165 



LEATHER MANUFACTURE. 



LEATHER MANUFACTURE. 



360 



would be injured by the action of dime, it is loosened by inducing 

 fermentation or incipient putrefaction in subterranean vaults or 

 cellars ; an operation which requires great nicety, since the pelt 



Pig. 4. Dressing Kid Leather. 



would be injured by allowing the fermentation to proceed too far. 

 After the wool has been removed, and the skins have been scraped to 

 free them from a slimy substance which exudes from the pore^, the 

 pelts are immersed in lime-water for a few days, to remove the grease 

 which yet remains in them. The subsequent operations of removing 

 the lime, tawing, &e., are similar to those required for other skins. In 

 tawing sheep-skins with the wool on, for housings and similar articles, 

 the wool side is carefully folded inwards, to protect it from the tawing 

 liquid or paste, which is then applied to the flesh side only. Alunied 

 leather is made in very large quantities for kid gloves and shoes, real 

 or imitative. The French are skilled in that art. At Annonay, a town 

 about fifty miles from Lyon, the tawing operations are carried on so 

 largely, that 4,000,000 kid-skins are dressed there annually. It has 

 been computed that France and England together consume 6,000,000 

 eg.;8 yearly, in preparing kid leather. The eggs are kept by the leather 



r< in lime-water, to preserve them till wanted for use. 

 Chamoii, or SVim iy leather. Another kind of leather is that in which 

 oil or grease ia forced into the ports of the skin, to take the place of 

 the animal matter. This kind of leather takes its name from a fine 

 soft leather prepared from the skin of the chamois goat ; and the process 

 by which it \$ made is called >liamo;iiny or ikammi/in>i. Such leather 

 was formerly very much used as an article of clothing, especially by 

 soldiers ; and it is still applied to several mef ul purposes, for which its 



i 



Fif. 5. Shamojr Leather Beattng-toc]. 



cculiar softness and pliability render it valuable. TPaih-leathcr may 

 >e cited as a common example of this kind of preparation. The skins 

 of deer, goats, sheep, ic. are dressed in this way ; and much shamoyed 

 leather is made from the inferior or least regular portion of split 

 skins, in cases where the giain side has been taken off carefully of a 

 uniform thickness for preparation in a different wajr. In general, 

 when whole skins are ihanioyed, the grain surface is removed by 

 "craping or nibbing with pumice-stone, After the usual preparation 



with lime-water, and subsequent washing in a sour infusion of bran or 

 some similar liquor, to remove the lime and open tha porea, the skins 

 are made as dry as possible by wringing or pressing them, and are then 

 exposed to the action of fulling-stocks. These consist of heavy wooden 

 hammers, faced with copper, and set in motion by connection with a 

 revolving shaft. The leather, or rather a roll of the skins which are 

 to be made into leather, is placed in a trough, and beaten by the 

 hammers until it is perfectly dry. Cod-oil is then poured upon the 

 skins, and forced into their pores by the action of t ,e I ammers or 

 stocks; the form of the trough being such that the s'dns gradually 

 turn themselves over and over during the operation, to render the 

 beating uniform. When the oil is thoroughly beaten in, the skins are 

 hung up to dry, after which they are returned to the trough to receive 

 a fresh supply of oil and a repetition of the beating. This is repeated 

 eight or nine times, until two or three gallons of oil have been im- 

 bibed by one hundred skins ; and when they are sufficiently impregnated 

 with it, they are placed in large tubs, or hung up in close heated 

 chambers, in which they undergo a kind of fermentation, by which the 

 pores are distended, and the action of the oil upon the fibres is com- 

 plete I. Finally, the skins are immersed in a weak solution; of potash, 

 which removes whatever excess of oil may have remained in the 

 leather, forming with it a saponaceous mixture. They are then hung 

 up in the open air to dry. 



