Given the prominent role of leather in our daily life, which accomplishes a whole range of uses, in the following we have a brief look into knowing the procedure of making leather.
The leather making is a complicated and complex process. The process of making leather from raw animal hide undergoes approximately 40 steps, depending on the desired leather type. In general leather processing can be divided into four steps: (i) the preparatory stage, (ii) tanning, (iii) crusting and (iv) finishing.
(i) In the process of preparatory stage any unwanted salt, dirt, fat and flesh are removed along with the hair and the hides degreased. Besides, the hide is cut into horizontal layers. After the preparatory stage the hide is prepared for tanning.
(ii) During the tanning process, the skin structure of hide is stabilized and turned into leather. At the end of this stage the leather withstands high temperature, is able to breathe and is much more flexible than an untreated raw hide. The most commonly used tanning methods are based on chrome tanning, vegetable tanning and glutaraldehyde tanning.
(iii) Crusting includes neutralizing, dyeing and fat liquoring. The leather is neutralized in order to prevent deterioration, and then dyed to give color. Once the leather is dyed, it is treated with fats, oils, or waxes that attach themselves to the fibrous structure, to keep the leather soft and flexible.
(iv) Finishing is the final stage where a surface coating is applied to create distinctive fashion effects, ensure an even color and texture, to improve its ability to wear and to create fashion effects.
Type of animal (sheep, cow, calf, lamb etc)