Peeled Sumac Poles

Hello and welcome to Circle S!

This particular blog will be about my most recent barktanning experiances.

I've been doing some "bark" tanning with quebacho extract for the last few years-more or less following the ideas I got from the Hide-out forum, which go something like: 1. Flesh hide 2.Soak hide in a strong lime solution until hair slips easily. 3.Neatralize and wash out lime. 4. Pickle hide (I used Rittel's safety acid with the recommended amount of salt added) After pickling for three days or more, put the hide in a strong quebacho solution until tanned through, (can take weeks or months) rinse hide well in plain water, oil and soften.

For furs, I would either salt dry after fleshing, or air dry without salt, then go to the pickle. The other steps are the same.

Being cheap, I wanted to find a local tannic acid that I could get for free, without too much work, of course! So, when they cut down a large stand of staghorn sumac just up the road, we inquired about getting the wood that was left on the ground. No one seemed to care, so I picked up all the larger poles. Sumac doesn't usually get very big around, but some of these were 4 inches or so. These were cut during late winter, so unfortunately, I didn't get any leaves, and there wasn't much left of the red pods. By the time I'd peeled off all the bark and ended up with two packed down 30 gallon garbage cans full, it was starting to feel like work. The braintan orders poured in like usual in the spring, and the bark just set there for several months.

I had plans to mulch the bark at a relatives house, since I didn't have a mulcher, but never got around to it, and finally just forked one can full into my trap boiler, which is a old, large hot water tank with a slot cut in it lenthways. I simmered the bark for a day, never getting it really hot, then let it set for a couple weeks, while hoping Liza would pick up a large container somewhere to put it all in. Finally, we both went to the junk yard and looked at old bath tubs, but they were way too small to suit me, so it was off to the feed mill, where they said they'd just ordered a 300 gallon stock tank and it would be in Monday. That sounded a little more like it to me, no more stuffing hides into little barrels!

As of today (7/14/11) I have the tank almost half full of sumac bark and water, and have several deer and goat hides soaking, plus a few furs-(coon and one fox hide)

7/16 The hides are taking on quite a bit of color.

7/20

Well, this is a blog that tells all, the good, bad and ugly-so...I took hides out yesterday to work them over the beam, take some membrane off, etc. and found that some hides had rot starting on the flesh side.

I think the solution should have been strong enough with a ph of 4.4-but welcome other bark tanners input. We have had some really hot weather and the tub was exposed to the sun for part of the day, so I'm blaming it on the heat, as of now. I moved the tub back into the trees and added as much quebacho extract as I had on hand, about half a bucket full, put the better hides back in, and today things are looking and smelling better. I also took most of the bark solids out, as they make it difficult to stir the solution. I do tend to learn everything the hard way, but should know better, as I never leave soaking hides in the sun this time of year, even when just water soaking for braintanning.

7/30--Yesterday I snipped a peice on the necks on several hides and all were "struck through"-showing color all the way through the hide. I pulled out two of the thin hides-a small deer and a goat hide and ran them through one cycle in my washing machine to get rid of the excess  solution in them. I have also done this by just soaking them in barrels and changing water a few times. I took the spun out hides out today and oiled them with a commercial tanning oil. Mink oil is another option or any animal fat, but generally a heavier type oil then the brains or eggs used for buckskin. I worked them over the staker as they dried (had a nice warm day to work them outside) I oiled them three times and they soaked most of it up. The goat hide is darker, partly because it got more oil, and perhaps because the grain is less stretchy? The deer came out very nice and soft, the goat is not as soft, but flexible enough for bags, etc. If I were using it for moccasins or jacket material, I would soak it up and re oil, and re work until I was happy with the softness.

Here is a close up of barktanned goat on the top and deer on the bottom:

In my experience, having completed barktan in two weeks is unusual. Usually it's more like two months or whenever I get around to taking the hides out. Stirring them every day and having a large container where the hide isn't so bunched up seems to make thing go faster and I'm sure the warm weather causes the solution to penetrate more quickly too. I've added a couple more hides to the tub and have a lot more small, 2nd quality deer hides to work with.