Hide Tanning 101 - How to make Leather from Animal Skins, NATURALY
Hide tanning is one of the oldest professions on the planet. And for thousands of years, animal skins have been tanned using the natural tannins extracted from the bark and leaves of various plants. In this video, I'll show you how to make leather from animal skins using all natural methods, i.e. bark tanning. I'll start by showing how to flesh an elk or deer hide, then we'll use lime to remove the hair. For this tanning solution, I'm using Douglas Fir bark but there are many species that will work. Oak bark and Sumac leaves are both high in tannins as well. The tanning process takes several months depending on the thickness of the hide and the temperature. This elk hide took about 3 months. Once the tannins have penetrated all the way through the thickest parts of the skin, we'll oil and work the hide until it's dry. All-natural leather made with these ancient methods is useful for all kinds of leathercrafting projects. I'll make boots with this. If you're into gaming you might need to know how to make leather in Stranded Deep - not sure this'll help but at least you'll know how it's really done!
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Looks good! I'm impressed you processed enough of that old fir bark to get a good tan. As a long time bark tanner, I have some suggestions for new tanners re: this video. Use fresh materials if you can. Old bark that has been rained on is typically low in tannin and you will need a lot more of it. Rain takes the water soluble tannins just like cooking does. Fresh barks that have not died and then been rained on are best. It already takes a lot of material,, even using fresh stuff. I don't mean green, it is better to dry it once before cooking to break down the cell structure. Iv'e seen a lot of mistakes and the mistake nearly everyone makes at first is not using enough tanning material and soaking in weak liquors. kzhead.info/sun/nc6kncOtgmKukqM/bejne.htmlsi=3Dy0aGTL_MrAMAFl Another thing is that if you are going to end up cutting large hides in half anyway, do it before tanning. Large hides are a lot more work and inconvenience to handle. Half hides are easier to find containers for and easier at every single step. I typically split anything big like elk and cattle down the middle. I will only do a large one if I need a huge piece of leather or it is going to be left whole permanently. The process of rolling to soften can be done by drying the oils into the skin in the shade, then damping the hide back. Damping back puts a low and even moisture through the skin fiber and will dry much quicker while still allowing plenty of working time and softenability. The real work is done when the skin reaches a damp state. Working very wet skins really does not do much anyway, so you skip all that drying part when using damping back. Wrap the skin in towels that are wetted and then wrung out as much as possible and allow to sit overnight in a plastic bag. If you want stiff, smooth leather for sheaths and such, you can just nail it out and dry the oils in. One last advice, start with a squirrel, not an elk! Seriously, cut your teeth on a smaller project to test the process, your tools and tanning materials. If you just have a large skin, you can cut off a leg or two and run those through first. Here is my tanning video playlist. Caution, rabbithole ahead... playlist kzhead.info/channel/PL60FnyEY-eJA7D2FJhI5AvWVx7oqjb4xX.html&si=b9fFBZYNyZQh0M8D
Thanks for the tips. Pinned for the benefit of others.
I'm going to be bending your ear soon. I got another steer hide to do. The last one I cut into strips to bark tan before I found skillcult and made myself about 250 feet of dark colored rawhide strips. With your replys to my questions we figured out where I went wrong. I was able to salvage that leather but want to do a proper procedure next time.
@@clayhayeshunter Appreciate you pinning thus. I haven't tanned anything since I was a runt and had forgotten a lot. This gives me a quick brush up list to go through.
Thank you!!! All this education for a new homesteader is fantastic
Upvoted just for the tip of starting small (squirrel) before trying something big. Bonus kudos for all the other tips! Edit: It seemed like Clay put the hide in the lime solution just after mixing it with water. Doesn't that release a lot of heat? What temperature is good for soaking in the lime water?
Wow. Where´d you learn all that! So here´s a man who goes into the forest and brings back a piece of wood and makes a bow and hunts and kills an elk and processes the meat and tans the hide and makes a pair of boots and puts them on and goes into the forest... Love your style. Looking forward to the boots. Kudos! And congrats to 400.000!
Many thanks
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@@clayhayeshunterwhen will you make the boots???
I never realized traditional hide preparation and tanning was so complicated, long and labor intensive. I have a new appreciation for those frontier skills.
I genuinely love the fact that there isnt music playing and the sounds of the process are .....great video
Wow. Now picture all these tasks without bins, barrels, and cans. Primitive folks were pure badass. Really good video.
You got that right!
Straight up man, not to mention the quality of buckskin & bark tanner leather they were able to achieve without all the modern luxuries, was unbelievable.
I was thinking the same thing as he dumped that big white barrel...did they hollow out trees to make vats like this? Or did a black smith need a make a massive pot? The everyday person couldn't afford a giant pot though. Fascinating stuff
Probably a wooden tub, or just a hole in the ground!
