Rodent cleanup

[sabrewolfe]

Recently i started going through boxes of kit that had been in stoage since we moved house. To my horror I discovered that some of the boxes appeared to have been attacked by mice whilst they were in the storage warehouse. Unfortunately some clothing had to thrown out as it was completely destroyed and chewed to pieces. The rest of the stuff seems to have either been untouched or at worst contaminated. Im wondering if anyone has any advice on how to clean and decontaminate some of the more unusual stuff which im obviously a bit reluctant to use:

Sheepskins (lanolin covered), deerskin (hair still on), boarskin (hair still on) they look visibily fine with no evidece of soiling but id like to be sure.

Leather pouches and belt, definately in a bag that had mice in it at some point.

Metal cauldron, metal fork and metal spoon. Left out in the open in the storage container.

There is also some wooden bowls plates and spoons which I have tenatively soaked in a 10:1 water and household bleach solution for 24 hours followed by a neat hydrogen peroxide solution immersion for 24 hours. Also considering placing in a UV lightbox for 24 hours as a final followup. Again these have no visible contamination but were in a suspect bag.

If anyone has any advice on this id love to hear it. I cant imagine im the first person this has happened too, but its left me uber paranoid about all my kit.

[finnobreanan]

Hey Paul,

UV light is good for killing mold & mildew, but i'm not sure how it will effect the leather and hide articles.

Scott

[Cathal]

Hi Paul,

the best way to fresh up hair-on skins is to wait for dry weather and lay the skins hairy side down in a meadow or on the lawn. Mother nature in person of millions of micro organisms will do the cleaning job within three days. Sounds unbelievable, but it works. Just try it!
All leather items can be cleaned and sterilized with water containing some vinegar. But don't forget to regrease the leather after cleaning with leather oil or -grease.
Cauldrons, fork and spoon can be easily tempered with a gas flame. If you rub the metal surface with an oily cloth and treat it again with the flame it will be blackend. That's the way we do it usualy - any rust or dirt will be burned to dust.

All the best and good luck with your equipment,
Stefan

[Nerva]

Salve Stefan,

Some great advice there, Io Saturnalia!

Vale,

Martin.

[sabrewolfe]

Cheers Stefan,
No all i need is a dry day to sort the stuff out