Curryiny and Leather Dressing. -Currying is the general name given 

 to the various operations of dressing leather after the tanning is com- 

 pleted, by which the requisite smoothness, lustre, colour, and supple- 

 ness are imparted, to adapt it to the various purposes of the shoemaker, 

 the coach and harness maker, the upholsterer, and others. Every kind 

 of tanned leather not intended for soles, or similar coarse purposes, is 

 generally curried before being delivered to the workman who fashions 

 it. The operation commences by moistening the leather with water, 

 and beating it well upon a strong hurdle with a mallet or mace. 

 After this beating, by which the stiffness is destroyed, the leather is 

 laid over an inclined board, and scraped, olemed, and pared down on 

 the flesh side, by the careful application of various two-handled knives. 

 It is then thrown again into water, and well scoured by rubbing the 

 grain or hair side with pumice-stone, or with a piece of slaty grit. The 

 leather is next rubbed with the p'unmel, a rectangular piece of hard 

 wood, about twelve inches long and five broad ; the currier uses several 

 of these instruments, with grooves of various decrees of fineness, and 

 also, for some purposes, pommels of cork which are not grooved at all. 

 In using the pommel, the object of which is to give grain and pliancy 

 to the skins, the leather is first folded with the grain side inwards and 

 rubbed strongly with it ; and subsequently it is rubbed with the pom- 

 mel upon the grain side, without being doubled or folded. The leather 

 is then scraped with tools applied nearly perpendicular to its surface 

 and worked forcibly with both handj, to reduce such parts as may yet 

 be left too th.ck to a uniform substance. Finally, the leather is dressed 

 with the round knife, a singular instrument shaped somewhat like a 

 saucer, with a cutting edjje, and with a hole in the centre for intro- 

 ducing the hands of the workman. It is usually from ten to twelve 

 inches in diameter, with the central hole about four or five inches. 

 This tool is applied with its concave side downwards; and with it, 

 while the leather is stretched over a cylindrical wooden beam, the 

 currier dexterously pares off the coarser fleshy parts of the skin. The 

 currier uses occasionally polishers of smooth wood or glass for rubbing 

 the surface of the leather ; and, when the leather is intended for the 

 use of the shoemaker, he applies to it some kind of greasy composition 

 called dufibiny or tttijfiny. 



Leather is occasionally dressed " black on the grain," or having the 

 hair or grain instead of the flesh side coloured. The currying opera- 

 tions in such a cise are similar to those above described ; but the tiret 

 blacking is applied to the wet skin immediately after scouring, by 

 rubbing it with a solution of copperas. A brush dipped in an alkaline 

 liquor is then passed over the surface, and an iron slicker is used to 

 make the grain come out as fine as possible. It is then stuffed with 

 oil. and, when dry, seasoned, or rubbed over with a brush dipped in 

 copperas-water, on the grain, until it is perfectly black ; after which it 

 is slicked with a gritstone, to remove any wrinkles and smooth down 

 the coarse grain. The grain is finally raised by repeatedly rubbing 

 over the surface, in different directions, with the pommel or graining- 

 board. 



In connection with the dressing of leather, we may briefly notice 

 Japanned, Russia, and Shagreen leather. Japanned leather of various 

 kinds is used in coach-making, harness-making, and for various other 

 purposes. What is ordinarily termed ' patent leather ' is covered with 

 a coat of elastic japan, which gives a surface like polished glass, 

 impermeable to water ; and hides prepared in a more perfectly elastic 

 mode of japanning, which will permit folding without cracking the 

 surface, are called ' enamelled leather.' Such leather is usually made 

 black, but may be produced of any required colour. A composition, 

 made of boiled linseed oil, vegetable black, and Russian blue, is rubbed 

 as a thick paste on the surface of the leather by hand ; it is dried in a 

 stove heated to 150" or 170" Fahr This is repeated from three to 

 joven times, according to the excellence of the article < to be produced. 

 Boots and shoes are sometimes made of thin enamelled leather, and 

 they possess the advantage of never requiring blacking, water being 

 sufficient to remove any dirt which impai rs their gloss. Ruttia leather 