Clay vessels
I live in the Adirondack Mts, hemlock bark was stripped by loggers and stacked in the would for tanneries, up until 30 years ago or so I would still find a stack of bark in the woods that was never picked up for one reason or another. Always made me feel a connection to the past when I found one, I'm 67.
Very cool
I would love to see a video on making some of those boots. Great video!
Coming soon!
This is the most to the point instruction on making leather I’ve seen after some years. Thank you!
absolutely a great presentation , i never stopped to think how much was involved in old school leather production
Truly a teacher and a library of deep seed knowledge thru which humans have thrived thus far. Respect and love for you…
When you find a super interesting video, but you are already subscribed
🍻
Living naturally without all the stress with goals & tasks that keep you healthy, satisfied, at peace, & content. To a lesser degree this was the direction of my childhood - making things, trapping & fishing, all of the familiar sounds & smells of the woods & the seasons. Looking back I marvel at how peaceful it all was. Just watching this work & listening to the sounds is so relaxing & gratifying. Thank you for sharing.
Man thank you for this great content. I'm in the process of becoming more of what I call a "woodsman". I'd love to learn this skill and make my own leather products from game that I harvest. And to top it off, it's sustainable. God bless you, sir.
I'd love to spend a year with this guy thru all 4 seasons in the wilderness.
I almost cried when you split it right through the best part😢...time we'll spent...tks much !!!
I sure thought about it before I made that cut! But I've got plans for this one and it'll work out just fine.
I don’t know whether to say you are a hardworking man or a dedicated man 👏👏👏👏
This was a great video Clay! I'm looking forward to seeing you make yourself a pair of boots. I've been wanting to make a pair of work boots myself because they wear out in the same spots every time. Keep up the informative videos like this. Thank you
I did this for the first time a few years ago, I really respect anyone who tries this out its a very long and arduous process. I think everyone who hunts should try to use at least one skin even if they just buy the chemical tanning solution. It is so cool to have a material that you made from an animal you killed.
Agreed
watch out though. It's like eating potato chips. I've done every hide of deer I've killed and a few I didn't. And yes ,it is hard work.
@@timothylongmore7325 Bark tanning is especially hard, comparatively the bottles are easy. The hardest part in my opinion is getting material unless you have large amounts of land with a plant that is known to be good for tanning.
Thanks for the extremely detailed vid❤
This is really well shot, no fuss and very informative. Much appreciated thank you.
So far the best video I’ve seen on the tube about this method. Lots of little tips and things that makes a huge difference in quality. ❤
Glad it was helpful!
Great video Clay and awesome looking hide! This year I tried my hand at fleshing a whitetail hide my buddy gave me. Cathartic experience and hard work, but worth every second. Still gotta finish the tanning. Gonna sand it down, brain tan and smoke the hide. Excited to see how it turns out!
i took 8 or 10 of my deer to a tanner.. i had no idea of the amount of work they put into it. wow.. thanks for educating us.
Wow, I really like the color that elk hide ended up with. I might have to give this method a try with one of my deer hides. See if I can achieve that same warm brown color you got. I have a ton of acorns in my area, I can probably use them instead of bark. I’ve brain/egg tanned a couple deer hides before, but this video has got me interested in trying this. Thanks for posting!
This has to be one of the most incredible videos I've seen! Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
Glad you enjoyed it
Excellent tutorial Clay. Amazing how involved and that took 3+months but the end result is fantastic. Looking forward to see the boots you make and that ever else. Thanks Nate
Thanks a ton!
Excellent video! We should all get back to producing our own stuff instead of relying on buying them from the store. Self-reliance is so important.
Absolutely!
Wow.. I will have to treat leather with more gratitude in the future... I was blown away by your hard work. Thank you so much. 👍
Many thanks
Well this video proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that I really had no idea how leather was made. This was awesome!
Glad it was helpful!
Love this channel. Inspires me to focus on having property to do these things. Really love your methods and thank you for sharing your knowledge free of charge.
What a beautiful end result! Ive been working with leather for a while and have started my own business. i always appreciate a bark tanned hide over the chrome crap, just more you can do with a natural product, simplistic. Your finished hide is gorgeous and I'm excited to see what you make from it! Shoe and boots are tricky but nothing beats bespoke footware, gonna be nice to have those on the next hunt! Cheers for making this high quality content, time to learn more about the olden days!
Thank you very much!
Glad to see this video has absolutely taken off
I highly admire men & women who keep the old knowledge alive.
Just ordered his book! Surviving alone! I’m so excited to get my signed copy and read it! I don’t have a lot of $$ so I’ll get the bow books next month I hope! Thanks!
