Tanning - Leather
Tanning is a process to convert skin from putrescible skin into non-putrescible leather, using an acid chemical compound.
In past skins arrived at the tannery dried stiff and dirty with soil and gore, and the ancient tanners would soak the skins in water to clean and soften them; then they would pound and scour the skins to remove flash and fat, they needed to remove the hair fibers. After the hair fibers were loosened the tanners scraped the skins off with a knife.
Once the hair was removed the tanners would bate the material by pounding dung into the skin or soaking the skin in a solution of animal brain. Sometimes the dung was mixed width a water in a large vat, and the prepared skins were kneaded in the dung water until they become supple, but not too soft. The tanners might use bare feet to knead the skins in the dung water, and the kneading could last two or three hour. Tanning width ancient method is so foul smelling that tanners are still isolated from those town where the old methods are used.
In the modern method, in the first stage the skins are heavily salted and then pressed into packs for about 30 days. After the hides are agitated in a salt water bath for about 16 hours and then are soaked in clean water to remove the salt; the majority of hair is removed using a machine with remaining hair being removed by hand using a dull knife. Depending on the use of the leather, hides may be treated with enzymes to soften them.
Leather is a material created through the tanning of hides or skins of animal, primarily cattlehide. It can be used o create leather bags (for men or women), travel bags, leather wallet or leather shoulder bag. It can be used also in footwear industry.
The fibers of leather will break down with the passage of time. Exsposure to long periods of low humidities (below 40%) can cause leather to become dessicated. There are most treatments available to improve the quality of leather, but these are not recommend by conservators since they impregnate the structure of the leather artifact with active chemicals, are sticky, and attract stains.
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I am Max the leather tanner. I am a leatherwork artisan and have been based in the Pisa city centre for more than thirty years.