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CURRYING. 



The art of 'currying consists in rendering tanned 

 skins supple and of uniform density, and impreg- 

 nating them with oil, so as to render them in a 

 great degree impervious to water. 



The stronger and thicker hides are usually em- 

 ployed for making the soles of boots and shoes, and 

 these are rendered fit for their several purposes by 

 the shoemakers after they are tanned ; but such 

 skins as are intended for the upper leathers and 

 quarters of shoes, for the legs of boots, for coach 

 and harness leather, saddles, and other things, must 

 be subjected to the process of currying. 



These skins after coming from the tanners, hav- 

 ing many fleshy fibres on them, are well soaked in 

 common water. They are then taken out and 

 stretched upon a very even wooden horse ; where 

 with a paring knife all the superfluous flesh is 

 scraped off, and they are again put into soak. After 

 the soaking is completed the currier takes them 

 again out of the water, and having stretched them 

 out, presses them with his feet, or a flat stone fixed 

 in a handle, to make them more supple, and to press 

 out all the filth that the leather may have acquired 

 in tanning, and also the water it has absorbed in 

 soaking. 



The skins are next to.be oiled, to render them 

 pliant and impervious to wet. After they are half 

 dried, they are laid upon tables, and first the grain 

 side of the leather is rubbed over with a mixture 

 of fish oil and tallow ; then the flesh side is im- 

 pregnated with a large proportion of oil. After 

 having been hung up a sufficient time to dry, they 

 are taken down and rubbed, pressed, and folded in 

 various directions, and then spread out, when they 