SERIOUS AMOUNT OF WORK! AMAZING JOB YOU HAVE DONE, UK
Artist. Real man! Survivor. Teacher. Respect.
Excellent content, now I know where the tanning comes from. Thank you for sharing your knowledge, it is really appreciated.
Glad it was helpful!
I believe there’s only one bark tannery left in England. Jfj baker in colyton. I was surprised to see that a guy is doing it in Carballo, Galicia in Spain near where I now live Curtidos Sofán. Amazing to see this gentleman doing it at home. I’m surprised the leather isn’t marked and scratched from the process though. I find I even have to tape over my well cut finger nails to stop scratches ( on finished leather - I’ve never bark tanned) when I’m sewing. Marvellous video. Thank you.
I have a nephew(wife’s side) named Clay Hayes. You ain't him! But I will share this with him, as he's a taxidermist. Beautiful, HARD work. Thanks for sharing.
This was awesome! I'd love to learn how to tan someday! Thanks for showing this!
Good day to you Clay. I am a Russian hunter. I live in Thailand now. I watch your video with nostalgia. It's nice to see when a person treats his craft with respect.
Thanks 👍
Clay, I've found that if you take the bark off a tree in log form, the barks pieces will be pretty tiny and you won't have to chop the bark up. I put my deer sled under the log as I'm using my draw knife to debark the log and it catches the bark.
Really cool video, I had no clue bark tanning was a thing.
Clay, tis is a verry good video, no talking, reducing text to the most essential and verry well filmed. Also a beautifull lesson in tanning hides old skool with no modern things, acually bushcraft style. Needles to mention that I subscribed.
Amazing video. Educational and we all know that we wanted to know how to make leather in case of a survival situation lol, but yes great video and great simple explanation
Sir, you are a true craftsman! Thank you
Really enjoying the new content! Looking forward to more tanning videos. Would whitetail be too thin of a hide for leather?
No, I’ve got a whitetail hide soaking now.
I've always used wood ash. Probably never will again , unless it's a shtf situation. I've learned why half the time it doesn't work but lye or lime seems much easier. Also learned why my bark tanning experiments didn't work, lol. I've got a whole steer hide cut into belts for adirondack pack baskets that are a great dark color but not tanned. Deer season is on me again and here I am watching tanning videos again. This definately the way to go for big hides. Hope you do a video on brain tanning too. That's how I like to do my deer hides.
Yep, I'll do a brain tanning vid. Hopefully this fall.
Thanks for showing this. I had no idea how long it takes to bark tan. I hope you show more of these..
Will do!
Never seen that process before really cool to see!
Thanks
Very nice. Aside from the soaking time being so much, it’s overall less complicated than I thought it’d be
Hey Clay great video I just have a quick question how do you treat a snake skin before laying it on the back of a bow , thank you
I’m so impressed with people who have these skills. People who can make their own lye for their homemade soap. People who dry dandelion stems to use to make baskets. People who can grow their own wheat and know how to process it and grind it into flour and make their own bread. My grand mother used to sheer sheep, wash the yarn, card it, spin it (on a wheel my grandfather made by hand) dye it in a natural dye solution she made herself from leaves, weave it, and make entire outfits all by hand. I can make excel spreadsheets and that’s about it….I’m trying though. Made my own bone broth the other day. Baby steps 😭
Just keep at it, make it a goal to learn something new each day.
That is awesome! We started making our own broth probably 7 years ago. Now we grow out our own chickens, butcher, process, and have a 2 or 3 day broth making/canning “party” once or twice a year. I guess all of that is to say that bone broth is a great starting place, and I hope you continue and find as much pride and happiness in it as we do.
Thank you for taking the time to share this skill.
Very well done Clay. I always enjoy your videos!
Thank ya
Ahahahaaaa I gaped and died a little bit when you cut it in half because of how much effort goes into preparing such a piece! This was really cool and really informative! Thank you! ^_^
Looks like its true to the old days. What a beautiful skill to pass down thru generations.
Love your channel. Please make a video of a homemade forge setup.
Hello clay, i wanted to start off by saying how much i appreciate your videos. Youve made the learning curve much less painful. I do have a question though. When using the tree bark, if its just the tannins you're after, would coffee/tea work as well? Or walnut husks? I think those are super high in tannins, let me know if you can, or if youve done it, what were the results. Hope this finds its way to you
Thanks clay it's really good to know how to do this job. God bless you❤
Hey Clay , just about finished scraping on that hide and gotta say that hydrated lime worked great for dehairing. Wood ash has always been hit or miss with me. Wheather it worked or not the hide always came out nasty. Thanks for the tip and you should check out woodland escape w/ Peter. I mentioned you to him when I was touching base and thanking him for his advise on braintanning. You two have a lot in common , good well made videos. Not like mine.
that's , the woodland escape
This is a ton of work. Well done man
final product looks incredible
Appreciate all the info you put out bro!
