece of cake.
04:53Yeah.
04:54It drives itself.
04:55Yeah.
04:56Stop.
05:01Okay.
05:02Thanks very much.
05:03Appreciate it.
05:04Yeah.
05:07It's all good fun, huh?
05:09He was saying that was custom made?
05:12Yeah, we made that in our shop.
05:14That's amazing.
05:15Yeah, because there's only 40 families growing hops.
05:17We basically have to make a lot of our own equipment because nobody would set up to manufacture
05:20for you.
05:21Actually, you used to be a bean harvester, believe it or not.
05:23But the whole hydraulic thing.
05:25Everything.
05:25That's all made.
05:26Yeah.
05:26We have a guy that works for us that can fabricate most of anything.
05:29There's always a guy working for somebody that can do anything.
05:32Exactly.
05:33Okay, Mike.
05:34Now what we've got to do is get up on the truck and we've got to do what's called weaving.
05:38In other words, we want these vines laid horizontally in the truck so when they get back to the picking
05:42machine, they're easy to unload.
05:45Now grab the bottoms of those vines right there.
05:47Yeah.
05:50So you just hold them until they cut and then you guide them in.
05:53Exactly.
05:54We're just trying to lay them in here so that the guys, when they go to unload them, can unload
05:57them easily.
05:58Yeah.
06:01They're only 35 days each year to harvest the hops.
06:05Loftus Ranch has shifts, working 24 hours a day during that time.
06:09I can't even imagine how you guys do this at night.
06:13Yeah, it makes it an awful lot more difficult.
06:17I mean, you don't have lights in the field.
06:20Nope.
06:21Just on the machines themselves and of course the trucks.
06:24The guys on the ground have flashlights.
06:26You guys are working 12 hour shifts.
06:29That's right.
06:31And it's this.
06:3212 hours a day.
06:34Basically all we do, yeah.
06:35That's all these two guys will do all season.
06:38So normally these guys in a full day will load about 100 to 110 trucks.
06:43And then at 6 o'clock tonight, two guys will step on and take their place.
06:46Do another 100 to 110 trucks in their ship.
06:49Unbelievable.
06:51Yeah, it's nice the way they're sharp.
06:53Yeah, you'll be a little scratched up when we get done with this load.
06:58That's it.
06:59That's my cue to leave.
06:59Good work, Mike.
07:00Hey, that's a nice job.
07:01I think that would be a good load.
07:11Okay, let's get this into the machine.
07:13Where's the machine?
07:14We're going to go straight down this row and at the end of the field we'll take a right.
07:17We're about a half a mile from the picker.
07:19The picker.
07:21It takes about a quarter of a pound to three pounds of hops to make a 31-gallon barrel of
07:27beer,
07:27depending on whether it's light beer or what they call a heavily hopped beer.
07:32Kyle is the foreman here at Loftus Ranch.
07:35Nice to meet you.
07:36You too, Mike.
07:37All right, so this is the part where we unload the hops from the back of the truck onto a,
07:41what is that called?
07:43Well, we call it hooking, hooking the vines.
07:46Probably one of the tougher jobs on the farm.
07:48So you're grabbing it by the vine here.
07:52Yeah.
07:52You don't want to grab it in the middle of the vine,
07:54because if you put it in the middle of the vine, these hops don't get picked.
07:57Oh, all right.
07:58You want the bottom of the vine, and you just put it over the first hook.
08:01Here we go.
08:04Okay.
08:05The idea is to grab a top vine.
08:08An average vine yields about one and a quarter pounds of hops.
08:11In a year, the ranch produces about 770 tons.
08:15Grab a vine and pull towards you.
08:17Right.
08:17If it doesn't pull towards you, it's not on top.
08:20Not a minor on top, it seems.
08:22They're on top.
08:23Didn't you load this truck?
08:24I loaded that side.
08:25That's why it's going so good.
08:28How long have you been doing this?
08:30Well, I've been in the hop industry my whole life, actually.
08:33I started working in the hops when I was 12 years old, so 36 years ago.
08:37All right.
08:38Well, you've got roughly 36 years of experience on me there, Kyle.
08:41Yeah.
08:41Who invented this thing?
08:43Well, it's a guy named Florence Downhauer.
08:45This machine was built in 1960.
08:48They actually build parts for these anymore, but I don't believe they're building the machines
08:51anymore.
08:52That's odd.
08:53Why don't they build new ones?
08:54There's just not a demand for them.
08:57Believe it or not, each one of these guys on this that do this job through the year will
09:00probably unload about 150,000 of these each.
09:03Come on.
09:03Through the year.
09:04In a 35, 36 day harvest.
09:07Just in those 35 days?
09:09Yep.
09:12All right.
09:12Can we wait for more hooks?
09:14Well, I think what we're going to do is we're going to take you upstairs where they feed them.
09:17Sounds like fun, Kyle.
09:19All right.
