a little about veg tanning

[whipit]

Hi everyone! I was talking some what in the braiding forum a little about veg tanning and was asked to post how I do things. I will post this in stages and if anyone has questions I can answer before I move to the next stage.

The first stage is to obtain a tannin liquor.

Here in Australia we use bark off the wattle tree. Most trees and nuts in the world have some tannin in them. How much depends on the type of trees available. So some of this will be by trial and error depending on if you know what trees or nuts could be used in your area. Anyway this is what I do. I take the the bark off the trees in spring when the tannin is at it highest and the bark seems to strip off easier. I live on a big farm and have plenty of trees to choose from. Once I have the bark I run it though a hammer mill to break it up into smaller peaces. If a hammer mill is not available see if you can rent a garden mulcher. The bark can now be used or you can leave it for a few weeks to dry before the next step. You get more tannin out of dry bark. I use five (5) big rubbish bins plus a 200L (44gal) container for storage. On the first day I put sufficient bark in the first rubbish bin too quarter fill it, than cover with water. After 24hrs or longer if possible the liquor from the first container is poured into the second container which also has been quarter full with bark. Repeat at 24hr intervals, by passing this liquid through all 5 rubbish bins with are quarter full with the bark. At the end of 5 days or longer you should have a very strong liquor and can be stored in a plastic container until required. Note:- must not use any metal containers at any stage as it will weaken the liquor and make it useless. The bark should be discarded after 5 leach processes have taken place. So after 5 days the first bin can be emptied and filled with fresh bark and be put at the end of the line. Even if the liquor is black like tea it still might not be useful so I take a hygrometer (used for making beer and wine). The liquor should read a minium of 1.000. The higher the hygrometer sits in the liquor better the liquor will be. This is the end of the first stage. Please ask any questions and if you want me too go to the next stage let me know. :scratchhead:

[TZHunter]

I'm following and am ready to go on when others are ready. Sorry I wasn't reading the other conversations. I'm trying to figure out what I can use where I am. . . I'm in Eastern Africa. . . I've heard that tea and tea plants have lots of tannin from others, do you know if this is true and if I might be able to use dried tea leaves to make my tannin liquor?

[ClayB]

Whipit,

Thanks for taking the time to write this up. I think it's going to be really interesting, and so far your instructions seem really well done. Not sure if I will try it myself or not, but I really am interested in learning what all is involved in the proccess. I'll be waiting for the next lesson.

Couple questions. You said your storage container is 44 gallons. Are the rubbish bins larger, smaller, or does it matter?

Is there someplace that tells what type trees in different parts of the world work best for tannins?

[Beaverslayer]

Clay, after reading this, I also found it very interesting. I did a Google and came up with this... TANNIN it's on the Brain Tan website.

Ken

[Johanna]

Tanning animal hides is a skill common to every ancient culture, all around the world. Maybe research how natives tanned in each specific locale, because methods and chemicals will vary depending on the resources available in the area. Whipit, thanks for bringing this up, and please tell us more! Many of us treat the leather store like buying meat at the supermarket-everything comes finished and pretty, and we have forgotton how to do the work of the slaughter and processing of the animal. I want to know how to do things the old fashioned way. I want to know why we do things the way we do. Geat topic here!

Johanna

[abn]

Whipit, I'll never attempt this in my life, but I'm still interested in knowing how it's done. Thanks for taking the time to share this. Would you consider adding photos to your posts so that folks get a better idea of each step of the process?

Thanks again, -Alex

[whipit]

To answer a few questions.

Most of the tanneries in the world today use a product from South Africa. This product is called Mimosa Power. After a lot of googling I found an import company here in Australia where I can buy it in 25kg bags. I have used it and it saves a lot of time and work. Try ringing a tannery in your area and ask them what they use and where they get it from. Mimosa Power comes from a Acacia tree that grows naturally in Africa. It is very high in tannin so is farmed like a corn crop.

I have come up with some tree and fruit from America that can be used.

North Americans can use leaves from the Sumach trees, fruit from the Tara tree or bark from the Spanish Chestnut or the Jack Red.

The Eastern highlands has Hemlock.

Central America can use Divi-divi (one of the best it contains about 40% tannin.)

Most of the oaks can be used.

Quercus sessiliflora

Quercus pedunculata

Quercus densiflora (this is the Californian Oak. The twigs contain 30% tannin, while the bark is around 9%).

White oak

Red oak

Black oak

Scarlet oak

These are just some of the trees that I could come up with. The best thing is to try some of the trees in your area but on a small scale and see if you can get tannin out of that type of tree. If not try another tree.

With containers, you don't have to use big bins. When I started out I was using 5L (1gal) buckets. Works the same but on a smaller scale. I use to shoot and tan rabbits as they are a big pest here and if I made a mistake it cost me nothing but a little time. So to start with just get a little bit of bark an leach it in a 5L bucket to see what the tannin is like.

I will try to get some photos in the near future but please bear with me as time gets away from me at times.

Happy Cracking, Bob

[MatthewD]

Thank you for this write up and I am loving all of the extra suggestions on plants high in Tannin

[cem]

I'm definately interested in how it's done although I probably I won't ever to get to do it, it would be nice to know if the need was to ever arise. My father in law works in the meat industry and I may have access to skins and such but where to do it would be a problem as I don't think the council or the neighbours would like it too much if I did tanning in the backyard.

But cheers whipit for sharing your knowledge of the process.