Oil Tanned Leather Tanning is the process of treating skins of
animals to produce leather, which is more durable and less
susceptible to decomposition. Tanning leather involves a process
which permanently alters the protein structure of skin. Making
“rawhide” (untanned but worked hide) does not require the use of
tannin. Rawhide is made by removing the flesh and fat and then
the hair by use of an aqueous solution (this process is often
called “liming” when using lime and water or “bucking” when
using wood ash (lye) and water), then scraping over a beam with
a somewhat dull knife, then drying. The two aforementioned
solutions for removing the hair also act to clean the fiber
network of the skin and allow penetration and action of the
tanning agent, so that all the steps in preparation of rawhide
except drying are often preludes to the more complex process of
tanning and production of leather. Before tanning, the skins are
unhaired, degreased, desalted and soaked in water over a period
of 6 hours to 2 days.1 To