Leather Tanned with Bark 195 



into a great tank. This holds a liquid called milk 

 of lime, in which the hides are left to soak for five 

 or six days. From the tanks they go to another 

 room to be shaved and scraped again. The scarf- 

 skin or epidermis is removed from each hide, 

 and with it the hair, leaving them clean and 

 open for tanning. 



In the meantime the bark, or the wood if that 

 is used, is going through hogs and shredders 

 which cut the large pieces into many small ones. 

 The bark is cut, crushed, and twisted at the same 

 time, breaking the walls of each tiny cell con- 

 taining the tannin. It is now in small chips of 

 the same size, and is thrown into vats full of 

 water. There it is cooked for twenty-four hours, 

 giving at the end of that time the tanning 

 "liquor." 



The hides, clean and ready to be tanned, are 

 first hung from poles in pits of weak liquor for 

 coloring. They are left in them for one or two 

 weeks, and from these pits or "suspenders" go 

 to the "handlers." The handlers are a dozen 

 vats containing the tanning liquor, which ranges 

 in strength from weak in the first few to stronger 

 in the last. 