09:21Coming up.
09:21Man, there are a lot of things that go wrong.
09:24When people put me in a room full of complicated machines.
09:27Oh!
09:28Is that bad?
09:29It took three at a time.
09:30They generally regret it.
09:32Are these going to start spilling out on us?
09:34Oh!
09:35And later.
09:36All right.
09:36What can I do first?
09:37Well, first of all, we've got to get the ears off.
09:39My first parchment making assignment.
09:41How's it going?
09:42Really gets my goat.
09:44Not good at all.
09:54Holy crap!
09:59What is the machine called?
10:01This is a hop picking machine.
10:03You guys really did some crack marketing.
10:06Crack.
10:07Yeah, it's quite a unique piece of machinery actually, Mike.
10:10It's only used four hops and there's very few of them around.
10:13Oh, maybe 30?
10:15So really all of the beer that comes out of this country?
10:19Yep.
10:20Is coming really through one of those machines.
10:22Exactly.
10:23There's a few in Oregon and a few in Idaho, but the majority of them are here in the Yakima
10:26Valley.
10:30Thanks, Leo.
10:33Man!
10:35What do you think?
10:35There are a lot of things that go wrong.
10:38The best part about this job right here is you've got a nice view.
10:41Yeah, you do.
10:42Mike, what we're doing here, we call this guy the feeder.
10:47And in the old days, they used to have to take these off by hand and feed them into a
10:52chain that went through the machine.
10:54Right.
10:54Since then, they've came up with this automatic feed.
10:57And as it comes around, it actually grabs them, picks them up, and puts them in between that squeeze chain
11:02right there.
11:04That's brilliant.
11:05What was that guy's name that made this?
11:07Lawrence Downhauer.
11:09What's that?
11:10It's called the Downhauer Picking Machine.
11:12What he does all day, he keeps five or six or ten in there all the time.
11:17When he gets down to three or four, he lets another five or six, ten in there.
11:21If you get too many behind there, it'll jam up right here.
11:25Right.
11:25And you don't want that.
11:27You ready to try it?
11:28Yeah.
11:28Alright.
11:29When you need some more, just feed off the number one track.
11:33Right.
11:34So this thing basically runs all day?
11:37This machine runs 23 hours a day.
11:3923?
11:40Half hour lunch break.
11:41And that's our maintenance time.
11:43If there's anything to be done, the mechanics try to repair it in that half hour.
11:47So what's going on inside of this part of the machine?
11:50Well, Mike, what happens when this squeeze chain takes them in there, they go through what we call the main
11:54picker.
11:55There's some fingers on there, and that's stripping all the hops and the leaves off the bind.
12:00Once they're stripped, I mean, they're done.
12:03Do you throw them away?
12:04Do you recycle them, or what?
12:05They fall into a chopper down there, and they're chopped up into fine pieces.
12:09And then we take them out to a field and we compost them.
12:12So, the hops then, obviously, are transported on a series of conveyors.
12:17What?
12:18Three-four different conveyors?
12:19Well, actually, the hops are dropped and the leaves are dropped onto what we call a mesh that runs the
12:24length of the machine.
12:25The idea is the hops fall through that, go through this setup here.
12:29That picks all the hops and the leaves off.
12:31So at what point or stage are these?
12:34This is the cleaning stage.
12:36Once they get through the picking stage, which is all that main picker, arm picker, mesh,
12:41they come up this conveyor here, they come up behind us, and they're split.
12:46Half goes to this side and half goes to that side.
12:56Tops off the vine.
12:57Tops off the vine.
12:58That's after they're cleaned.
13:00But it's not done.
13:01You've got to dry them, right?
13:02Now they'll be dried.
13:04These probably have 80% moisture in them.
13:06They'll go to the kills and we'll dry them down to about 9 1⁄2 to 10% moisture.
13:11So these are the hops that are being delivered fresh from the picking machine after they've been cleaned.
13:16As soon as we fill one of the rooms, we turn on the furnace down below.
13:20Propane fired, 140 degrees.
13:22Dry for about 6 1⁄2 hours.
13:24All right.
13:25So when a whole kiln is completely dried, right, where do they go?
13:31Okay.
13:32Well, we'll cool them here for an hour and then we'll raise up the doors in the back.
13:38Aren't these going to start spilling out on us?
13:40Oh, I don't think so.
13:42We hook up this burlap on the end onto a pipe and we'll pull the floor off.
13:47And then we'll dump into a conveyor.
13:51A little bit further, a little bit further.
13:53There you go.
13:54These hops then are headed over to the cooling room where they'll be bailed tomorrow.
13:57Are you ready to go to the bailing room?
13:59I was just going to say, man, if I could only get a chance to see the bailing room today.
14:02Now's the time.
14:04Okay.
14:05So, Mike, this belt here is taking the dry hops up.
14:08Uh-huh.
14:08They're weighed up here.
14:10100 pounds will be weighed.
