VERY INTERESTING BOOK. I HAVE LEARNED A GREAT DEAL ABOUT THE ART OF TANNING HIDES.

I started using this book back in the late 80's when I first started tanning. Almost everything I know about tanning, I learned from this book. I've tanned elk hides, deer hides, antelope, squirrel, rabbit, snake, coyote, fox, raccoon, skunk, beaver, muskrat, and many more. I've had some failures, but with this book as a guide, I've taken very few false steps. I've used a wide variety of techniques and found that they worked like Mr. Churchill said. I do recommend this book, and have often lent my copy to friends.

I was very disappointed with this book. He talks about the generalized steps to do tanning, but he lacks good step by step information for beginners. Its a good first book to read, then find another book with more detail as to how to actually do the procedures. He only has two plans for crafting with leather, and I think he should have added more. I wouldn't advise you purchase this book unless its your first and you want to understand the general procedure of tanning, then find a better book with more details.

Churchill covers the tanning of many different types of animals, using many different methods. This is the good and the bad of this book. No other tanning book I know of contains so much varied information, and for this reason its a good one to have. However, the techniques are not covered in much detail so it is challenging for the beginning tanner to be successful using these instructions alone.

In reference to the previous reviews written here. I agree with the first two (look like they are written by the same guy?), in that if you are wanting to tan buckskin, this isn't the best book. However if you are wanting to do furs, the books mentioned below don't cover them (I'm the author of one of them)...and this is your best bet.

I just finished tanning my first 3 skins based on the information in this book. They came out great. I highly recommend this book to the beginner who wants to learn different techniques for different hides. It covers tannning techniques for a large variety of skins. NOT JUST BUCKSKIN!!!! Refreshingly different from all those other "my way is the only way to tan a dear hide" books. Lots of different formulas/options.