Things you should Know about Leather
By Phoenix Delray
If you love leather goods, there are plenty of interesting things to share about it. The process of making it involves a substance known as tannin, which is why the process that is used is called tanning. Leather is the material that is made by tanning hides, pelts and skins of different animals, mostly cows.
There are several different ways to go about the process of tanning so that the skin of an animal can be transformed into the soft, strong material. Vegetable tanned pieces use the tannin and other ingredients that are found in things like tree bark and vegetable matter. This tannin is brown in color, and is not stable in water. If it is left to soak and then it is dried, it shrinks and becomes less supple and harder. In hot water it plasticizes and becomes rigid.
Alum tanned leather is achieved by using aluminum salts that are mixed with many binders and protein sources like egg yolk and flour. However, using this process makes the leather able to rot when it sits in water, so some people argue that technically it is tawed and not tanned. Using this aluminum process produces lighter forms of leather, but these products are not as flexible and as supple as vegetable tanned leather.
Rawhide is a material that is made by scraping the skin so that it becomes very thin and soaking it in lime. Stretching it as it dries is done, and like alum tanning, rawhide is not technically leather. It is stiffer but more brittle than other forms and is really used in applications in which it does not need to flex much, such as drum heads. Rawhide can also be cut up into cords to use in lacing or stitching and is often seen in dog toys and treats.
Boiled leather is a vegetable tanned hide product that has been hardened by being submersed in hot water or in boiled wax. It has been used throughout history as armor because of its hardness and light weight. It has also been used as book bindings too. Chrome tanned leather was invented in 1858 and is tanned using chromium sulfate and other similar salts. It is even more supple than vegetable tanned leather but it does not lose its shape or get discolored like vegetable tanned products do. Using chrome tanning yields more colors.
Finally, there are brain tanned leathers that are very absorbent of water. They are made by a process with emulsified oils, usually animal brains. These products are able to be washed and are exceptionally soft.
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