14:12We'll dump into that press.
14:14Yeah.
14:14Then another 100 pounds.
14:16Right.
14:16And then that'll be, that'll make the bails.
14:18Coming up.
14:19Let the machine do the work.
14:20Come on, man.
14:21Oh, Michael.
14:23You got a faulty machine.
14:24The hop ranch seems to have a lot of problems.
14:26Just a little problem there, Mike.
14:28It's the third broken machine I've seen in 30 seconds.
14:31And wouldn't you know it, all on the day I show up.
14:34It's so odd the way that keeps happening.
14:36Hmm.
14:36Who tied this off?
14:37You know, it's a mystery.
14:39And later.
14:40Zits.
14:40Really, what is that?
14:41That's a zit.
14:42A zit?
14:42A zit.
14:43The vellum business kind of reminds me of high school.
14:45Just a chance to squeeze pus out of an internal zit.
14:49Didn't know we were going there.
14:50Except it's about 100 times more disgusting.
14:52Ow!
14:53That is off-putting.
15:09This 1,400 pound load of burlap is enough to make about 180 bales of hops.
15:18The burlap sheets are hung up, cut to size, and loaded into a baling press.
15:27So we've got a bale in the press, Mike, ready to be sewed.
15:30What we've got to do is we've got to release the burlap from the plunger.
15:37Then we've got to take the burlap here and utilize the automatic sewing machine to sew the sides of the
15:45bale.
15:46So I'll do this side and I'll have you do the other side. How's that?
15:50When you get to the end of the bale, you've got to keep it close to the bale until we
15:53get to the end.
15:54Turn the machine out and cut the thread.
15:56If you and I were a crew, I would have done the other side while you were doing this side.
16:00Right.
16:00Well, you've got to pull that out of there.
16:02There we go.
16:04There we go.
16:05There you go.
16:06And turn.
16:07Oh, that's going to be a little bit of a problem.
16:09You may have jammed the machine.
16:11There you go.
16:11Maybe not.
16:12Maybe not.
16:13Standing straight up.
16:14Standing straight.
16:15Don't pull it. Let it go at its own speed.
16:17That's the machine to the work.
16:18Come off the end.
16:18Come off the end.
16:19Oh, Michael.
16:21What happened there?
16:22Well, when you got it jammed in here, it came unthreaded up from the machine.
16:26Huh.
16:26But we can bring over the other machine.
16:27So you've got a faulty machine, basically.
16:30A faulty operator, but just a second here and we'll go grab another machine.
16:35Okay.
16:38Bad machine.
16:40There you go.
16:41You're on it.
16:43You're on it.
16:47And out.
16:49And lift and cut the thread.
16:51Go ahead and turn it on.
16:55Lift.
16:56There you go.
16:57Very good.
16:58It's so weird you had two broken machines in one area like that.
17:01I'm going to raise the plunger.
17:08You had just a little problem there, Mike.
17:10That's the third broken machine I've seen in 30 seconds.
17:15Want me to get it?
17:16Are you going to release that now?
17:17All right, don't you hit that.
17:18I won't.
17:19All right.
17:20Okay, plunger up.
17:22Plunger up.
17:25Okay, go ahead and push that bale over on the scale, Mike, please.
17:27This is bale number 182 for the day.
17:30So we write down that that's 199 pounds.
17:35There we go.
17:36And the way that you sew the top of a bale, fold that underneath, fold it underneath.
17:41We're going to flip that under there like so, and put those spikes right in the corner.
17:46Very good.
17:46There you go.
17:47Push it through.
17:48Pull it through.
17:49Pull it all the way through.
17:51You're going to go up through here, around.
17:53All right.
17:55Who tied this off?
17:56Who tied this off?
17:56I can't remember.
17:57So if we go this way.
17:58So I should hold the thread tight.
18:00Yeah.
18:00Hold on.
18:02It's so odd the way that keeps happening.
18:04We're supposed to have this one done in three minutes.
18:06Very good.
18:07Uh-huh.
18:08There was some of this.
18:11Maybe that like that.
18:12Maybe fold that in like that.
18:14There you go.
18:15Uh, yeah.
18:16The top to be smaller, we do a little bit more of a, and then flip it underneath.
18:21Underneath, keeping everything tight.
18:23Keeping it tight.
18:24Got to go.
18:24What is that?
18:24That's slack.
18:27Oh, very good.
18:28You even got the red lines lined up.
18:30That kind of craftsmanship doesn't happen by accident.
18:33There you go.
18:40Every three minutes, 24 hours a day.
18:42No, no.
18:43These guys will just work a day shift.
18:44They'd make about 20 bales an hour.
18:46You and I would make about three bales an hour.
18:49But, uh, and then, so they'll do this for anywhere from 10 to 15 hours a day, depending
18:54on how many hops we pick in a day.
18:55But that's all they do.
18:56They bale.
18:57They sow.
