Tie Up With Quality Leather Goes With Everything

Leather is an extraordinary example of a product that has enjoyed universal appeal throughout the ages and it is destined to continue that way. One of the most important terms in a tanners vocabulary is feel. Feel defines one of the characteristics which arouse its sense of beauty. If a piece doesn't achieve a good hand or feel, it redundantly feels unfortunately synthetic, lacking the fine luxurious touch of quality leather. Time is also a very important part of leather manufacturing. It takes an animal its whole lifetime to create the skin of which leather is made. A tanner knows perfectly well that the best products are only achieved with care and dedication, which almost always entail time. Finally craftsmanship is the tanner's most important asset and chemical ingenuity his primary tool. The history of tanning started at least five thousand years ago. And even though we still discover new ways of doing things today, the modern tanner moves in an industry of priceless past experiences. Steeped in rich traditions, tanning is a process that has grown into one of the world's most respected sciences.

Glossary

Hides and Skins:
  There is a great variety of hides and skins throughout the world for conversion into leather.
Tanning Processes:
  The tanner has at his disposal a wide choice of processes for producing many different types of leathers.
  Chrome Tanned:
Leathers which have been tanned with soluble chromium salts, primarily asic chromium sulphate. Currently the most widely used tannage in the U.S.A.
  Combination Tanned:
Leathers tanned with more than one tanning agent. For example, initially chrome-tanned followed by a second tannage (called a retan) with vegetable materials.
  Mineral Tanned:
Leathers which have been tanned by any of several mineral substances, especially the salts of chromium, aluminium, and zirconium.
  Oil Tanned:
Leathers tanned with certain fish oils. Produces a very soft, pliable leather such as chamois.
  Vegetable Tanned:
Leathers which have been tanned with vegetable materials that are derived from certain plants and woods, often called Bark tannins.
Leather:
  The pelt of an animal which has been transformed by tanning into a non-putrescible, useful material.
  Side Leather:
Cattlehide grain leather which, prior to processing, has been cut in half, forming two sides.
  Rawstock:
General term for hides or skins that a tanner has received in a preserved state, preparatory to tanning. A tanneries inventory of raw material.
  Pelt:
An untanned hide or skin with the hair on.
  Cattle Hide:
General term for hides before tanning from a bovine of any breed or sex, but usually mature, includes bullhide, steerhide, cowhide, and sometimes kipskins.
  Cowhide:
Hide from a nature female bovine that has produced a calf.
  Bovine:
A cow, ox, or closely related animal.
  Bullhide:
Hide from a male bovine, capable of reproduction.
  Heifer:
A female bovine, under three years of age, that has not produced a calf.
  Calfskin:
Skin from a young bovine, male or female.
  Kipskin:
Skin from a bovine, male or female, intermediate in size between a calf and mature animal.
  Water Buffalo:
Flat-horned buffalo, primarily from the tropics.
  Full Grain:
Grain leather in which only the hair has been removed. Usually carries either an aniline or glazed finish.
  Grain Leather:
Hides and skins which have been processed with the grain, or outer surface, dressed for end use.
  Aniline Finish:
Full grain leather which has been colored with dyestuffs rather than pigments. Usually topped with a protein, resin, or lacquer protective coating, can also be waxed.
  Glazed Finish:
Similar to an aniline finish except that the leather surface is polished to a high lustre by the action of glass or steel rollers under great pressure.
  Pigment Finish:
A process of coloring and coating the leather surface with colored pigments dispersed in film-forming chemicals called binders. The latter can be tailor-made to produce surfaces that are highly resistant to wear, fading, etc.
  Embossed:
A mechanical process of permanently imprinting a great variety of unique grain effects into the leather surface. Done under considerable heat and pressure.
  Snuffed:
Grain leather which, in addition to hair removal, has had the outer surface removed by light buffing.
  Buffed:
Leather which has been smoothed or sueded by mechanical sanding.
  Suede:
Leathers that are finished by buffing the flesh side (opposite the grain side) to produce a nap. Term refers to the napping process, and is unrelated to the type of skin used.
  Split:
The underneath layer of side leather which has been "split" off. Devoid of a natural grain, it may be either sueded or pigment finished and embossed.