anyone tries this, I'm going to , seem straight forward ,

You should be surrounded with eastern hemlock up there. A good choice for tannic acid.

If you're talking about using hemlock bark for its high percentage of tannic acid yes it does work The deer hides i've done were first simmered in wood ashes(lye) to loosen the hair then simmered in hemlock bark and then built a small teepee and smoked the hides Tough process to soften them but can be done 2 o0f the hides I done are still hanging upstairs as good as the day I done them the third i had no interest in anymore so it hung in my skinning shed for years hard as bone until a friend who needed to resring a snowshoe took it problem was it took about 2 weeks to soften it up but he used it hel;d up great but its probably 40 years or more since either of us snowshoed

The not so secret to any type of hide tanning is the breaking. That’s where soft and pliable comes from…elbow grease.

I’ve done several. Careful that you don’t cause the hide to seize-up from too much tannin at once. It’s a process. Should look like a light tea. May have to change the water every week or two. As water clears, add more tannins to bring it back to that tea look. Stretching every few days helps to keep the hide absorbing the tannins. Also seems to help when you go to soften it after the tanning process. I sometimes throw mine on the fleshing beam and push the water out with the dull side of my fleshing knife. I usually do this before adding more tannins. This is a way to stretch it too, and may be easier than pulling a wet hide to stretch for some.

The process works well, just takes time.

has anyone done furred animals, not just leather?

cfowler, how long in solution, everything I read has all different length of time,

The time varied every time I’ve done it. 1-3 months depending on hide thickness. I think temps play some part. I tried to keep mine cool, just because stagnant water with tannin in it tends to develop an odor.

I’ve had hides soak for 6 months because I was busy with other things.

Tanning fur on means the light colored fur becomes tinted by the tannins. Your whites won’t be white.

I do both but mostly with an extract these days. I have done it with both bark and sumac leaves. Lately been doing some fish skins and beaver tails too.
Here some pike skins drying and barktan and braintan.

TD,

Google Clay Hayes bark tan on Youtube. He shows the entire process step by step.

I put this muskrat in the bark water Tannis water, and 4 hours later i ringed it out and it basically fell apart, maybe ringed to hard? maybe tannis to strong?

I've played with bark tanning a fair bit over the years. My results have been inconsistent though. This year I've committed to getting good at it. I have done fur on bark tanning. Based on my experiences (and failures) I'd speculate: 1) did you rehydrate the hide before placing it in the tannins? A dry hide won't take in the tannins equally throughout the hide. 2) thin hides like muskrat and fox can tear easily before they are oiled if they take up too many tannins too fast. A thin hide will take up tannins quickly. I'd make up your tannin tea and cut the strength some. And stir frequently for the first day then add the rest of the concentrated tea. A thicker hide you'd want to take out and scud out the hide and re-scrape it on the beam. You shouldn't need to do that on a muskrat. After you take it out of the bark solution you will want let it dry to damp and oil it. Olive oil and neatsfoot are commonly used. As it dries stretch it out and it should dry soft.

There are/were some really knowledgeable people on here that know a lot about bark tanning. I don't seem them post much anymore though.

I wonder if logwood dye would work and be easier than gathering bark?

Logwood dye is supposed to be quebracho extract. I have used it successfully before. Someone told me the current logwood dye available is not actually quebracho anymore but actually contains petroleum products in it. I bought some quebracho powder from Mackenzie Taxidermy specifically for bark tanning to compare that with logwood dye. Looks and smells the same to me. At least the brown logwood dye. I prefer using the logwood/quebracho powder to gathering bark off trees. It's a lot easier.