I tanned all the leather myself using old style methods like Bark Tanning and Brain Tan Bucksin. This means I used my hands in every step of the process: scraping, making extracts, stretching, smoking, and softening. No factory or machinery necessary. Ingredients used to tan and soften: lye, vinegar, well water, tannic extracts (hemlock, oak galls, and chestnut), neetsfoot oil, and olive oil. All waste products from tanning I neutralize and compost. (No waste treatment facility needed.) Because I don't use toxic products like Chromium Salts (found in most commercial leathers), this leather is also safe for people (even for teething babies to put in their mouth!) and all the other the wild ones and waters of the Earth.