Bushcraft Skills: Turn Fish Skin into Leather | Bark Tanning | Oil Tanning 

Perhaps a bit off subject but an old carpenter mentor of mine 40 years ago used shark skin for sandpaper on wood. He said different sharks and different parts of the body produced different grits. The stuff lasted forever, you could wash it off and keep on sanding.

This is the kind of stuff we need more of as a society. So many lost arts and so much lost knowledge. Also, lemon stuffed, bacon wrapped trout?! Sign me up, gonna have to try that one

I've never heard of fish leather. My area is seeded for ranbow trout. I have 5 trout from yesterday ... I can't wait to learn!

The tanins used in the bark tanning solution also plays a huge role in denaturing the protein. Giving it the supple leather-like texture and the "chemical smell" while making it tougher and less translucent

Growing up, my grandfather had a collection of vintage farming equipment. I remember one item, a flail used for threshing wheat had an eel skin leather hinge which despite being well over 100 years old was still incredibly strong. I always wondered how it was made.thanks for another amazing video 👍

Cama'i! I was excited to see you do this. I'm Sugpiaq and we use fish skins for quite a bit. Pre contact, we used alder bark or urine tans depending on what we needed. After contact and the introduction of additional tree species on Kodiak, willow tanning also began being used. The urine tan is fairly simple- basically you save up enough urine to be able to cover the fish skins and then let that sit and age for a few days- this allows ammonia to develop. Mix the aged urine in a 1:1 with water and add your descaled and fleshed fish skins in. Stir at least once a day, and check the texture of the skins. Once they feel kind of rubbery and kind of squeak in your gloved hand, it's good to go. Take it out and wash it in several changes of water and you should be good to go outside of working it soft as it dries. You can speed this up and wash it with soap but you'll probably end up associating the smell of the soap with the smell of the urine tanned fish skin as it's cleaning- so just be ware. Alder and willow tans are pretty much the same as your oak tan. Slight difference is for the first 12-24 hours you're gonna want to do a tan with a mix of 1/2 the bark solution and 1/2 water, and then move the skin to a full bark solution to finish it. If it's just a full strength solution at the get go, it'll flash tan the outer layer making it harder for the tanning solution to fully penetrate. You can still get full penetration, but it'll take longer and the outer layer of the skin will degrade a bit.

These are my favorite videos. Along with outdoor skills, you weave in the history of our ancestors. I am from Northeast Ohio where Native Americans inhabited the land I now live on. To think they lived along the shores of Lake Erie and probably tanned fish - maybe even in my back yard - is just amazing! Thanks!

Roughing up the membrane is super important in preparing skins, whether fish or mammal. If you don't then as it rests and dries out again the membrane will pull together and tighten up, shrinking the skin and hardening up leading to that crispy texture you had in the others. The membrane also acts as a barrier to the oils you are trying to work into the skin. My method with deer skin is to scrape, flesh, dry then sand the membrane and put into the bark or egg solution and work it until dry once the solution has penetrated.

Here in Norway, fish skin were used to make shoes during World War II. Have also heard that clothes were made of fish skins.

I wonder if the lighter coloured skins could be sewn or somehow glued together to be used in windows along with shutters. They would be opaque and used as a weather barrier and to simply let in light.

Enjoyed watching,it reminded me of an uncle who would ask my dad for the skins off eels he caught for the plate. He would treat them and wear them around his wrists, he reckoned they helped his hands keep away the stiffness of arthritis whilst working on his allotment.

I like your father, he seems game for anything, even bacon-wrapped trout! Very good vid, a learning experience! Never knew one could tan fish skin! Thanks!

Man, these are the best vids, you and your dad, doing stuff together. Makes me miss my dad tremendously. Kudos for making your own leather, too, that's fantastic.

Fabulous video! I am inspired! That oiled rawhide translucent fish skin would make a nice covering for a Saxon-style box candle lantern for your lovely cabin!

I always love when you and your dad cooking and fishing together 😁👍 it's always amazing Love your video.keep up the amazing work (sorry for my english.still learning)

Couple things: Your fly fishing skills are amazing - and I think this is your best video yet. Excellent job, young man.

Would never have imagined making leather out of fish skin. Can't wait to see what you make with that leather!

WOW! I never would've know you can tan fish skin. I have tanned buffalo, deer, and elk hides. Now I want to try a fish skin!!!

I haven’t had any luck with the hobo reel but skin from first catch goes to the handle. Thank you very much

As an Idahoan, I’m kind of surprised to hear that rainbow trout can be found in the UK. I always kinda thought it was just a Pacific Northwest thing lol

A a leather worker, this is amazing!

I was sooo disappointed! In the opening sequence, I saw that huge pot of cubed roast beef and you are pouring water over it, and I couldn't wait to see what we were eating! Oak Bark! ;-) lol. Thanks for a fascinating presentation. I enjoyed every minute of it. Thanks for the drone footage of the lakes; you take me to places I will never get to see.

Thanks for this precious video in so many ways. Being able to spend this kind of time with your dad makes you one of the richest men in the world in my opinion. Enjoy every drop of it. Thanks for letting us in on this quality time a bit. All the best!

Man you and your dad look like you have a blast...so much fun. Always learning!

Hope as many people see this as the pallet wood cabin man. TA!. Really amazing

Out of all the fish leather vudeos I have watched yours is by far the best. I have been wanting to make fish leather for a while now. Bark tanning looks the best way to do it.

I watched over 30 fish skin leather video. This is a very good video. Thanks for sharing

A welcome departure. Thank you.

Two good chaps with a lot of useful knowledge

I love the knowledge, and your opportunity to do this. Keep it up folks

So much wow film! What a beautiful nature!

