of the “slicker” is wooden, and into it a steel, stone, brass or
vulcanite blade is forced and fastened. The wooden part is grasped
in both hands, and the blade is half rubbed and half scraped over
the surface of the leather in successive strokes, the angle of the
slicker being a continuation of the angle which the thrust out arms
of the worker form with the body, perhaps 30° to 45°, with the
leather, depending upon the pressure to be applied. The soap and
borax solution is continually dashed on the leather to supply a body
Fig 9.—Currying Apparatus. C, pommel;
R, raising board; S, slicker.
for the removal of the bloom with the steel slicker. The hide is now
turned, and the grain is scoured with a stone slicker and brush, with
soap and borax solution, it is then rinsed up, and sent to dry; when
sammied, it is “set” i.e. the grain is laid smooth with a brass or
steel slicker and dried right out. It is now ready for “stuffing,”
which is invariably done in the drum with a mixture of stearine and
“sod” oil, to which is sometimes added cod oil and wool fat; it is
then set out on the grain and “canked” on the flesh, the grain side
is glassed, and the
leather dried right
out. The goods are
now “rounded,” i.e.
the lighter coloured
parts of the grain are
damped with a mixture
of dubbin and
water to bring them
to even colour, and
are then laid in pile
for a few days to mellow,
when they are
ready for whitening. The goods are damped down and got to the
right temper with a weak soap and water solution, and are then
“whitened,” an operation similar to shaving, carried out with a
turned edge slicker. By this means a fine flesh surface is obtained
upon which to finish by waxing; after this they are “boarded”
with an arm board (R, fig. 9) to bring up the grain, or give a granular
appearance to the leather and make it supple, when they may be
turned flesh inwards and bruised, a similar operation to graining,
essentially to soften and make them pliant. At this stage the
goods are known as “finished russet,” and are stored until ready
for waxing.
For waxing, the first operation is to black the goods. In England this is generally done by hand, but machinery is much more used in the United States. The process consists of well brushing into the flesh side of the skins a black preparation made in one of two ways. The older recipe is a mixture of lampblack, oil and perhaps a little tallow; the newer recipe consists of soap, lampblack, logwood extract and water. Either of these is brushed well into the flesh side, which is then glassed up by means of a thick slab of glass, the smooth rounded edges being used with a slicking motion, and the goods are hung up to dry. When dry they are oiled with cod oil, and are ready for sizing. Goods blacked with soap blacking are sized once, those prepared with oil blacking are sized twice. The size used for soap black skins may consist of a mixture of beeswax, pitch, linseed oil, tallow, soap, glue and logwood extract. For oil blacked skins the “bottom sizing” may be glue, soap, logwood extract and water, after the application of which the goods are dried and the “top sizing” applied; this consists of glue, cod oil, beeswax, tallow, venice turps, black dye and water. The sizings having been applied with a sponge or soft brush, thoroughly rubbed in with a glass slicker, crush marks are removed by padding with a soft leather pad, and the goods, after being dried out, are ready for the market.
In the dressing of waxed grain leathers, such as French calf, satin leather, &c., the preparatory processes are much the same as for waxed leathers described above as far as stuffing, after which the grain is prepared to take the colour by light hand scouring with weak soap and borax solution. The dye is now applied, and so that it may take well on the grain of the greasy leather, a quantity of either soap, turkey red oil or methylated spirit is added to the solution. Acid colours are preferably used, and three coats are given to the dry leather, which is then grained with an arm board, and finished by the application of hard buck tallow to the grain and brushing. The dye or stain may consist of aniline colours for coloured leathers, or, in the case of blacks, consecutive applications of logwood and iron solutions are given.
Finishing dressing Hides for Bag and Portmanteau Work.—The hides as received from the tanner are soaked down, piled to sammy, and shaved, generally by machine, after which they are scoured, as under waxed leather, sumached and hung up to dry; when just damp they are set out with a brass slicker and dried right out. The grain is now filled by applying a solution of either Irish moss, linseed mucilage or any other mucilaginous filling material, and the flesh is sized with a mixture of mucilage and French chalk, after which the goods are brush-stained with an aniline dye, to which has been added linseed mucilage to give it body; two coats are applied to the sammied leather. When the goods have sammied, after the last coat of stain, they are “printed” with a brass roller in a “jigger,” or by means of a machine embosser. This process consists of imprinting the grain by pressure from a brass roller, on which the pattern is deeply etched. After printing, the flesh side is sponged with a weak milk solution, lightly glassed and dried, when the grain is sponged with weak linseed mucilage, almost dried, and brushed by machine. The hides are now finished, by the application either of pure buck tallow or of a mixture of carnauba wax and soap; this is rubbed up into a slight gloss with a flannel.
Light Leathers.—So far only the heavier leathers have been dealt with; we will now proceed to discuss lighter calf, goat, sheep, seal, &c.
In tanning light leathers everything must tend towards suppleness and pliability in the finished leather, in contrast to the firmness and solidity required in heavy leathers. Consequently, the liming is longer and mellower; puering, bating or some bacterial substitute always follows; the tannage is much shorter; and mellow materials are used. A deposition of bloom in the goods is not often required, so that very soon after they are struck through they are removed as tanned. The materials largely used are sumach, oak bark, gambier, myrobalans, mimosa bark, willow, birch and larch barks.
As with heavy leathers, so also with light leathers, there are various ways of tanning; and quality has much to do with the elaboration or modification of the methods employed. The tanning of all leathers will be dealt with first, dyeing and finishing operations being treated later.
The vegetable-tanned leather de luxe is a bottle-tanned skin. It is superior to every other class of vegetable-tanned leather in every way, but owing to competition not a great deal is now produced, as it is perhaps the most expensive leather ever put on the market. The method of preparation is as follows.
The skins are usually hard and dry when received, so they are
at once soaked down, and when sufficiently soft are either milled
in the stocks, drummed in a lattice drum (American dash wheel,
fig. 10), or “broken down” over the beam by working on the
flesh with a blunt unhairing knife. They are next mellow limed
Fig. 10.—Dash Wheel.
(about 3 weeks), sulphide being used if convenient, unhaired and
fleshed as described under heavy leathers, and are then ready
for puering. This process is carried through at about 80° F.,
when the goods are worked on the beam, rinsed, drenched in a
bran drench, scudded, and are ready for tanning. The skins
are now folded down the centre of the back from neck to butt
(tail end), flesh outwards, and the edges are tightly stitched all
round to form bags, leaving
an aperture at one of
the shanks for filling; they
are now turned grain outwards
and filled with strong
sumach liquor and some
quantity of solid sumach
to fill up the interstices
and prevent leakage, after
which the open shank is
tied up, and they are
thrown into warm sumach
liquor, where they float
about like so many pigs,
being continually pushed
under the surface with a
dole. When struck through they are piled on a shelf above
the vat, and by their own weight the liquor is forced through
the skins. The tannage takes about 24 hours, and when finished
the stitching is ripped up, the skins are slicked out, “strained”
on frames and dried. “Straining” consists of nailing the skins
out on boards in a stretched condition, or the stretching in
frames by means of strings laced in the edge of the frame and
attached to the edge of the skin.
The commoner sumach-tanned skins (but still of very good quality) are tanned in paddle wheels, a series of three being most