18:58That's all these guys do.
19:00And all Jose does, he operates the thing.
19:02He just pushes the hops in, makes sure they have hops in the conveyor.
19:05How old's that guy?
19:06He's 76.
19:07How long has he been working for you?
19:09He started working for me the first year I took over the farm.
19:12So that would have been 35 years ago.
19:15Does everybody here have a gold watch?
19:17They never leave.
19:18They never leave.
19:19They get in the hops business like, yeah, you know, I'm going to try this for 40 years.
19:24That's a lot of fun.
19:34Oh!
19:34Is that bad?
19:35No, that's good.
19:36That's all right.
19:37It took three at a time.
19:38None of mine are on top, it seems.
19:40Didn't you load this truck?
19:41Down, down, down.
19:42Up.
19:43Yeah.
19:44Then why's the post too?
19:45Don't hit the post.
19:45Yeah.
19:46It's nice the way they're sharp.
19:48The things I do for a beer.
19:58It's worth it in the end, Mike.
20:01Coming up.
20:02As bowel movements go, that's one of the most disappointing I've ever seen.
20:04The memories just keep on coming.
20:07Medical school, Thursday morning.
20:18Nothing worse than doing the same thing twice.
20:20I hate to do the same thing twice.
20:23I find it redundant.
20:25And yet, here I am, reading this to you.
20:29Dear Mike, Jesse Meyer here, your old friend from the tannery.
20:33It's been over two years since our segment debuted on Dirty Jobs,
20:36and I thought you might be interested to know that business is booming.
20:39Aside from the occasional visit from the EPA and the New York Department of Environmental Conservation,
20:45who, by the way, has no jurisdiction, the whole experience has been very positive.
20:49Nowadays, I'm focused on another element of tanning, parchment making.
20:53Parchment's amazing stuff.
20:54I make it from goats.
20:57In fact, you're holding some of it in your hands right now.
21:00If you're ever back in the Hudson Valley, stop in and say hi.
21:03We'll kill a goat together.
21:05Make some cool paper.
21:06What do you say, warmly?
21:08Jesse Meyer.
21:10Jesse, I say anybody who sends me a dead goat in the mail, deserves to be on TV again.
21:16Historically, the hides from calves, sheep, goats, and deer are all used to make vellum.
21:21The animals have either died from natural causes or have been used for food by slaughterhouses,
21:26with the exception of deer, which have been provided by hunters.
21:29It's been two years since I've visited Carl and Jesse and Matt here at the tannery.
21:33Seems like only yesterday.
21:36My God.
21:37It's as bad as bad gets, I would think.
21:39What am I smelling?
21:40The rotten egg smell.
21:43Air soup.
21:47And it's all coming back to me.
21:49The sights, the sounds, the smells of a tannery.
21:53Jesse.
21:54Mike, good to see you again.
21:55Welcome back.
21:55How are you?
21:56Thanks.
21:57Got your letter.
21:58It was lovely.
21:59Business is good, I see.
22:00Yes.
22:01Moving on to bigger and better things.
22:03Yeah.
22:03What are you doing here?
22:04We've got to make up some lime slurry to put some skins in.
22:08And the skins are these.
22:10What you sent me is a goat.
22:12Yeah, it is.
22:13Yeah?
22:14Yep.
22:15And are we really going to kill one today, or are they already dead?
22:18No.
22:19You might cover that in another dirty job, but not here.
22:22No.
22:22Okay.
22:22It's probably just as well.
22:23Yeah, other people handle that stuff, not me.
22:25They don't let us show that, but I can see that would be the remnants of the killing.
22:28It is.
22:29That's what happens after they're dead.
22:32Would their skins just magically stack up like that?
22:35Uh-huh.
22:36We're going to turn the goat into a piece of paper.
22:39And I guess maybe the first sensible question is, why?
22:43Why?
22:44Well, long before regular paper came along, this is the only thing that people had.
22:50And, you know, they just tried to make use of everything that they had at their disposal.
22:53So, you know, they eat the animal, they would take the skin and try and either make leather
22:56out of it, or they would stretch it and dry it.
22:59Sure.
22:59When this stuff dries out, it shrinks tremendously.
23:01So, not only will it kind of shrink up like this, but it will also condense.
23:06Mm-hmm.
23:06And when you're done, you end up with something that is amazingly thin, considering how dense
23:10and how tough it is.
23:11Do you still have those crazy machines up there?
23:14The ones that can kill you and eat you?
23:15Yep.
23:16The mauler, the crusher, the mangler.
23:18Yep.
23:18Doesn't it look like fun?
23:19No.
23:20It doesn't look like fun, man.
23:21The de-baller.
23:22Right.
23:25So, the Dead Sea Scrolls?
23:27Mm-hmm.
23:28This stuff?
23:28Yep.
23:29And that's why it lasts so long, I guess.
23:30Exactly, yeah.
