SECTION V. CALFSKINS 



CALFSKINS are the raw material for many classes of leather. 

 The term itself is rather broad. A calfskin may be obtained 

 from a very young animal and weigh only a very few pounds, 

 or it may be anything just short of a kip. Goat, seal, and 

 sheep skins are obtained from adult animals, but calfskins 

 from the young of a large animal. Thus there are many 

 grades of quality, according to age, and the material must 

 be chosen with regard to the purpose in view. Some of 

 these purposes have already been discussed. Heavy calf 

 is treated much like kip as a curried leather for upper work. 

 Even lighter skins are given the " waxed calf " and " satin 

 calf " finishes, and make upper leather of excellent quality. 

 To produce such leathers the treatment is much the same as 

 described in Part I., Section VIII., p. 76. Calfskins were also 

 used for very light upper work, in which they were not so 

 heavily greased in finishing, but rather dyed and finished 

 as a light leather. Tn this direction, however, the vegetable 

 tannage has been almost completely superseded by the 

 mineral tannages, first by " calf kid," an alumed leather 

 (Part IV., Section I., pp. 174-177), and afterwards by the 

 now popular chrome tannage of " box calf," " willow calf," 

 " glace calf," " dull calf," etc. (Part III., Section III., p. 156). 

 In this section, therefore, we have only to consider calf- 

 skins as used to make a vegetable-tanned light leather, such 

 as may be employed in bookbinding and in the manufacture 

 of fancy goods. For these purposes the skins receive a 

 mellow liming of 2^-3 weeks. No sulphide need be employed, 

 as the goods are soon fit to unhair. In such a mellow liming 

 it is important that the bacterial activity is not too prominent, 

 and hence it becomes advantageous to work the liming 

 systematically in the form of a round of pits. To avoid 



