Know Your Leather

Posted by User Contributed

July 8, 2008

Leather Crazy You

So you’re nuts about leather. Your leather envelope, leather padfolios, leather passport holders, wallets, belts, shoes, and bags say so. This passion has led you to be finicky over leather products and it is no joke to provide people like you leather items for gifts. What if you’re at the giving end?

There are numerous supplies of leather itmes online and offline, wholesale and retail, and almost every conceivable item for men, women, teens, and children. If you are lucky, you can get discounted prices and rock bottom deals some lucky days of the year. The hitch lies in the selection of items and the kind of leather your recipient would love to have - and there is the price angle to consider, too.

But how much do you know about leather? Leather is the processed tough skin of animals, and is differentiated by how it is made. Leather is processed by vegetable or chrome tanning, rawhide treatment, and boiling. The different procedures produce varied types of leather suitable for different usesand products.

Know Your Leather

Boiled Leather — Your leather covered book or hardback is an example of boiled leather. Boiled leather is not used for wearable items or upholstery because it is hard and inappropriate for the purpose.

Vegetable Tanning — Vegetable-based ingredients are used to tan the animal hides. This process results in leather that is strong yet elastic. The big downside is the leather’s susceptibility to water. Exposed to water for long, the leather changes color, contracts, and hardens. Leather tanned this way takes on different shades of brown..

Chrome Tanning — This uses chromium or chrome salts to darken or tan the leather. The process allows the tanning of the leather in different hues, too, and helps preserve its suppleness and shape, in spite of contact to water.

Rawhide — This is a procedure that requires the stripping down of the animal hides. Once thinned and roughened, these are left in[/spin in a lime solution and then stretched. This type of leather makes for sturdy shoes and laces. Incidentally, your favorite band's drum head is made of this variety of leather.

Animal hides for leather are not restricted to cow hides. Even snake and crocodile skins make unique leather. Do not get fooled, check out leather items according to [kind|type[/spin], class, grade, thickness, material content, toughness, serviceability, and price. Prove to them you know how to leather it up.

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