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| Raw hides arrive at the tannery preserved in salt. After a thorough examination is carried out to see if the skins are adequately kept and if they have the required characteristics processing begins by removing the salts. |
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| Skins are loaded into wooden vessels and rinsed in running water for approximately 24 hours and turned up to three minutes every half an hour. This is done to bring back the skin to its original condition. Lime and acids are then added to remove the hair from the skin. Approximately 24 hours later, the skins are washed again and ready for the next processing stage. |
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| Fleshing is the first mechanical operation carried on the skins. The hides are passed between two rollers, one equipped with spiral knives and the other covered with rubber. This way the remaining fat and flesh is removed. |
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| Hides can be split at this stage or after they have been tanned. The decision is made by the technicians based on the characteristics that must be achieved on the final product. The skins are inserted through a machine equipped with two cylinders in between which a sharp running blade is kept constantly sharp. The skins are horizontally split to a predetermined thickness evenly throughout the surface. The top layer also called Top Grain is then ready for tanning. |
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Protect the grain surface and give added abrasion and wear resistance |
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Render the surface cleanable |
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Uniformly level the color all over the hide |
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Cover defects such as scars, tick bites and other imperfections |
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Create different looks and effects from shiny glazed to matte, two-toned, waxy, as well as different grains and textures |
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In Chrome tanning, the hides are treated with basic chromium salts. This process yields a light blue color leather which can accommo date a wide range of colors when dyed. Small amounts of other chemical might be used during the tanning process, but the function of these are to assist the tanning process by the chromium salts.
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Vegetable tanning is carried out by treating the hides with water extracts of various plants or trees. It is difficult to obtained dyed colors which do not change with exposure to light on vegetable tanned leather, but a vegetable tan leather generally possesses an enhanced grain pattern and esthetic properties that tend to be very good. Some vegetable tanned leather tends to be susceptible to acid vapors in the atmosphere and can slowly deteriorate in strength on exposure.
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