SECTION VII. HARNESS LEATHER 



WHEN discussing the question of oak bark (Section III.), 

 reasons were advanced for its decreased use and popularity. 

 These were quickly appreciated in the sole leather trade, 

 but the obsolescence of oak bark in the dressing-leather 

 section was much more prolonged, partly because there was 

 less pressing need to obtain good weight in the actual tanning, 

 and partly because in some branches of dressing leather, 

 such as belting and harness, a leather was required of great 

 durability and toughness, for which qualities oak bark 

 tannage had a deservedly high reputation. Hence harness 

 leather manufacture affords a good illustration of the 

 transition between the methods of the late nineteenth and 

 those of the twentieth century. With the use of oak bark 

 lingered the old methods of liming, bating and tanning in 

 weak liquors for a long time with plenty of gambier. Hence 

 in this section it will be necessary to observe a gradual 

 transition of method, both in wet work and tanning. It 

 should be pointed out that this transition has not been and 

 is not going on in all factories at the same rate. Many 

 factories remain in which the old methods are still preferred 

 at some stages of the manufacture, and some remain in 

 which many of the changes indicated below have not taken 

 place at all. The leather trade has always been considered 

 conservative in its methods, but it should be realized that 

 much of the prejudice in favour of old methods is due to 

 the public, and that after all tanners and curriers, like other 

 business men, have to suit their customers. The march of 

 industry is not like a regiment in line ; it is rather more like 

 nature, a survival of the most adaptable. 



Hides for harness leather are limed in various ways, of 

 which the following are types. 



