Skinning?

Okay, so I killed a mongoose. Where do I find a skinning knife so I can skin it?

People in the in-game chat aren't being exactly helpful. I'd really like to know, thanks.

Town 2. (Stonhad) if memory serves.

So I've skinned a mongoose (several of them actually). So what?

What benefit is there to using the hunting/skinning skill? It's not like the skins are more valuable than the mongeese(?) they came from.

The next logical step is to use a tanning rack, but is the leather worth any more than the skins? Do I get any other benefit?

I'm confused.

Sorry if this seems like a silly question, but I'm still a nube.

[zenga]

Its not a silly question. Basically skinning is one of the resource skills. Resources can be used to create enchanting stones (those can be applied on your armor and weapons) to change your stats (+dex, -str, etc etc .. lots of combo's possible). Or they can be used for crafting armor.

The tradeskill/crafting system is quite complicated and might be overwhelming at first, be its a good way to earn a penny. Basically there are the resources (hunting, fishing, etc etc) and they sell there stuff through the auctionhouse to the crafters.

There are a bunch of good faq's outhere, but the best one for me is this one.

as far as the chat not being that helpful. civil chat will typically get u the answer you are looking for with a couple smart a$$ remarks. uncivil chat will typically get you a lot of smart a$$ remarks and the answer if your lucky or I am on. unless your an N, in that case I won't see you in chat at all and cannot help you.

and leather is worth a lot more then the skin by itself. the lower tier'd items you won't notice as much of a price difference from tier to tier.

Alright, I'm happily skinning and stretching and spending my hard-won gold on oil....

But I can't in good conscience sell the leather for a loss....

Does anyone actually buy leather? What is leather used in?

[zenga]

Leather is often used for dex enchanting stones