Leather Definition
A hide or a skin from an animal with an intact original fibrous structure, tanned with a surface coating that is less than 0.15 mm thick.
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The skin or hide of an animal that has been chemically treated to produce a stable state in which no further deterioration or rotting will occur.
Wet blue hides are washed to remove dirt, creases and soften.
After the washing process, the hides are then inspected and given a grade. WB grading is important as it influences the types of leather you can produce.
The hides are then inserted into a samming machine to remove the excess of water from the wet backing operation.
The splitting operation is to remove the top layer “grain” from the bottom layer “split”. Both the grain and split layers can be used to make leather.
Once the grain has been separated from the split layer, shaving is the last and final operation before the coloring process. A shaving weight must be selected depending on the desired weight for the finished leather. Splitting and shaving can have a critical impact upon all strength related aspects of the leather, especially tear strength.
3 processes take place: Retanning, fatliquoring and dying. These processes impact the characteristics of the color, feel, softness and have a tremendous influence upon all aspects of the leather’s physical propeties.
Once the retanning process is completed, the hides are placed on a horse structure for several hours. This is to allow the hides to properly absorb all of the chemicals from the retanning operation.