Rant: just learned most old leather bindings were made with oak bark tanning, not the chemicals I grew up using

Iris Mason · 2026-10-15T22:50:03.17112+00:00

I was reading a book from 1911 about bookbinding methods and it said 90 percent of leather bindings before 1900 used oak bark tanning, which takes months longer than the chrome tanning I was taught in my first workshop. I always figured the old timers used whatever was fastest, but it turns out they were just working with what they had and it held up way better than some of the stuff I see now. Has anyone here worked with oak bark tanned leather and is it actually worth the extra cost and waiting?

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Rant: just learned most old leather bindings were made with oak bark tanning, not the chemicals I grew up using | Bookbinders - Hub Chatter