How To Tan Leather With Natural Detergents

Tanning leather can be performed at home. Indeed, there are plenty of options you can ask for commercial service for this chore to be done. However, if you are a DIY projects lover, you might be truly thrilled to do it yourself. For this purpose, we have decided to give you a short, but yet, helpful and detailed tutorial about how to tan leather with natural detergents.

What do you need to tan leather with natural detergents?

The main idea behind the natural leather tanning is to use natural tree bark. Of course, not all bark will be suitable for the purpose. Before giving you some basic instructions for action, though, let us name you the agents and tools you will need for the procedure. Below, you will see the list of all the things you need to tan leather with natural detergents:

• 1 gallon of pure water

A lukewarm temperature will be ok. Both: too hot and too cold are quite dangerous for the genuine leather.

• Oak or hemlock bark

Unfortunately, there is no certain quantity, but experts say you need as much bark as your leather material is. This means you need few kilos, stirred to dust bark.

• 2 quarts of vinegar

It’s better to use white vinegar but avoid balsamic vinegar. It can catastrophically ruin the leather.

Natural leather tanning – step by step

Now, we’ll present you the easiest way to tan leather with 100% natural detergents. Here is where we need to remind you that not all barks will be ok for the procedure. Indeed, the examples we have given you – oak or hemlock – are the best alternatives for you. Gather as much as you can, but make sure not to scrub the tree hard, because you can damage and eventually injure it. The better idea is to simply collect the fallen bark pieces. Then, soak them in the water, in a large enough vessel, where in addition the leather item can gather.

It takes about three months for the leather to fully get tanned. If you have no patience for the process, some of the fibres might not be soaked with the liquid, which will eventually end up with fading. You can change the water every three months for better final effect. Plus – thus you will avoid mould and unpleasant smell of the leather.

Now you can tan that leather jacket you have naturally on your own!