23:31This stuff, I mean, whereas paper, because it's kind of manufactured, man-made, if it's
23:35not made properly, it can degrade and fall apart over time.
23:38But this stuff, as long as it's kept in relatively stable humidity and temperature, there is no
23:44end to how long this stuff can survive.
23:47And you're the only one in the country doing this?
23:49As far as I know.
23:50I mean, there might be a few people doing it in their basement, but, you know.
23:53Well, what people do in their basement is between them and their god.
23:56Right.
23:56And the DEC.
23:57Yeah.
23:58Who has no jurisdiction here?
23:59No.
24:01You've given me a shirt with P on it.
24:03I did.
24:03Why is that?
24:04Thank you for wearing it.
24:04Sure.
24:05It's the name of our business.
24:07Again, this is an offshoot of the tannery.
24:09So, pergamena actually means parchment in Latin.
24:12All right.
24:12What can I do first?
24:13Well, first of all, we've got to trim them up, get the ears off, complete with tags.
24:20Some of them have metal tags and that will actually stain the skin, so we have to remove
24:23that.
24:24And whatever other hangers on, internal parts there might be, might be some of those.
24:30Could be anything.
24:31Could be anything.
24:32Anything.
24:32Such as, uh, zits.
24:34Oh.
24:35Really?
24:36What is that?
24:36That's a zit.
24:38A zit?
24:39A zit.
24:39An internal zit?
24:41All right, this is horribly disgusting.
24:42We should warn people.
24:46Nope.
24:47There's nothing wrong with our tape.
24:48And there's nothing wrong with your television.
24:50But there is a great deal wrong with what you're about to see.
24:53Unless, of course, you close your eyes right now.
24:56Seriously.
24:56This is gross.
24:57And trust me.
24:58I know what gross is.
25:00This is your last chance.
25:03Ow!
25:06See, man?
25:07You're pretty, right?
25:07I forgot.
25:08You're a surprising guy.
25:10You just took me to a place I haven't been.
25:12What is that substance that just came out?
25:14That's grease.
25:15That's pretty much the same stuff that people push out of their zits.
25:21Pretty, right?
25:23That is off-putting.
25:24Yeah.
25:25Oh.
25:26Grease?
25:26Yep.
25:27Are you going to get an extra pair of gloves?
25:29I do, as a matter of fact.
25:30Would you hand them to me, please?
25:30You want to give this a try?
25:31Oh, yeah.
25:32Are you kidding me?
25:32It's fun.
25:33It's a chance to squeeze the pus.
25:34I should get you a knife, too, so you can, like, lance it out of an internal zit.
25:39Didn't know we were going there.
25:41Just like that.
25:42I'm 16 again.
25:43Before the big dance.
25:45You know, nose smashed against the mirror.
25:47Right, cleaning up.
25:48Just a little personal grooming before we go out on a big date.
25:53Are you ready?
25:54Almost ready.
25:54I'll be down in a second.
25:56I just have to...
25:58Oh!
25:59Okay.
26:01Ugh.
26:03Yeah, that's pretty gross.
26:07Oh, dear.
26:08What do you do with this?
26:10You make a handbag?
26:11Get it as far away from me as possible.
26:15Along with that, you also have the tail.
26:17You have to spread this stuff out.
26:22Basically, you know, cut it so that it lays out evenly.
26:26Cut that.
26:28Sometimes they'll leave these parts on the animal, too.
26:31That's an intestine.
26:32That is.
26:33And it's impacted with poo, isn't it?
26:35It is.
26:37Yeah.
26:38Back before modern tannery practices, they would try to use pretty much every part of the animal
26:44that they could.
26:45They'll...
26:46That stuff basically is full of enzymes.
26:48So what they'll do with that is they will, a lot of times, make a slurry out of this and
26:53then put the skins in that.
26:54And the enzymes will actually help to digest the skin and help to make it tan better or help
27:01to get the hair off more.
27:02You want to get rid of this.
27:03Yeah, you want to get rid of this.
27:07I didn't get you with that, did I?
27:08No.
27:09No.
27:10But as bowel movements go, that's one of the most disappointing I've ever seen.
27:15And I've seen a few.
27:16Yeah.
27:16Medical school?
27:18Thursday morning.
27:19Oh.
27:20Now you've got to cut the ears off.
27:22It does work better from the flesh side as opposed to the hair side.
27:26Oh.
27:27Like that?
27:28Yeah.
27:29There you go.
27:31How's it going?
27:34Not good.
27:36Not good at all.
27:40Coming up.
27:41We have seven goat hides in a tub.
27:43Now it's like a cooking show.
27:45Yes.
27:46Cooking up some parchment's not so bad.
27:48Shave the meat right off the skin.
27:50Looks like salmon.
27:50Probably doesn't taste like it though.
27:52Sure, the aroma's a little rough.
27:53What am I smelling there?
27:54Ammonia?
27:55Combined with a little rotting skin.
