Any One Tanned Leather Before?

[DavidL]

Im interested in leather tanning and am looking for some knowledge of anyone that has tanned leather before. I may not be tanning leather anytime soon but am interested on how leather is made so that I can understand more about leather.

From what I read and am reading hides must be soaked first, limed, hair removed, delimed and then tanned and finished, its more likely multiple steps are inbetween, but that is what I understand of the process. Is there any thing I'm missing? Im having a hard time understanding where to source the limewater and contacts to the abattoirs or where to find untanned preserved cowhide,goat,calf,ect. (can these be bought preserved and then tanned and finished myself for oak bark tanning - wet blue leather?).

This may be a dumb question but rawhide at retail stores are finished products and can't be tanned? What is the technical name of leather ready for tanning if its not called raw hide?

[celticleather]

Limewater is just calcium hydroxide dissolved in water. To carry out oak-bark tanning you'll just need 50-70 pits about 2 metres square and 2 metres deep, and an endless supply of dried oak bark! See these videos for an insight into the process:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-14442109

and

http://s1132.photobucket.com/albums/m564/celticleather/?action=view&current=Tannery.mp4

[DavidL]

Thanks. I've seen the first link and that was what got me interested in oak bark tanning as the equipment is minimal and you just need to cut the hides in half to fit in a few containers for a d.i.y.

Im wondering if its possible to quicken the process to 2.5-3 months.

[billybopp]

If it were possible to make the process shorter, don't you think they would do that? It's a HUGE amount of money sitting in the vats not making money for a long period of time.

Other tanning methods are quicker, with different results. Look into brain tanning.

[cem]

Go here http://www.braintan.com/barktan/1basics.htm

I had access to as many hides as I wanted at one time as my Father in law runs a large wholesale butcher and they had there own cattle slaughtered for awhile but it's not something you can do easily it requires space, water and time. It won't be cheaper, quicker or better quality to do your own and it's not possible to do it in an average backyard.

Hides that are ready for tanning are left hair on and are just salted

[DavidL]

If it were possible to make the process shorter, don't you think they would do that? It's a HUGE amount of money sitting in the vats not making money for a long period of time.

Other tanning methods are quicker, with different results. Look into brain tanning.

I will look into brain tanning. Im with you on this one. Just curious if there are a few shortcuts (without hurting quality too much) that me as a diyer wouldn't mind as much as a tannery would.

The leather I asked about from baker leather I thought was Oak tanned leather for bags and wallets. Turns out the leather is thick sole leather for the year long tanned leather - so around 12 ounces. From the leather working handbook by valarie michael she wrote that leather shouldnt be split from 10-12 to 3/4 ounce for structural issues. Is this correct? If so are all leathers that are 3/4 ounces structurally weak or just made from thinner/smaller cows that provided a 5/6 leather that is split by 2 ounces only.

Go here http://www.braintan.com/barktan/1basics.htm

I had access to as many hides as I wanted at one time as my Father in law runs a large wholesale butcher and they had there own cattle slaughtered for awhile but it's not something you can do easily it requires space, water and time. It won't be cheaper, quicker or better quality to do your own and it's not possible to do it in an average backyard.

Hides that are ready for tanning are left hair on and are just salted

Thanks for the link. Would you know where to find the salted hides or fresh hides for small quantities?

Questions Im confused about:

If two identical hides were to be oak bark tanned, one for 1 year and the other for 5 months:

The one year leather would be sole leather. Would the 5 month leather be around 6-8 ounces or would it be not tanned fully?

Basically what I'm asking are all cowhides tanned and turn into 10-12 ounce leather and then put through a splitter for leather that is 3.5, 4/5, 5/6 ect.

[cem]

Thanks for the link. Would you know where to find the salted hides or fresh hides for small quantities?

Sorry I wouldn't really know for Canada, as I don't know how your supply chain for the abattoirs work over there. But by going on what I know for Western Australia I would think it's highly doubtful you would be able to get anything from the main abattoirs as they only deal with large amounts ie pallet loads your best bet is probably to find a small abattoir that caters to a niche market.

[mlapaglia]

I will look into brain tanning. Im with you on this one. Just curious if there are a few shortcuts (without hurting quality too much) that me as a diyer wouldn't mind as much as a tannery would.

The leather I asked about from baker leather I thought was Oak tanned leather for bags and wallets. Turns out the leather is thick sole leather for the year long tanned leather - so around 12 ounces. From the leather working handbook by valarie michael she wrote that leather shouldnt be split from 10-12 to 3/4 ounce for structural issues. Is this correct? If so are all leathers that are 3/4 ounces structurally weak or just made from thinner/smaller cows that provided a 5/6 leather that is split by 2 ounces only.

Thanks for the link. Would you know where to find the salted hides or fresh hides for small quantities?

Questions Im confused about:

If two identical hides were to be oak bark tanned, one for 1 year and the other for 5 months:

The one year leather would be sole leather. Would the 5 month leather be around 6-8 ounces or would it be not tanned fully?

Basically what I'm asking are all cowhides tanned and turn into 10-12 ounce leather and then put through a splitter for leather that is 3.5, 4/5, 5/6 ect.

Apples and oranges. Tanning time does not increase the thickness of a hide very much if at all. All hides come out at max thickness for that animal and then need to be split to the needed thickness. A 5 month oak tanned hide would not be fully tanned at that point.

Michael

[JohnD]

I have toyed with the idea of tanning my own leather, just for the experience of doing it. As far as sourcing hides, if you hunt or have friends that hunt, most folks dont use the hides. Several of my friends offered to let me have them (I myself am a terrible hunter and only see deer during turkey season and bear, moose and turkey during deer season.) If you' re set on tanning cow hides, I spoke to a guy that runs a slaughter house and he told me that right now ( May or June when I spoke to him) hides are going for top dollar, but he would sell me steer for $67/hide and calf for $15. just to give you an idea of what the cost may be for you.

My thought was to maybe start small with like squirrel or rabbit or maybe even a small deer to run through the process before committing to something the size of a steer hide and seeing if its something I can do before spending any money.

[DavidL]

Apples and oranges. Tanning time does not increase the thickness of a hide very much if at all. All hides come out at max thickness for that animal and then need to be split to the needed thickness. A 5 month oak tanned hide would not be fully tanned at that point.

Michael

Thank you.

I have toyed with the idea of tanning my own leather, just for the experience of doing it. As far as sourcing hides, if you hunt or have friends that hunt, most folks dont use the hides. Several of my friends offered to let me have them (I myself am a terrible hunter and only see deer during turkey season and bear, moose and turkey during deer season.) If you' re set on tanning cow hides, I spoke to a guy that runs a slaughter house and he told me that right now ( May or June when I spoke to him) hides are going for top dollar, but he would sell me steer for $67/hide and calf for $15. just to give you an idea of what the cost may be for you.

My thought was to maybe start small with like squirrel or rabbit or maybe even a small deer to run through the process before committing to something the size of a steer hide and seeing if its something I can do before spending any money.

Thanks for the pricing. I will look for squirrel or rabbit if I do play around with tanning skins.