Bark-tanned Sheepskin Rug
The first part of this video picked up on the winds, so you can’t hear my intro. Here’s the gist:
This was a Grand Fir felled the day before. It was covered with tarps and wrapped up like a burrito to 100% protect it from water
We only harvest bark from freshly-harvested plants, never from plants that have been dead and long time had their tannins leached or degrade
The hand tool I am using is called a drawknife.
This is a particularly knotty tree (meaning it had a lot of branches), making it a challenge to scrape! If you fall smaller trees, they are likely to be knottier. This large tree is an exception because it the lone tree in a 30 metre radius. Use your drawknife forward and backwards to get around knots. Use a hatchet if there are hard-to-reach places.
For Hide Club: if you are harvesting your own bark, I recommend you purchase a “barkometre” so that you know the tannin content of the material you’re using.