How to bark tan

[Darrin McDonal]

Since there is always a steady stream of really nice bags and other leather implements on here, I have to throw out the question I have been thinking about for many years.
How do you bark tan a hide?
I haven't been too lucky finding this information and the attempt I did a few years ago had very disappointing results.
I was told to get yourself a whole Bunch of oak bark , which I did, and put it in a large bucket or what I used, 1/2 whiskey barrel then throw your hide in there. Give it a stir every day or two for a few weeks and viola.
That sucker smelled so bad I thought I was gonna get thrown out of the county.
But it didn't really work either.
Has anyone had success at this?
Darrin

[josephprivott]

i'm suprised you've had trouble finding info! plenty out there...
here's a nutshell:

Different species have different tannin content (Birch, for example is high at around 12% and generally not used). Fruit wood is useless. You will use the cambium layer of the bark (the one next to the sapwood). Red oak is as good a choice as any, and a popular one even today.

rule of thumb is a pound of bark for every square foot of hide. A couple of 19th century sources I read say that to get the tannin content where you want it, pulverize the bark (bruise it with the back and blade of a hatchet) and bring it to a boil. remove, discard the water, and repeat the process. use this second 'bath' and filter out the chips if you want.
(the first bath is apparently harder and 'fries' the surface of the hide, making it brittle/weak, while the second bath strength is what you want.)

Soaking time depends on the thickness of hide. Thin stuff might only take a couple of days, while a deerskin would warrant a week or more, and cow hides "up to half a year" (one of those 19th century sources). They stressed that you should check the hide regularly, and an easy way to do this is to sacrifice a small portion near the edge to inspect penetration (again, really only applicable to thicker hides

[James Rogers]

PM sent

[Darrin McDonal]

Thanks for the info. Where did you find some of this? I have lots-o-books etc. on brain tanning but not bark.
Darrin

[David Rase]

Darrin,
I ask this same question in December of 2008.  Jim Filipski gave me the address of his we site.  Great article on bark tanning.   Here it is again.  While you are there look at some of his other articles.  What a great resource and wealth of knowledge.
http://www.liv18thc.com/barktan.html

[Darrin McDonal]

Thanks David and Jim , once again. Have you tried it yet David? . I have the info passed along so far and one question that I need to clarify a little more is, does this have to be the cambium layer or any/all oak bark.

[T*O*F]

Darren,
I have read several period diaries of European visitors to the colonies which made mention of the fact that sumac grew in profusion enough to support a tanning industry.....yet none ever mentioned oak.  Yet I never see sumac mentioned as an ingredient in modern tutorials except as a dyestuff.

I tried bark tanning using crushed walnuts and their hulls with some ground oak leaves thrown in for good measure.  I used a 33 gal plastic trash container double-lined with trash bags.  Stirred once a day for a month and added more ingredients at that time and continued for another month.  All I got was the same smelly mess you did.

[Chuck Burrows]

One of the best resources available on period tanning methods - here's the link to bark tanning:

http://braintan.com/barktan/index.htm

They also sells supplies including tanning liquor........

[T.C.Albert]

Most custom small tannery "bark" tan sold these days seems to be small soft hides like deer and goat, even down to sqirrrels...hides more suited to home style backyard tanning....ie...hides of a managable size for one man...This seems to lead to the idea that such bark tan deer hides were also the staple leather on the frontier and colonies...is that truly the case? True, bark tan is the traditional way to vegetable tan, be it an oak or sumac derivitive etc...but all quote "bark" tanned leather is not the same....all though I think most colonial leathers were indeed "bark" tanned.

I know the long hunters did a huge business in deer hide, but I thought alot of those were for export?
I also thought the deer hide breeches etc...so popular in the colonies, were cream colored, not the typical reddish brown mottled bark tan color so prized for old looking bags today? Does this imply a different tannage?

I have often read where different animal hides and tanning styles were favored for different end uses, as some were prefered spongy, some stretchy, some stiff, some buttery soft, some water proof, and some just plain exotic...different types of animal hides were also better suited for making different types of things ...from cartridge boxes and shoe soles to gloves, knee breeches and even wall coverings...not to say that the hunter folks living on the frontier, or those that had to just "make do"  didnt have to tan and use what leathers they could shoot, but I think typically commercial leathers like cow hide were pretty common and reradily  available even in remote hamlets and villages where the tanner and his tannery were community fixtures, while in urban trade centers the sky was the limit.. In fact, in typical rural settlements, I think customarily the tanner got half a hide as his cut for tanning one for the farmer, and the farmer needed the hide seasonally for the traveling cobbler who made and repaired shoes for the farmers family annually...deer hide would not be suitable for that, and the farmer that had no hides to trade, had to buy it from the tanner before the cobbler showed up...

Also, what about buffalo leather? THere was an attempt by a french tanner to establish a buffalo tannery in the mid west  (Illinois country) in the mid 1700s...he died and the tannery closed, but they must have thought it was worth the try for some reason?

I guess that Im just not all that convinced that bark tan deer hide like we are seeing today was in fact a  common leather used for bag making even on the frontier, unless all of the bags once made from it have been used up, thrown away or otherwise disappeared? I know there are many examples of deer being used, but not nearly  for the majority?
TCA  
 

[Mad Monk]

The chemical plant I worked in had a large technical library. Some books dating back to the early 1900's.  These books were great.  They gave a description of older processes and then explained the newest process.  One of great interest to me was on hide tanning.  That search came out of my work on copper dyed horns and nitrate of iron stock stain and fabric dyes.

The type of bark used to tan hides depended on where the tannery was located.  Those operating here in PA generally used chestnut or oak bark.  Tanneries in New York and the New England states used bark from a specific fir tree.
The type of bark used would in a large part determine the final color of the leather.

Generally, there were 4 vats or pits where tannic acid was used on the hides.  The first tank had a very weak solution of tannic acid.  The hides worked their way through the 4 pits/vats where the strength of the tannic acid solution was increased.  If you soaked a hide in a full strength tannic acid solution right from the start the surface of the hide got rock hard and the inside would be poorly tanned at best.

In the old tanneries there was a pit full of manure.  The haides came into the tannery in one of three states.  From very dry climates the hides had simply been stretched and sun dried.  Known as "flint" hides.  In areas with plenty of common salt they would soak the hides in a salt solution and dry them before being shipped to a tannery.  In some areas, such as out West, the hides would be dipped into a solution of copper acetate which produced what was known as a green hide.
So the first stop in the tannery was soaking the hide in water  Then into the lime pit to remove hair and gelatin in the hide.  Then on to the dung pit where ammonia, in the dung, removed any copper in the hide or neutralized and remaining lime in the hide.  Then a rinse before going into the first tannic acid vat.  In the manure pit additional sulfur atoms were bonded to the leather which allowed it to pick up more tannic acid than it normally would.  Some of the late 19th century tanneries even had specifications for specific sources of manure since this could also effect final color in the leather.

I used to joke with the engineers at work about an entry level position in a Colonial Period tannery.  The boss welcomes you to your new job.  Hands you this big long stick.  Your job is the manure pit where you must periodically turn the hides over and stir the whole mess.  You can imagine the smell!!

Another point in this hide tanning business involves tumbling the tanned hides in a barrel with some sort of non-oxidizing oil to make the hides soft and supple.  In the 1900's a lot of Menhadden fish oil was used for that purpose.  Known as fulling the hide.


Bill K.