Leather Manufacturer - A Journey To Leather Making

Leather is a material created through the process of tanning of hides and skins of animals.

Netherlands, NV (prHWY.com) May 30, 2012 - Netherlands May 30, 2012 - Leather is a material created through the process of tanning of hides and skins of animals. The process helped in converting putrefiable skin into durable, long-lasting and versatile natural material.

History of leather manufacturing

Leather making is one of the most primitive forms of activity men have involved in centuries ago. Leather is associated with animals, and they were hunted and killed for food, but before consuming, their skin was removed using sharp flints. This skin was then used to wrap around and protect from cold weather. But the skin soon started putrefying and decomposing. So, ancient men started drying the leather, a first step towards preserving leather. But this resulted in leather turning hard and inflexible losing its sheen and comfort.

Leather was then softened by rubbing fat on the skin. This made the skin to last longer and made it even more pliable and at the same time prevented it from getting wet. Later using water, barks, leaves and berries, a liquid with vegetable extracts was used for making leather supple soft and rot resistant. The active agents in this extract are called tannins and were probably the first method of tanning leather.

When leather manufacturing became more organized and systematic, tanneries were set up at special pockets with close source of raw materials like adequate supply of hides and skins, plenty of water - lime for softening and hair removing and ample plant extracts for tannins. Even the processes we use today are based on the ancestral methodology used thousands of years ago.

Leather Manufacturing Process

The leather manufacturer process involves many stages. All genuine leathers undergo all these processes going to the tannery. But the actual manufacturing stage starts from the tanning process. When the skins come at the tannery they are in their cured form. They are then examined, to check for any evident damages due to poor whipping or curing. Then the following steps are performed before the starting the tanning process.

Soaking - The skin is soaked in order to return the skin back to its original state and to remove the blood, dirt and other impurities. This process as other processes involves chemicals and is carried out in large wooden drums.

The skin is first soaked in cold water containing detergent, salt and biocide. The water is rarely changed, unless it is heavily contaminated. The process is finished when the water remains clean, and the skins are re-hydrated. The time taken for this process depends on the method of curing implemented at the abattoir. For example it takes longer for dry cured skins (approximately 72 hours) and shorter for wet salted skins (approximately 18 hours). The entire process can be expedited by using hot water and enzymes. But soaking should be done correctly; so that the leather can relax properly allowing the chemicals to penetrate properly in other processes else it can give a patchy and inconsistent leather look.

Leather Manufacturer - The second stage in leather processing is liming. In this stage, hair is removed from the cleaned skin. The hair needs to be removed from the roots and the epidermis so as to expose the grain layer. For this sodium sulphide or sodium hydrosulphide is added to the soaked skins leaving it for an hour. Almost after an hour, these chemicals penetrate deeply into the hair and the grains of the leather, causing the breakdown of the keratin, the main protein constituent of the hair and epidermis. Lime and caustic soda are strong alkalis that enhance the further breakdown of hair root and epidermis away. Beside this the liming process removes the inter fibrillary proteins. These are proteins similar to egg white which, if not removed, would harden like glue and make the leather as stiff.



About The Author

Leather Manufacturer - Sunenterprises.eu is a leading manufacturer & importer of creeative Beads & Hobby Tools based in Almere, The Netherlands. We offer an extensive and exclusive selection of designs in high quality Metal beads with silver plating 'verzilverde', gold plating, rose gold plating, 925 Sterling Silver, Natural Beads (Horn, Bone, Wood, Gemstones, Ceramic in different styles) and others. Our assortment of bead accessories includes items such as bead trays, pliers, display boxes, various kinds of cords (leather -braided and round, cotton etc).

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