Written by Info Expert on September 1, 2010 | Posted in Hobbies

Unless tanned, any nearly any piece of hide will eventually rot. The exception to this might be rawhide, but even this is not stable, like leather. Once rawhide gets wet, it is once again susceptible to bacterial action, and will eventually decompose. Tanned leather, on the other hand, is stable and will last for years with little or no deterioration.

However, to arrive at that stable condition, the hide that is taken off the animal must go through a fairly involved process. To inhibit bacterial action that would lead to decay, the hide is generally salted. After salting, it is necessary to remove any remaining fat from the hide, as well as prepare for the removal of the hair (in most cases). A bath of lime and sulfides will be used to de-grease the hide, and then the hair will be taken off mechanically. After the mechanical de-hairing, the hides will have to be checked to see if any hair remains, and if it does, this will have to be taken off by hand.

There are quite a few methods of tanning leather hide, some of which have been practiced for centuries, while others are fairly new. One of the oldest forms of tanning leather is brain tanning, which involves rubbing brains into the hide to tan it. This has been used since people lived in caves, and is usually only used on a very small scale now, with people who are tanning hides at home.

The two methods most frequently used now are vegetable tanning and mineral tanning. If vegetable tanning is used, the tannin found in a number of plants is what is utilized to tan the leather. Originally, bark from oak trees was used to tan the leather, but there are a variety of barks used today for the same purpose – chestnut, mangrove, and hemlock, as well as oak, supply the necessary substance for tanning. Vegetable tanning will take weeks to accomplish and can leave the hide somewhat stiff. Hide prepared in this way is usually used for upholstery.

It has been found that mineral tanning is a much shorter process, and this is the method most frequently used today. Usually, a hide subjected to mineral tanning will have the process finished within one day, which is an enormous time saver as compared to vegetable tanning. The chemical used is chromium sulfate, which leaves the hide soft and supple, and suitable for making garments and handbags. The biggest drawback to the mineral process is that it is quite polluting, especially in countries where environmental protection standards are slack or nonexistent.

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