Very nice video, thanks. Question: for the drying process, how do you go about it? Flat on that board, full sun, several days? How many times do you apply oil to it while it dries? (Sorry if I missed it)
Outstanding CH, cant wait for the boots!
Great job, man, and thanks for posting it.
Would love to see a video on harvesting sinew for a bow or other projects.
I have a sling pouch over 200 years old and the leather has help up amazingly well. The powder horn has some small holes from bugs. Brass telescope is in great condition. Whoever had the scope was like their Special Forces. Everything was with a long, heavy muzzle loader that i inherited. It has a set trigger so guess the users, my ancestors, were snipers also.
Nice stuff clay! I’ve done buckskin tanning before. This is definitely next, but clearly a longer process 😂
This is inspiring Clay - thank you. Looks like a project that would be better start with warmer weather ahead since I won't have a good place to work through the process over winter. Any harm in dropping the freshly skinned elk hide in the chest freezer until spring or is there some initial prep that would be good to do first?
you probably all ready figured it out but , no harm at all in freezing a hide. Fleshed or not but fleshing first is better. Take up about a third of the weight.
Absolutely love this! Thinking I can do that.. 3 days later.. np.. 3 days later.. that's not so long.. 3 months later.. Maybe ill just keep buying my leather for now :D. Looking forward to seeing the boots!
Thanks for walking us through the process.
Great overview of the process. 👍
Amazing content. Just keeps getting better. Thanks for sharing.
Glad you enjoy it!
This is a great video! What other types of bark can work for this? Specifically in the intermountain West? I want to give it a try but don't have easy access to Doug fir or tan oak
Looks like a lot of work. I appreciate leather even more now
Thank you for this truly fascinating video. I love working with leather, and wearing leather products. I will appreciate every piece of item I've got even more from now on.
Wonderful!
I'm so impressed by the natural process and that it's a real natural leather. By the way I'm new leather crafter philippines
Wow. I didn't realize how much effort goes into the tanning process. I have been wanting to tan some deer hides for several years now.
You can do it!
Awesome video clay and yes would love to see one with pelt on
Great video! Can you used hides that have been grained as well? I have several deer hides that I've scraped for braining but was wondering if they could be bark tanned w the grain removed.
Best video I’ve found yet on tanning your hide at home, question can I skip the lime soak and leave the hair on? Or will the long period of time soaked in bark tea cause the hair to fall out?
Thanks for sharing. Amazing craftsmanship
Great job. Very informative. ❤
wow, this is impressive man, thanks for sharing.
Oh man. I'm looking forward to seeing the boots you make with that.
Always brain tanned my harvested hides. Have a hide salted and rolled up stored for the past 4+ months waiting for the weather to change so I can try bark tanning. Thinking a nice rifle case for my flintlock rifle.... also need an apron for my blacksmith shop so I quit burning holes in my shirt and pants lol. Definitely going to give this a try
Damn, I had no idea you have to soak it for 3 months! Great video
Nice bark tanned elk. As to the oil, I use Protal from McKinzie's tanning supplies, as it works way better than tallow and olive oil. I have tanned hundreds of deer and elk using Lutan, chrome, brain, oak bark with hair on or hair and grain off and they all have their distinct characteristics. Bark tanned leather makes great moccasins, belts, bags.
Thanks for the tip!
Thanks for the wisdom, every man needs to know that to survive Thanks again, stay safe!!!
Nice job. A lot of information. I hope I will see that boot making 😊 Keep up with good work 👍
Thanks, will do!
awesome video. Thanks for the knowledge!
Awesome job!! I’ve never done this but it’s a lot of work
Well done and thank you for putting that together. About how many hours did you put in to complete that hide?
Loved it! Continued success.
Beautiful work! Looks like something I could actually do and enjoy.
You should!
I learned way more from this about tanning than from Ashland leathers video with the scientist guy.
Gerçek bir zanaatkarsın. iyi bir ustasın senin gibisi kolay kolay bulunmaz.kendi el emeginle şahane bir deri elde ettin. tebrik ederim.
Que chido trabajo! Yo vivo en el campo y de repente hay cueros para curtir, lo voy a intentar de nuevo porque me faltaban detalles que hoy aprendí de tu video
Graccias por tu hermoso video ....tengo una piel de vivora de cascabel ya paso el proceso de curtido ahora estoy en saber que aceite pongo para el hidratado y suavidad esta acartonada amigo saludos ...
I like a plastic pipe that’s been slid over a 2by 4 that was attached horizontally to a stable wall . Walnut hulls work well without lye .
Congratulations on 400k!
many thanks