27:56The clean up is a killer.
28:08The next step is to remove the hair by soaking the hides in a lime slurry.
28:13Hair side down.
28:15Let's see.
28:19That one had a little skunk in it.
28:21Now is this a small batch?
28:23This is a small batch.
28:24Yeah, normally we would probably 100, 150 at a time.
28:27We have seven goat hides in a tub filled with lime.
28:33And they will sit here for usually about a week.
28:36But we have a whole bunch over here which have been sitting for about a week.
28:41Well, now it's like a cooking show.
28:43Yes.
28:44We just made the whole thing and put it in the oven.
28:47Right.
28:47And it just so happens we have...
28:49Look at this.
28:49Another tub.
28:50Yeah.
28:50Put stuff in it.
28:57Oh yeah.
28:59So that's what lime does.
29:00Yes.
29:02And basically, you know, the hair can just come right off.
29:07Look at that.
29:08The hair just comes right off.
29:10Oh.
29:12If you do it right, if it sits in there long enough, then yeah.
29:15Oh.
29:16Wow.
29:18What am I smelling there?
29:20Ammonia maybe?
29:21Uh, probably.
29:22Combined with a little rotting skin.
29:24Yeah.
29:25A lot going on.
29:26Yeah.
29:29All right.
29:29Big weight.
29:32This one's a big one.
29:35Notice how the hair on this skin is white.
29:37Uh huh.
29:38But you actually, you look, you get the hair off the animal.
29:40And look at the skin itself.
29:43Brown underneath.
29:44Spots.
29:45Huh?
29:47Goats are kind of annoying that way.
29:49We do a bunch of stuff.
29:50We do calf skin.
29:52We do goat.
29:53We do sheep.
29:54And recently, we've actually started doing ostrich.
29:57Branching out.
29:58Yeah.
30:00What about the other side without the hair?
30:02Uh, that, with all the flesh on it, you mean?
30:05Yeah.
30:05Yeah.
30:05That we have to take off.
30:11Why don't you show me one?
30:12All right.
30:14All right.
30:15Yeah, the idea is drape it over this beam, okay?
30:20And just kind of anchor it against your leg or something to make sure it doesn't run away from you.
30:24And then, shave the meat right off the skin.
30:31If you do it wrong, you cut right through the skin.
30:33Exactly.
30:35So it's kind of a delicate operation.
30:37All right.
30:37Your turn.
30:41That's right.
30:45Interesting.
30:46Move it to the side as you do it.
30:48Right.
30:49Like that.
30:51I can see me just cutting right through this, wrecking everything.
30:57I mean, I know I remember one of your machines doing this very thing.
31:01Exactly.
31:01Yeah, that big machine over there, the deflesher.
31:03Right.
31:10It wasn't good, was it?
31:12Well, it's a start.
31:17Woo!
31:23So this would be the old fashioned way.
31:26Exactly.
31:27Looks like salmon.
31:28Probably doesn't taste like it, though.
31:30I mean, we'll eat anything, except this is full of lime, though.
31:34That's true.
31:35I'm fairly sure that would kill us.
31:41After the hides are defleshed, they're washed in soap overnight to remove the lime.
31:46Normally, there'd be about 150 in the machine.
31:52I'm only throwing in seven, just to illustrate how to throw hides into a soaking washing machine.
32:00Now I'm illustrating the old fashioned art of sticky, smelly, mess removal.
32:05So we just did seven of these.
32:08After 150, you must be up to your knees in blood and crap and hair and flesh.
32:14I mean, where does this go?
32:16Well, you know, you wash out the lime, basically.
32:19You can throw it in here, let it settle, or sometimes just let it sit on the floor and let
32:23the lime and the water drain off.
32:25But when you're done, you're pretty much washing the lime out of the hair.
32:30So you let it sit in here, for instance, and the water will come to the top.
32:33You drain the water off, and then you throw out the rest.
32:35Is it hardened?
32:36It does, yeah.
32:37It turns pretty solid.
32:40The skins are stretched and dried in another building.
32:43Ellen has been working with Jessie for about two years, and her focus is mainly on the finished product.
32:51My focus is trying to climb stairs made from a pallet.
32:55Good grief.
32:57Where are we going to hang this guy?
32:58Right here?
32:59Yeah.
32:59Here's an empty frame, you can throw it on here.
33:01Well, this is very cool.
33:03These are all, is this also goat?
33:05This is not, this is calf that we're making transparent.
33:08Oh, you see right through that.
33:09Can I touch it?
33:10Yeah, absolutely.
33:11Yeah.
33:13So that's how they should sound when they're...
33:15Is this just the same as they would use for a drum?
33:18Uh, pretty much, yeah.
33:20Maybe thin down a little bit and refined a little more, clean up.
33:24Right.
33:24Yeah, a thicker skin would be better for a drum.
33:26Yeah, because I mean, well, obviously you beat the hell out of it.
