226 
Chamois  Skins. 
j  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I        May,  1902. 
much  coarser.  For  strength  and  durability  this  skin  is  preferable, 
but  for  ordinary  use  and  appearance  the  oil-tanned  sheep-skin  lining 
would,  in  most  instances,  be  preferred. 
To  manufacture  sheep  or  iamb  skins  into  chamois  leather  the  first 
step  necessary  is  to  remove  the  wool,  which  is  accomplished  either 
by  painting  the  skin  on  the  inside  with  a  solution  of  sodium  sul- 
phite or  by  immersion  in  milk  of  lime. 
By  the  former  method  the  wool  is  loosened  in  a  few  hours  ;  by  the 
latter  method  it  will  require  several  days. 
When  the  wool  is  loose,  it  is  pulled  off  either  by  hand  or  scraped 
off  with  a  dull  instrument. 
The  skin  is  now  again  immersed  in  milk  of  lime,  to  swell  it.  It 
is  then  cleaned  (beamed,  as  the  trade  calls  it),  to  remove  all  fleshy 
particles  that  may  adhere  to  it. 
It  is  now  ready  for  splitting.  I  wish  to  explain  here  that  a 
chamois  skin  is  really  only  the  half  of  a  skin.  The  outside,  that  is, 
that  part  of  the  skin  next  to  the  wool,  known  as  the  grain  side,  is 
not  suitable  for  chamois  leather,  and  is  used  for  other  purposes, 
mostly  for  hat  linings,  book  covers,  etc. 
In  former  times,  when  skins  were  prepared  for  oil  tannage,  this 
part  of  the  skin  was  cut  away  with  a  suitable  knife  and  thus  lost. 
In  our  days  the  skin  is  cut  through  the  centre  (split),  thus  pro- 
ducing two  skins  from  one — the  outside,  called  grain  or  skiver,  and 
the  inside,  called  lining  or  flesher. 
The  splitting  is  accomplished  on  machines  specially  constructed 
for  this  purpose.  It  consists  of  an  endless  knife,  the  edge  of  which 
is  constantly  grinding  to  keep  it  sharp,  the  skin  being  passed 
through  rollers  against  the  sharp  edge  of  the  knife.  These  machines 
require  very  delicate  adjustment  to  produce  good  results. 
The  accompanying  specimen  split  half-way  through  will  illustrate 
this  process  ;  about  one-half  of  the  skin  is  still  the  whole  skin,  and 
the  other  half  being  divided  into  skiver  and  lining. 
This  specimen  had  to  be  dried  so  as  to  preserve  it.  It  will  also 
illustrate  what  a  raw  skin  looks  like. 
The  lining  or  flesher  is  now  ready  for  tanning.  This  is  accom- 
plished by  sprinkling  it  with  oil,  cod-fish  oil  of  good  quality.  It  is 
important  that  this  oil  should  be  thoroughly  incorporated  into  the 
skin.  For  this  purpose  a  quantity  of  the  skins  are  placed  into  what 
are  known  as  fulling  stocks,  which  twist  and  turn  the  skins  in  every 
direction,  and  distribute  the  oil  evenly. 