Ok, now I can't wait for the show on what you do with it.

can't let old ways die out mate

You guys are f**kin awesome. I’m not a bush crafter of much of a fisherman but love watching you. Keep it up.

Thank you for teaching me something new.😊

Very interesting to watch about making your fish skin leather. Oh my that baked trout made me hungry, it looked wonderful. A return of "theory time" maybe. Totally Awesome video. 💯❤👍

I'd love to see you see a bunch of fish skin together to create something like a small blanket or something.

this is such a cool video, did not even know you could do this

I am going on a fishing and camping trip tomorrow in northern new york for 3 days and I'm definitely going to keep all the fish skins I catch. Awesome video

That is incredible I had no idea

Nice, I've never heard of anyone doing this before, good to know!

learned something new today I had no clue you could do this thanks for sharing

Whoda thought fish skin leather. Awesome. Very informative video thank you.

Hey, thanks man. I've always carried an eel skin wallet and wondered how I might tan fish/eel skin. This certainly gives me insight toward my own experience. Thank you for the vid. ~ cheers

I’ve learned something. Looking forward to see what you make from the skins.

As always, a lot of hard work. You both are very skilled with your hands.

This is brilliant Mike, thank you for this!

"Honest to God, dad, that's the rainbow trout" "That's weird"

By boiling the tanbark in cast iron, you produced a weak iron gall ink solution. This is the cause of the darker color. It may also shorten the lifespan of the leather by a bit. But it was a good show. Thanks.

Your channel is so, so immensely awesome. I’m just getting interested in bushcraft and survival skills now with 36 years old and I’m loving it. Genius material my friend, just genius.

Great video as always, great skills!!

What a brilliant film, well done both of you

Very cool video my uncle brought me a fish leather arm band back from Iceland I might make myself another 😂

You and your dad are awesome love watching

I love your father son relationship 😪 I've recently lost my father (i'm 18) and one thing i would recommend to everyone is: spend as much time with him as you can while he's here. Or you'll regret it

Well done! The leather smell would have come from the barking tanning solution. If you’ve looked into vege tan many of the leathers are made with several baths of tanning solution.

Nice rainbow man has an awesome looking fish

I think that the three different products can be used for three different purposes. excellent video!

You’ve got to appreciate the work these two do! Another great video! Keep up the good work lads

On the British Antique Road show several years ago they had an eel skin spectacles holder. Very cool gentlemen.

I love watching TA outdoor video so educational and calming.. keep up the great work..

Yet another awesome educational video and even more important a lovely father and son time captured to thank you both so much you both made my day, cant wait to the days I'm able to do this with my kids. Stay safe folks love and respect to you all

Thank you TA Outdoors I'm a Christian and admire this outdoor program. You guys bring amazing tapes of outdoor living I'm eager to apply.

Dobar film za dobro vreme !

Love your videos mate. Your dad is a legend. Big love to all the blokes out there who miss their dad.

LOL LOVE your dad....always makes me laugh.

I love these catch and cooks and by the way there is a hunting,fishing, game fair on at Perth

If you have the opportunity, please show making leather from sharkskin. Loved watching this process

Oh this is wonderful. Please make more of this stuff. I'm very interested in leather tanning 😊👍

Very interested in what you made from the leather! Thank you for the info and the effort!

Interesting video for sure. Thanks Mike.

Excellent video and skill. Formerly a strict vegan. I still dont eat meat, however it is good to know these things. We raise rabbits for manure and try to be as no waste as possible. One died, so I skinned my 1st rabbit, did my best to preserve the fur not really having a clue. Except I know to scrape all flesh, salted it, hung it to dry. I am going to check if you have other tanning videos. Most others others I had time to watch are complicated. I like primitive, simple and cheap😁. I really appreciate your approach in teaching.

Love this so much

I want to try this now haha thanks for informing me about this

that one shot at 2:09 reminded me of matt hayes on the great rod race. Great vid keep em coming

Fascinating stuff 👍

This was fantastic!

Love your videos thank you

Awesome video! So interesting. The 4th skin looks so much like regular leather 😀 Great work! 😊👍🏕️🌲

Beautiful place I appreciate the video

some window screens made of the translucent one would be really cool , good vid .

that's really interesting and very cool!

Up next the TA fashion line!

That was fascinating

It was a very nice video, thank you

Nicely done

Excellent knowledge, Catch the Fish, Eat the Fish, Wear the Fish

I have tanned deer hides with alum and had great results!

Interesting seeing how you made fish skin leather. Good work 👍

Great film Mike, Its something I've been toying with for a good while. Cracking cook up too 🙂👍 Atb Rick

Great video. I really enjoyed watching you work with the skins. I have a doumbec (middle eastern hand drum) made with a fish skin head. Also Part of the dark color from the bark tannins May have been from the fact that you cooked it in cast iron. Iron usually makes the natural coloration deeper. You might get a lighter brown if you cooked the bark in an enameled pot.

Great video . Can you do another using catfish and carp skins. Those skins seam to be thicker than trout. Catfish is closer to animal skin.

This is pretty interesting. 👍👍

I'd like a two button slingshot pouch from that! Thanks for sharing the KNOWledge. 👍👀

Time to make some now

The Oil/Egg Solution works very well. But it´s need 2-3 Days in the Solution. Wash it with water and a little bit soap and let it dry. I`d make a lot of Leather this way. But next, i will try black tea. The dark color is nice!

Very interesting stuff and the bacon cooked trout looks amazing Ps you can use the fish guts to make oil for lanterns great content mike

You can use sharkskin for sandpaper. Pacific Coast tribes used it for that back in the day.

Fly fishing looks rewarding but *incredibly difficult.*

I've been to an upscale seafood restaurant that had fish leather as accents on the booths. I thought they were joking with me until I started seeing videos like this.