Leather Tanning Throughout History

Ever wonder how a cow got to be a cool biker jacket? Well, sit back and enjoy the ride.

Certainly, one of the oldest crafts known to man is that of tanning animal hides to produce a functional leather. For as long as we have been able to cultivate critters, either by hunting or breeding, we have sought to use our gains efficiently. So much work shouldn't go to waste, right?

From the earliest of our histories mankind has used animal skins for clothing and shelter. But, the skins became stiff at low temperatures and rotted in the heat. Animal fats were eventually applied to keep the skins pliable. Homer's Iliad describes this process. The Iliad was believed to have been written in the 7th century B.C. This should give some perspective to how old the craft of tanning is.

Homer's Iliad (389 f.):
The ox hide, which is soaked in fat, is pulled to and fro by men standing in a circle, thus stretching the skin and causing the fat to penetrate into the pores.

Between 5000 and 3000 B.C. The Sumerians of southern Mesopotamia used leather to make women's dresses and other items. Whereas, the ancient

Pompeii Tannery

Assyrians used leather to make wineskins which could be inflated to make floating devices for rafts.The Egyptians had their hand at it too. Making all manner of clothing, including gloves from processed animal hides. And the Phonecians made waterpipes from leather. And of course, The Romans used leather for a wide variety of purposes. In fact, the Romans had so depended upon the tanning process, they became masters. A tannery discovered in the ruins at Pompeii revealed that the hide processing equipment of the that era was being utilized in the subsequent centuries.

During the Middle Ages, leather tanners gathered together and formed guilds. Most likely they were gathered because the tanning process is so odoriferous that no one wanted them around. Actually, the tanning guilds were as prestigious as any other of that era.

The famous 'Cordovan' leather was first produced by the Moors when they ruled in Spain during the 8th century A.D. This leather is primarily used in shoe making and comes from horse hide. The Moors introduced revolutionary practices to the tanning process that increased the efficiency of leather production.

Tanning Drum

Two introductions into the tannery process were made in the 1800's that changed tanning forever; The movement from vats to drums and the use of chromium as a tanning agent. These two changes brought the processing time down from months to mere days.

Although certain changes have been brought about in the leather production process over time, most of the tools used have remained fundamentally the same, thus proving that the craft has remained in tact since the dawn of man.

Okay, now to answer the burning question; Why the heck IS it called tanning, if it's not because all the sun time the animals get? Well, it has to do with tannin. Tannin is a chemical that occurs in a wide variety of plants and trees. Most notably the Oak.
It is widely believed that man happened upon the sealing qualities of tannin by the most precise of scientific methods. In other words, we discovered it purely by accident.

Apparently, when early hide users were trying to dry their hard worked for hides by smoking them (most likely not by using a pipe). It was soon discovered that the hides were not only dried, but cured also. The tannins in the bark and leaves that were used to fuel the fire of the smoking process were released into the hides, thus helping to make said hides a pliable material to used in many applications.

This newly discovered knowledge paved the way for the tanning process that has remained fundamentally the same over the ages.

The primitives started by preparing the hide. Preparation means removing the skin, then scraping any bits of fat or meat from the hide. First they soaked it then pounded it. The skin was then placed over a plank and carefully scraped. After the fat and meat were removed, the hide was coated with urine or wood ash to aid in hair removal. Volcanic ash was found to be particularly useful in this process, largely due to the amount of alum it contains.

The next step is bating. Bating prepares the hide to accept the tannin. Bating in days long past, used dung that was spread over the hide. Dung from carnivores, such as dogs, was the bating material of choice. The carnivore dung contains an enzyme that digests collagen, which makes the untreated hide springy.

After the bating was finished, the hide was was washed and the hung over a pole that rested over a clay lined pit. The pit was filled with a mixture of water and crushed oak bark. After the hide was soaked and allowed to dry, the leather was workable.

An alternative method involved using a brain soup to coat the hide with. Tanning breaks down the glycerin and loosens the fibers of the skin. The agent used in this method is found in the brain of the animal that provided the hide.

At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, the demand for softer leather rose exponentially. Not only for apparel, but a great many of the machines invented used belts to drive the mechanisms that automated much of what was formally manual labor.

To accommodate this, old tanning agents, such as alum and salts were replaced by newer chemicals.

Chrome Tanning

Chromium tanning was invented in the 1800's, which enabled a shorter time in the entire process. In addition, instead of using clay lined pits, the tanners began using rotating drums. The drums allowed the hide to be subjected to the actual 'tanning' step of the process more thoroughly and quicker. In addition to the fact that drums are a hands off operation, allowing the tanners to to tend other operations in the manufacturing of leather.

Today's process includes a finishing step, which includes treatments such as dyes, polishing or sanding.

There are 111 tanning facilities in the U.S., but only 40 perform the entire process. It is widely held that the best tanneries in the world are located in Pakistan. This is largely due to the relaxed environmental concerns.

A revolutionary find has been broadcast by the researchers at the Central Leather Research Institute in Adyar, India. The institute claims, that by using the same chemicals and reversing the tanning process, not only can the number of steps be reduced in the tanning process, but the actual pollution figures can be reduced. Among other savings, the actual pollutants can be reduced by 79%.

As we can see, from the dawn of time and into the future, we have and will desire to employ leather products in our lives. And we will be ever vigilant in our search to make the process efficient while retaining its craftsmanship qualities.

In 1947 a mini-industrial revolution began. Pakistan become officially recognized as a sovereign nation and thus the revolution was on. Pakistan provided the world with cowhides in small numbers and the complete tanning process was negligible until internal pressure to provide the national shoe manufacturing concerns with processed leathers won out.
br/>Complete tanneries began to pop-up like mushrooms on a spring day. In the course of this explosive growth, Pakistani tanneries employed all the latest techniques and mechanisms to process the leather, and went on to become the producers of the world's best leather. During this growth,The nation and its tanning concerns failed to look around the corner. Environmental and competitive concerns have snuck up on them and pounced.

Severe pollution is the downside to tanning leather. Modern processing includes the use of chromium sulfate and other chemicals which present problems to the ground water. Solid waste a.k.a. 'sludge', is also a big concern. Although there have been revolutionary advancements made to battle these pollutants in the past 10 years, the Pakistani leather producers have been too busy to begin the wholesale transition to a green process. On the other hand, nations such as China, India, and Bangladesh have made this transition.

While Pakistan was busy providing the world with top quality leather goods, other nations in the region were building a foundation to compete against them. As mentioned above, China, India, and Bangladesh being the more prominent ones. These countries have been able to provide incentives to their fledgling tanning industry, not only to compete against Pakistan, but to build a greener process.

In an article posted at Daily Times, the author tells of how the Pakistani tanneries are miffed at the fact that the Pakistani government refuses to allow any incentives for machinery purchase and export ease for their leather industry. The article cites many liberal incentives given to competitors and how this going to hamstring the world's leading producers of quality leather goods.

The failure of foresight while busy (more a symptom of typical human success) by the Pakistani society has allowed for intense pressure to be brought forth by their leading competitors in the leather industry. Kinda smacks of a new old tale in the auto industry.

1)Homer 2)Tannin 3)Italian Leather Channel 4)Brains 5)Wine Skins 6)Chromium And Drums 7)The Cranberries 8)Volcanic Ash 9)Pakistan 10)Pompeii...Congratulations! For Taking The Quiz you can receive %10 off of any jacket purchase at bikerleather123.com and enter the code BLSC001 in coupon 12 during checkout.

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