Читать книгу Handicraft Simplified Procedure and Projects in Leather, Celluloid, Metal, Wood, Batik, Rope, Cordage, Yarn, Horsehair, Pottery, Weaving, Stone, Primitive Indian Craft - Lester Griswold - Страница 8

Early Egyptian records give us first knowledge of the use of leather as clothing, furniture ornamentation, shields, and coverings for ships. From the Hebrew Talmud we learn that the Babylonians knew how to make leather, and the legend of the founding of Carthage has preserved the tradition that Queen Dido when promised land that could be covered by a bull’s hide, cut it into a thin strip and encircled the land on which the city was built.

Homer’s Iliad describes a tanning process in which the skin after being thoroughly washed is softened with oil beaten and rubbed into the stretched hide. The essential procedure in this primitive process is still used with modern machinery and is called “Shamoying.” The Romans also learned how to tan hides with barks and roots and the word tan comes from the Latin “tanare” meaning “oak bark.” Another modern word which seems far removed from leather is “pecuniary” which came from “pecus” or hide and refers to the fact that leather was once used as money by the Romans.

In the Roman period the leather tanners and workers were slaves but in the middle Ages they formed one of the strongest guilds.

In Colonial days when many of the Guild craftsmen came to America, they were surprised to find that the Indians were already well versed in the art of tanning. Theirs was a third method of tanning and it has never been determined whence this knowledge came. The process which the Indian still uses and which manufacturers have adopted with little modification except in equipment is called “Buckskin or Indian Tan.” The primitive red man, or rather his squaw, loosened the hair with a solution of wood ashes, scraped the hide with a section of sharpened bone to remove both the hair and all flesh tissue and then rubbed into it a mixture made from the liver and brains of the animal. Finally it was hung for days in a small tepee constructed over a fire made of rotten wood so that it would be thoroughly impregnated with smoke which would keep it soft and pliable after wetting.

The first shoes made in America, other than moccasins constructed in the Indian manner, were made in 1628 from hides brought from England by the Plymouth Company, which also brought two shoemakers for this special task. In America, as in England, the crude tanning methods of the Hebrews continued to be used until about 1800 when other sources of tanning than oak bark were discovered, and a chemical process was developed which used chromium salts and resulted in a product more satisfactory for many purposes. Machinery was perfected to take the place of hand labor in the tanning processes and another machine was invented to split the heavy cowhide into several thicknesses, each of which could be utilized, in contrast to the old method of shaving the leather to the proper thickness, a process which wasted a large portion.

Today the finest leathers in the world are made in America from hides which come from all parts of the Western Hemisphere and to some extent from Europe, Australia, Africa and China. The materials now used in tanning are collected from many countries and the importation of vegetable extracts and chemicals for the tanning industry has become an important foreign trade.

Leather is classified in two ways, first by the name of the animal from which it is taken, and, second by the kind of tanning process to which it is subjected. A brief description of the domestic animal skins commercially used may be of interest.

Steer and cowhide are heavy coarse grained skins, used mostly for straps, cases and luggage. Many varieties of leather are also made from cowhide, besides the stiff, heavy strap leather with which we are familiar. In the original state, or after the preliminary tanning processes, cowhide is very thick and heavy, and in this state is finished mainly for saddles, harness, machine belting, shoe soles, etc. It may, however, be thinned or split into several layers. The grain surface is polished or glazed and used for belting, traveling bags, cases of various kinds, or. in lighter weights finished in a wide variety of grain effects in imitations of other skins for book binding and manufacturing many different articles. The sections split off are finished or buffed in different thicknesses or weights, dyed and used for slipper and moccasin soles, shoe linings, the palms of work gloves and the like. Selected splits are given a soft finish and are known as suede or velvet splits. These are used for bags and garments instead of sheep suede, as they are stronger and more durable.

Calfskins are fine grained, light weight and close textured, and are used more widely than any other leather for shoe uppers, purses, bags, book bindings, and art leather work. They are dyed many colors and finished in grains to imitate every other kind of animal or reptile skin. Beautiful cloth like effects and designs are secured by embossing, which is a process of running the skin between rollers with the design engraved on the upper roller which is steam heated.

Sheep skins are porous and open textured. They are finished mostly by buffing on the flesh side and are known as velvet or ooze sheep. Skivers are made of sheep skin using the grain surface, and from this also is made imitation Moroccos and the cheaper embossed leathers.

Goat skins are mostly imported from the Alpine countries or Ural Mountains. This is the toughest and tightest grained skin known, the texture being the result of the cold endured by the animal, or developed as a natural protection from icy winds. The Morocco leathers, highly prized by the early book binders and leather craftsmen of the 16th century were made from goat skins, and this is the leather used by the modern Spanish and Italian leather workers for the finest quality hand tooled and embossed articles.

Leathers are also classified by the three kinds of tanning methods used; chemical or chrome tanned, bark or vegetable tanned, and chamois or oil tanned.