Using Bark Tan

Directions for Coloring or Tanning with Bark Tan:

One pound of Quebracho extract colors eight pounds of tanned skin. Quebracho can be used with any tan, after the tanning process or before the oiling and finishing process.

Follow these directions to strengthen and color your leather:

Boil 8 ½ gallons water. Dissolve 2 pounds Quebracho into ½ gallon boiling water. Add ½ of dissolved Quebracho solution to the 8 gallons of boiling water. Allow solution to cool to room temperature. Place skins into the solution and agitate frequently. Second day: add another ½ of Quebracho concentrate to the batch and agitate thoroughly. Third day: add final ½ of Quebracho concentrate solution and agitate frequently.

You can leave it in until entirely penetrated or as long as you wish. The lower the pH in the hide, the deeper brown will result. The higher the pH in the hide, the lighter the resulting color will be. Generally domestic animals will have a lower pH than wild ones. The more Quebracho you use, the darker the shade of brown you will secure. To achieve the same color if you have more than one hide to color, color them together in one batch if tanning vessel is large enough.

DO NOT OVER-PACK HIDES!

Quebracho Extract Tanning Instructions:

Quebracho Extract is an old method vegetable tanning material which produces various rich shades of brown. It is a two-step process involving the use of Sulfuric Acid.

After de-hairing and de-liming your hide, prepare one of the following pickle solutions:

Sulfuric Acid Pickle: Use One ounce (by weight) concentrated sulfuric acid and one pound salt per gallon of water. Dissolve salt in water and slowly pour the sulfuric acid into it.

Van Dyke’s Pickling Crystals: Use three ounces (by weight) of Van Dyke’s Pickling Crystals and one pound of salt per gallon of water.

Oxalic Acid Pickle: Use one ounce (by weight) oxalic acid and one pound salt per gallon of water.

For every pound of skin weight use three quarts of pickle solution. The skin (with occasional agitation) should remain in the pickling solution overnight. Next day the pH of the solution should be 3.5 to 4.0 and when pressed between forefinger and thumb, one should not feel any resilience. Next prepare a solution of three pounds of Quebracho extract into one gallon of hot water. One pint of this solution will tan approximately one pound of hide. Add 10 percent of this Quebracho solution to the pickle solution and the place the pickled hide into this. Then every other day add approximately one-fifth of the Quebracho solution. Occasional stirring will speed up the tanning process and result in a more uniform colored skin. After 11 – 12 days, cut a cross section of the skin and check the color of this cut. It should not show any white in the middle. When the cross cut is uniformly brown or tan, the skin is completely tanned. At this stage the pH of the tanning solution should be about 4.0 to 4.5. Remove the tanned hide from the tanning vessel and rise thoroughly. Now the hide is ready for the fat liquoring bath. The resulting color of your hide can vary greatly when using this tan, depending entirely upon the pH factor. The lower the pH in the hide, the deeper brown will result. The higher the pH in the hide the lighter the resulting color will be.

KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN.

THIS PRODUCT INTENDED SOLELY FOR MANUFACTURING AND INDUSTRIAL USE.

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