Frontier Hide Works

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United States
Kalamazoo, MI
Frontier Hide Works

We make custom fur hats, mittens and more from authentic furs and leather. Various styles and furs available! We also offer in-house tanning!

We are a father (Chris) and son (Connor, 9) team from southwest Michigan who loves to do all things outdoors. Being creative together and sharing my passion of hunting/trapping with my son has been incredible! About four years ago we started trapping on our property and as beginner homesteaders we would try our best to make use of every part of any plant or animal we harvested. When trapping was becoming quite successful for us, we decided to start making the classic Daniel Boone style coon hat. From there we have enjoyed the process so much and got many comments on our hats that we expanded our hat styles and fur selections. While we are still learning to do our own leathering, we are excited to share our passion for these amazing animals and their unique qualities. We hope you enjoy every hand-made piece you receive as much as we enjoy making them!

10/08/2026

We were out shopping at Costco tonight and were seeing a lot of faux fur items. I would totally agree with this. If you want something something big fluffy and soft let us know we’d be happy to make you a piece that will be warmer than anything “faux”
🤘🏼

09/29/2026

Parts of the process from the field to the finishing products!
From start to finish with no other tasks at hand and to finish with a hat from field to finish is 14-18 days!
We truly love seeing these transformations from what y’all bring us to a wearable, lasting product! 🤘🏼

09/26/2026

Want to see more of what happens behind the scenes at Frontier Hide Works?

We’re launching the Frontier Hide Works Quarterly Newsletter — and we’d love to have you along for the ride.

A few times each year, we’ll send out an update featuring:

🪶 New products & custom builds
🦫 Tanning, fur handling & hide care tips
🧵 Behind-the-scenes looks inside the shop
🏔️ Upcoming projects and what we’re working on
🔥 Subscriber-only updates, offers & early access
📖 Stories from the trapping, hunting & outdoor community

👉 Visit (w w w ) FrontierHideWorks(dot com) and subscribe with your email address in the pop-up box!

It’s free, we’ll only send it quarterly, and we promise not to fill your inbox with junk.

Thanks for supporting our family, our craft, and the outdoor traditions we’re working hard to keep alive.

Frontier Hide Works
Crafted from the Wild. Built to Last.

09/25/2026

Our weeks are usually divided up between the tanning shop and the sewing shop so here’s a sneak peek of some sewing!

Sewing on this 1900’s fur machine has been a real learning curve!

But days like this pumping out a bunch of can coolers is fun and great practice for the big projects!

Also, we don’t like to let very much of our hides go to waste so these have been a great way to use up left over hides after larger projects and the can coolers make great gifts!

⁉ What part of our processes here at Frontier would you like to see next?

09/24/2026

3 Common Mistakes that can hurt a hide before tanning:

1. Poor fleshing can cause grease burn and too much fat will cause the pickle to not be able to pe*****te the skin. Make sure to get as much fat off as you can without making holes.

2. Storing a damp hide can harbor mold and bacteria which will lead to possible slipping of the fur. Don’t leave fresh hides rolled up or sitting somewhere warm. You want to stretch and dry it or roll it up and get it into the freezer.

3. Improper drying/salting can have the same effect, either mold or bacteria. Proper air-flow in the area you have hides drying is important to prevent mold and bacteria. For salting multiple hides at a time, make sure each hide has an adequate amount of salt to pull moisture out.

If you’re unsure how to properly skin, flesh, and prepare your skins for tanning please reach out to us and we would be happy to help walk you through the process.

We understand the time, energy, and money that goes into trapping and hunting and we want to make sure you get the results we all want out of your finished hide work! For more information on the subject or to reach out to us, check out our website!

09/23/2026

Our customers have spoke and this mountain man hat with the front paws attached is one of our most requested styles! This style hat uses almost the entire pelt which trappers tend to love to show off the size of the animal they trapped and even the paws/claws sometimes! Adding the face to the front/top of this style hat (or any hat, really) is also an option!👀

As you can see, we line the entire hat and drape with polar fleece or sometimes 100% wool to ensure warmth and comfort. We hand sew the liner all the way around the edge of the hat with sinew to give it a more rugged look and also for durability.

Custom work for these styles of hats as well as others is available and something we look forward to doing for our customers.

If there’s a project you’ve been thinking about and want to discuss options with us, please check out our websites custom order page or contact us so we can help make it happen!🤘

09/22/2026

⁉Curious minds want to know what happens after a hide arrives at our shop??

Well they must go through quite a process before they become a workable leather and also start to smell better!

If you bring us whole animals, the first thing we do is manually skin and flesh the hide on a fleshing beam like this. It’s important to get all the flesh off while also being careful not to rip holes or take too much off that you start to see hair fibers coming through.

If you bring us a skin that is trapper-dried then we go ahead and start rehydrating the skins in a water/atesan solution.

Next, the skins go into the first stage of the tanning process which is the pickling solution. As they soak we are doing more shaving to thin the hides so they are able to fully absorb the tan.
The total tanning process starting with this pickling step takes about 2 weeks.

09/21/2026

Hey everyone!
Just want to re-introduce ourselves as we are gearing up for hunting/trapping season as I’m sure you all are too!

If you're new here, we are a small town, family owned business with a love of all things outdoors! You put in the hours of learning the skills to hunt and trap and we know what it’s like to want to preserve and show off what you’ve done, so that’s where we come in. Saving these furs for generations to come!

What exactly do we do?
-We can take your trapped animals from the field all the way to a finished, wearable product; with as little or as much involvement as you want.
-We will do the skinning and fleshing.
-We will do the complete tanning of the skins to a garment quality.
-We will do the finishing and sewing of a custom project of your choice. Which may include but is not limited to: a variety of styles of hats, mittens, blankets, accessories. Or even just leave the hide as a wall hanger.
-Or create a custom piece from our selection of furs.

If you or someone you know might be interested in what we offer this winter please share this post or pass along our name! That’s one of the ways we are able to continue to serve this amazing community of outdoorsmen/women. Thanks always for the encouragement and support you have already given us over the last 3 years!
Here’s to another great season and here’s our brand new website for more info or another way to get in touch with us! www.frontierhideworks.com

09/18/2026

Excited to launch our business officially on Google and our own website! In order to keep growing and serving you all with the hide tanning and fur hats we need to hear from you! Please take a minute and leave us a review! We appreciate and love the support! 🤘🏼

Address

1
Kalamazoo, MI
49055

Telephone

+12695487365

Website

http://www.frontierhideworks.com/

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