33:29Right.
33:31Cool.
33:31So that's calf, that's calf.
33:33This one is goat.
33:35That's a goat.
33:36Goat.
33:37That's a big goat.
33:38That's a big goat.
33:39Think this goat's bigger than that goat?
33:40All stretched out?
33:41We'll find out.
33:42Okay.
33:44Put the spine straight.
33:45Flesh side out.
33:46Right, flesh side towards you.
33:48Because after this is stretched, it's going to have to be scraped.
33:51And you're going to want to scrape the...
33:53The flesh really does hang on to the bitter end.
33:55And then you want to stretch this out in this direction.
33:59Trim him up.
34:03Who invented this thing?
34:05Standing behind you.
34:07Necessity's the mother of invention.
34:08This is what I needed to do, was to be able to stretch these things so that I could get
34:11it taut and be able to work on both sides.
34:13Just a new twist on an old idea.
34:14Your spine is actually...
34:16Oh, man.
34:16My spine's all jacked again?
34:18Sorry.
34:19You can stand up on it, yeah.
34:21Woe is the person who's under six foot and tries to do this.
34:23Did you say woe unto him?
34:25Woe, woe unto him.
34:26Lest he be smote.
34:29I love that.
34:30Nobody says woe anymore.
34:31So you're curving a little bit here, so you definitely need some pull in this direction.
34:37Yep.
34:39It's a little funky.
34:42We all are.
34:44Yeah, it does have a little bit of curve to it there.
34:47I think we should have left.
34:49Well, we can fix that, right?
34:51Eh.
34:52At this point.
34:52You don't care anymore?
34:54That's what I do to people.
34:55I just stick around and screw up until they stop caring.
34:59Coming up.
35:00Feel the fat running down the blade.
35:01There may be more than one way to skin a cat.
35:04Yeah, I'm sending a cow.
35:05But a cow is a horse of a different color.
35:08The neck is always the thickest part.
35:19So should this be tighter all around?
35:21For now, it's probably okay.
35:23No, because you're going to have to tighten it again after you scrape it.
35:26All right.
35:27Do you have a tool or some sort of patented device that you use to...
35:31Well, again, not patented, but as a matter of fact, we have a tool.
35:35One for you.
35:36What do you call it?
35:37One for you.
35:38These are lunellum or lunalarium.
35:43It's a lunalarium.
35:44Yes.
35:45A moon knife.
35:46A moon knife.
35:46And these things have also been around for several hundreds of years, hence the Latin name.
35:50Mm-hmm.
35:51So...
35:51How do you use it?
35:53All right.
35:53At this point, you want to basically take the blade and scrape perpendicular to, you know, the surface of the
35:59skin.
36:00And by doing that, you will scrape off whatever flesh is on there, and you will also stretch the skin
36:05as you go.
36:14Oh!
36:18Don't worry about him.
36:21I'd like to watch your technique.
36:23My technique usually involves either, you know, standing up here to get the top, but...
36:32You know, pretty, pretty similar.
36:36There's a lot more violence in your approach.
36:39Well, just to get the flesh off.
36:44See, at a certain point, you can start to kind of shave it at the right angle.
36:50And it all kind of goes off.
36:54Oh, yeah.
36:54You feel the fat running down the blade.
36:57Yeah.
36:57Yeah.
36:57So this will make sanding a lot easier.
37:00If we didn't do this as well, sanding would take probably two, three times as long.
37:05How do you know when you're done this?
37:08Um, you're done.
37:10Good.
37:11Does the sanding happen here as well?
37:13Yes, when it's dry.
37:14Right.
37:15You've got to wait for the skin to dry now.
37:16How long does that take?
37:17Overnight, usually.
37:18Everything takes 24 hours here.
37:19Yeah.
37:19Is this something we can sand?
37:20Oh, yeah.
37:21Absolutely.
37:21Oh.
37:23Let's sand something.
37:24Where do I put the luminary scimitar, or whatever that was?
37:27I'll take that.
37:28Okay.
37:28I'll put this in its proper place.
37:32This is probably the one part of the process that we utilize modern technology.
37:38Yeah.
37:39Um.
37:40Why?
37:40Just because it would take forever, Sammy.
37:42Exactly.
37:42Oh, God, yeah.
37:43This is the point where we would look at the skin and decide what it's going to be used
37:47for.
37:47You know, would this be good for binding?
37:49Would this be a good manuscript skin, um, furniture?
37:53So we decided that this will be for binding.
37:56A binding swab.
37:57Right.
37:58So this tells us that we need to sand within 80 grit.
38:01Mm-hmm.
38:02Sandpaper, and then just swab.
38:03So no further preparation after swabbing.
38:06It's just to lay your fibers down.
38:20Okay.
38:47More?
38:48A lot more.
38:49More.
38:49A lot more.
38:50A lot more.
38:50Yeah.
38:51It's a great start, but, um, you haven't really gotten through that layer of flesh.
