Hides, tanning and leather in Project Zomboid

Hides are new in Build 42. Build 41 had no animals to skin. In Build 42 a hide comes off the carcass when you butcher it, and its size class decides which rack it dries on and what it can be sewn into. See butchering and animals.

The size classes and weights come from the Build 42 item data. Chickens, turkeys, mice and rats have no hide items in that data. One fan wiki puts adult deer on the large rack, but the item data and two other sources say medium.

Cows and bulls have to be butchered on a butcher hook or the hide is lost (one source). A second source says ground butchering of large animals often skips the hide. Small game comes from trapping and deer from hunting.

None of the stations has a skill requirement in the recipe data. They are in the build menu, not the crafting menu.

The small and large racks use the same three materials (long sticks, twine, nails). I only confirmed the amounts for the medium rack. Some guides and players call the Tannin Barrel a tanning bucket. The game data name is Tannin Barrel and the recipe matches, so it is the same station.

Players say the fleshing tool cannot be crafted by hand. Reported finds include the basement lab of the Muldraugh police station (two players), farm and tool stores, and warehouses. See loot locations. Planks come from carpentry.

1. Butcher the animal and take the Unprocessed hide. Keep the brain.
2. Remove Flesh at the Softening Beam with a fleshing tool. The hide becomes a furred hide.
3. Decide on fur. Remove Fur with the same tool gives a crude hide. Skip it to keep a furred hide. This choice cannot be made after tanning.
4. Make a Bowl of Brain Tan. One guide gives 1 brain plus 300 mL of water (one source).
5. Tan Leather at the Tannin Barrel. The recipe takes one hide of any size and one Bowl of Brain Tan and gives a wet tanned leather plus the empty bowl.
6. Dry the wet leather on the rack that matches its size.

The three drying recipes carry a time value of 604,800 in the game data. Read as seconds that is seven days, and two guides say about a week. One guide adds that heat speeds it up, that it stalls below roughly 4 degrees Celsius and that rain on an uncovered rack pauses it (one source). If so, winter is a poor time to start.

Bark tanning: one guide says the hide can be soaked in either brain tan or bark tan. The Tan Leather recipe I read lists only the brain tan tag as the agent, and I found no oak bark or tannin liquid recipe. Treat bark tanning as not documented for the current build.

Every hide moves through the same named stages.

Cutting needs a sharp knife or scissors that is not dull. Strip yields are from the recipe data. The number of pieces from Cut Leather in Half is not shown, though the Half and Quarter item names point to two.

Sewn leather goods are tailoring recipes. Every one I checked needs scissors or a sharp knife, a sewing needle, an awl and heavy thread, plus a magazine to learn it. See skill books for the magazines.

The recipe list also has a leather neck guard, gaiter and pants, hide boots, coat, satchel and sleeping bag, a fur hat, and a buildable Leather Shelter. The Leather Apron gives 40 scratch and 20 bite defense. See bags and clothing.

Leather strips are the strongest patch material. A leather patch adds 2 percent scratch and 1 percent bite defense at low Tailoring and 20 and 10 percent at level 10. Dirty strips must be washed first.

Players also report that the crafted large bellows for blacksmithing needs medium tanned leather, and that tanned furred hides can be placed on the floor as rugs.

Opinion Keep the first cow hide whole for an apron and cut strips from small game instead. Keep sheep alive for wool and take medium leather from pigs and deer.

• Wool: sheep are the only wool source named in the guides. Raw Wool is spun into yarn or thread, and there is a Knit Wool Hat recipe. The recipes point to a spinning wheel. Yields and shearing tools are not documented in what I read.
• Feathers: a butchered chicken gives 70 to 80 (one source).
• Brains: save them for brain tan.
• Sinew and bones: there is a Make Sinew Thread recipe and a set of bone armor pieces from forearm to body armor.

• The barrel or rack will not take the hide. An unprocessed hide has to be scraped at the Softening Beam first. The barrel takes scraped hides and the rack takes wet tanned leather.
• No Remove Flesh option. You are missing the fleshing tool or the beam.
• Brain tan will not craft. On 42.4 the quantity stayed at 0 for some players. The reported fix was to carry a bowl of water and the brain, then right-click the bowl and pick Make Brain Tan.
• Wrong rack. A cow hide needs the large rack. One guide says a wet furred deer hide is sized as large (one source), which conflicts with the item data. Check in game.
• Wanted crude leather but kept the fur. Fur cannot be removed after tanning. Most armor and tool recipes ask for crude leather.
• Drying seems stuck. Cold or rain may be the cause (one source). See weather.