LEATHER, CURRYING OF 93 



The skins are then taken to the river and washed, and are ready for the dyeing. 

 The whitest skins are laid aside for the red and yellow leather. 



To soften the skins after dyeing, they are harassed by a knife, the point of which is 

 curved upwards. H. M. 



XiEATHER, CURRYING OF. The currier's shop has no resemblance to the 

 promises of the tanner, the tools and manipulations being quite different. 



Within the last twenty or thirty years, many tanners have added the currying 

 business to their establishments, and many curriers have likewise commenced tanning ; 

 but in each case, an extension of premises is necessary, and the two departments aro 

 etill separate, The advantages derivable from this arrangement are two-fold : first, 

 a saving of time is effected, for as the tanned leather is sold by weight, it is required 

 to be well dried before being disposed of to the currier, an operation which is not 

 needed where the tanner carries on the currying also ; and secondly, by the currier's 

 art, the skins can be reduced to a comparatively uniform thickness previous to their 

 being tanned, thus saving time and bark (used for tanning), and insuring a more 

 equal distribution of tannin through the substance of the skin. In the following 

 description, the business 'of currying will be considered as practised at the present 

 time. 



The currier's shop or premises, to be convenient, should be spacious. A frequent, 

 though not universal method, is to have the ground-floor appropriated to such ope- 

 rations as require the use of a large quantity of water. The place or apartment thus 

 used, is called the scouring-house, and is commonly furnished with a number of v alf 

 or casks open at one end, in which the leather is placed for the purpose of soaking, 

 and undergoing such treatment as will be hereafter described. In this apartment also 

 is placed a large, flat, slate stone, called a scouring stone, or, more consistently, the 

 stone on which the leather is scoured. This stone, which has its face perfectly flat 

 and smooth, and which should measure 8 or 9 feet in length, by 4J broad, forms 

 a table, supported generally by masonry, but sometimes by a strong frame of wood, 

 so constructed that the water, which is freely used in scouring, may drain off on 

 the opposite side from that on which the workman is engaged; an inclination of 

 about 3 or 4 inches on the width of the table, is sufficient for this purpose. Another 

 piece of furniture very frequently found in, or on the same floor with the scouring- 

 house, is a block of sandstone, in the form of a parallelopipedon, between 2 and 3 

 feet long, and 9 or 10 inches broad, the upper face of which is kept as near as 

 possible a perfect plane; this stone is fixed at a convenient height on a strong 

 trussel, and is called the rub-stone, because here the workman rubs or sharpens his 

 knives and other tools. In some large establishments where the premises and water 

 are heated by steam, the scouring-house will be found with a service of pipe leading 

 to the various vats, and the boiler for generating the steam may be conveniently 

 placed in or near this part of the building. 



The floor above the scouring-house, in the arrangement here laid down, is what is 

 specially designated the shop. The furniture in this department consists of a beam 

 (Jig. 1364), on which the leather is shaved. It 

 consists of a heavy block of wood, on which the 

 workman stands, and into one end of which a 

 stiff piece of wood is firmly mortised, at an angle 

 of about 85 ; this upright (so called) is about a 

 foot wide, the height being greater o"r less, accord- 

 ing to the height of the workman, each of whom 

 has his beam adjusted to meet his convenience. 

 On the front of the upright a piece of deal is 

 firmly screwed, to which is glued a face or plate 

 of lignum vita, worked to perfect smoothness to 

 agree with the edge of the knife used in the 

 operation of shaving. It is of the greatest im- 

 portance to the workman, to keep his skin from 

 injury, that this knife and beam should be kept 

 in good order. A table or tables, generally of 

 mahogany, large planks of which are used for the purpose to avoid joints, may be 

 said to form a necessary part of the furniture of this department. These tables are 

 firmly fixed, to resist the pressure of the workman when using various tools ; and 

 as light is of the greatest consequence in the operations performed on them, they 

 are usually placed so as to have windows in front of them. A high trussel is 

 frequently used, across which the leather is thrown, after undergoing any of the 

 processes, while the currier subjects other pieces to the same operation. 



Another part of the premises is termed the drying-loft. In good buildings the 

 drying-loft is surrounded with weather -boards, constructed to be opened or closed as 



