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[–] 8 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (12 children)

Two entirely different processes. Hides are skins cured with oil, fat, or salt to prevent them from rotting. Leather is a skin that gets soaked in quicklime, scraped, soaked in weak tannin, and finally soaked in strong tannin to turn the skin into leather.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 months ago (6 children)

    Thanks! I’m saving this for the imminent apocalypse so I can make my Mad Max armor!

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  • [–] 6 points 3 months ago (5 children)

    You'll want to look up some tutorials. I oversimplified the process.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 months ago (4 children)

    Do you recommend bone spikes for the shoulders or should I go for more of a BDSM ninja vibe?

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago (3 children)

    I'm a blacksmith, not a tanner, so I don't know.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    Metal spikes? I really want to make a good impression when roving the wasteland. Also I’m thinking like a couple of short swords but i have questions about the intimidation factor. Maybe just a broadsword for show and then the short swords for chopping up my enemies. Hmmmm

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago (4 children)

    But when does the piss come into play? I always heard that tanning leather involves piss.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago*

    While you can do it that way, I don't know the process. I know how to make tannin by soaking oak logs in water.

    And yes, that is probably the first way we figured out how to do it, but as I understand it, that's a very stinky process, and to be totally honest, I found tannin made from oak to be rather smelly.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago* (2 children)

    In traditional tanning different chemicals are used to process leather. Brains, egg yolks, urine, they all work. The urine isn't a requirement, it's a possible chemical compound a tanner may choose to utilize.

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