38:59There are some areas where, you know, there isn't much flesh or muscle fiber or anything
39:04in the way.
39:05Mm-hmm.
39:06And then there are some where there's a lot.
39:07I mean, all those right there, all those striations, that's kind of the back strap muscles
39:10along either side of the back.
39:13Mm-hmm.
39:13Um, and so you, you want to get through all of those too.
39:16And then you can see all the little veins in there that are kind of running through that.
39:20Yeah.
39:20All of that stuff has to be removed too.
39:22Sure.
39:25See how it's looking there?
39:29Yeah.
39:30I'm sanding a cow.
39:33I'll just work on the spine.
39:35Okay.
39:37I mean, I'm like really leaning into it.
39:41This actually looks really good.
39:43All right, let me ask you something.
39:45If in, you know, some mythical world you were ever done with this particular task, are
39:51you done at this point?
39:52The, the only stage left for this, being that this is binding, would be to take a damp sponge
40:00and basically swab this whole skin down to lay the velvet down now.
40:05And now it becomes like a paper feel.
40:06Yeah.
40:14We also try to do it without, you know, all these sponge marks.
40:18In the spirit of we.
40:19Okay.
40:23Are we going to take this off or there's no.
40:25Yeah.
40:25Yeah.
40:25We'll take this off.
40:26We'll take this off.
40:27So.
40:27Because otherwise people would have to come here to read the book.
40:34The neck is always the thickest part.
40:38I can see it.
40:41Beautiful.
40:42All right.
40:42That's it.
40:42That's parchment.
40:43That's it.
40:43And that is.
40:44Good job.
40:46So what do we do with it now?
40:48So we just roll it up.
40:50Oops.
40:52Ticket in the tube.
40:55Maybe your viewers will recognize this.
41:00That'd be the Declaration of Independence.
41:01Would be.
41:03Very cool.
41:04On parchment.
41:06Is this cow or goat?
41:08Cow.
41:09This is actually printed.
41:11You mean copied off the original?
41:12No, this was printed by a printer.
41:15Lastly, we wanted to talk about being patriotic.
41:20So these are meant to.
41:22Do you, tell me you sell these on the website.
41:25Uh, not yet.
41:26No.
41:26What are you waiting for?
41:28We're coming.
41:28What are you waiting, man?
41:29These all sell like hotcakes.
41:32You know, the 4th of July?
41:33We.
41:34Sending out special invitations?
41:35We gotta talk about some basic marketing.
41:37I know.
41:38Because this is, I mean.
41:38Marketing costs money.
41:39That's what we find out.
41:40Well, it's also time.
41:41It's the two of us.
41:42And one assistant.
41:44It's nice to meet you.
41:44Really great to meet you, too.
41:46Thanks again, Mike.
41:47Nice to see you.
41:48You, too.
41:48Huh?
41:49Go to, uh, www dot, what's it called?
41:52Pargamena.
41:53Pargamena.
41:53Dot net.
41:54Dot net.
41:55Maybe by then they'll have hired a marketing person.
41:58Doing what I can.
41:59Appreciate it.
42:01Okay, I admit it.
42:03I came back to the Meyer tannery for a reason.
42:05And this is it.
42:06For the first time in 500 years, the leather industry is evolving in a way that's gonna leave it forever
42:11changed.
42:13Synthetics are here to stay.
42:15Sign of the times.
42:16But, it's worth knowing that a few people are still doing it the old fashioned way.
42:20Real leather bindings.
42:22Actual parchment.
42:23That's kinda cool.
42:24Cool enough to put your name on it.
42:30Back in Season 1, I thought it'd be a good idea to ask people to send in their suggestions for
42:34Dirty Jobs because I wanted to involve you, the viewer.
42:37Frankly, it was a device.
42:39We had plenty of ideas.
42:40But in Season 2, the reality caught up with us.
42:43We were completely out of ideas.
42:44And by Season 3, we had become completely dependent on your willingness to go to Discovery.com and suggest my
42:50next Dirty Adventure.
42:51Here in Season 4, we've passed the point of desperation.
42:54And I've come to a place in my own career where I'll do virtually anything to get you to go
43:00to Discovery.com forward slash Dirty Jobs and suggest my next Dirty Adventure.
43:05If you do that, not only will I be grateful, but I'd be willing in the future to meet.
43:19Watch his feet.
43:20Geez.
43:21Don't move your leg.
43:23Ready?
43:24One, two, three.
43:28You're Schmitty, right?
43:29Schmitty.
43:29Just call me Mike.
43:31That's leading to a host of problems.
43:33I thought you would right up here.
43:34That's a good thing for a show.
43:35Can we do that show instead now?
43:36Yeah, I don't know.
43:37I got this show right now, though.
43:38And how's that going?
43:40Terribly.
43:40Uh...
43:41Ah!
43:42Okay.
43:42Ugh!
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