Know More About Leather And Its Processing

By Author: Ann Philip
Total Articles: 91
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Earlier nomadic tribes made shelters and clothes from the skin and hides of animals such as bison. Today we are using the skin of animals for making valets, bags and foot wares.
In the past, there were no technologies to process the animal skin. So there were chances for the skin to turn stiff and rotten. Then, they discovered a technique to process the skin. It is nothing but drying the skin in the air and sunlight. This was the beginning of the leather processing. With the passage of time, man tried various other techniques to process the leather. Now they are well versed with various techniques through which they can preserve hides and skin. If you want to know more about the process and techniques for preserving leather, just surf through various websites connected with service from providers like Cox Internet.
Today we are able to establish large manufacturing industries for leather business. Two types of materials used for making leather are skin and hides. Hides are thin membranous covering of large animals such as cattle and buffalo. Meanwhile skin is taken from smaller animals like sheep, goat and calves.
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... Let’s go through different stages of the leather production.
Warehousing and sorting- In the warehousing department, the skin and hide will be preserved in salt solution. This will prevent the skin from decaying. Before taking into the production are, the skin will be presorted according to its weight and quality. After sorting, the skin will be soaked in water that contains detergents. This helps to remove dirt and salt.
De-fleshing- This is the second step of leather processing. De-fleshing is a process by which the tissue, flesh and fat remnants that stick to the skin and hide will be removed by a roller mounted knife.
Liming – This process will help to remove the hair particles from the skin. To remove hair particles the skin will be put into a medium containing lime and sulphur compound.
Batting, Pickling and tanning – After the hair has been removed, the hides and skin are neutralized with acids and treated with enzymes to remove any deposits and to increase softness. This process is called batting. In the pickling process, the hide and skin are soaked in a solution of salt, hydrochloric acid or sulphuric acid. The final stage of leather processing is tanning.
Among the several types of tanning, the commonly used processes are Chrome tanning and Vegetable tanning. Chrome tanning is used for making upholstery, shoe uppers, garments and bag leathers. The chrome tanning process takes nearly eight hours to complete. Vegetable tanning process will take two to four days to complete. Tannic acid extracted from the bark of tree is used in vegetable tanning. Vegetable tanning is used for products as shoe soles, luggage, saddler and belt leathers.
Wringing, splitting and shaving – Wringing takes the water content out. Wringing helps to split the product. The process after splitting is shaving. This adds quality to the hide or skin.
Staking- This is the mechanical softening of the leather after drying process. After staking, the leather is lubricated with natural fat or synthetic fat. This will give more softness to the leather. In the finishing stage, the leather will be given a series of coatings. These coatings are designed to protect the leather and produce more surface effects.
Don’t you think it’s interesting to know about leather processing and the final product we are getting from it? So many people are indulged in the leather processing work. The leather products we are using as bags and sandals are coming to us, after going through different levels of processing.

As a freelancer, Ann likes to scribble about leather industry and leather processing. To collect details related to this she browses websites powered by Cox Internet.