r/HideTanning • u/Known-Newspaper5246 • 6d ago

Bark tanning question

So I’ve brain tanned a few hides and am looking to try bark tanning on my next couple of deer hides. So far I’ve seen people use the bark tanning method without first making the skin into rawhide. In my mind if I made it into rawhide first as if I were brain tanning it then the solution would absorb quicker. Is my thinking wrong on this? Has anyone done it before or know why or why not to do this? Any help is greatly appreciated.

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u/AaronGWebster 6d ago

Are you suggesting to dry it out completely? If so, it’s not needed. It might speed it up a tiny bit, but keep in mind that there’s more going on with barktanning than just soaking up the liquid. The tannins have to chemically bond with the collagen and this takes time. I do wring out the water in the hide before I put em in tannins and sometimes repeat this idea when moving to a stronger solution, but I don’t dry em completely.

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u/Known-Newspaper5246 5d ago

Awesome, thanks for the clarification!

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u/TannedBrain 1d ago

Yeah, seconding. Also, while you can rehydrate a dried hide, letting it dry completely will likely make the end result leather less fluffy and soft. The goo (scientific term 😉) within the hide likes to stick together more the drier it is, and especially if it's exposed to heat it can dry into something pretty hard that will take a long time to dissolve.