BOYS' OWN COLUMN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 2, 3 January 1931, Page 2 (Supplement)

BOYS' OWN COLUMN.

A MOST USEFUL PRODUCT.

LEATHER IN THE MAKING

Dear Boys,-— Since ancient times in warm countries man has covered himself with vegetable products, such as cotton, flax and other fibrous materials, in order to keep cool. In the cold countries, however, man turned to the skin of the beast to supply his' clothing. It must have been in such countries that leather was first made. Probably some savage, troubled by the purification of skins before they had properly dried, noticed that one, hung in the smoke of a fire, did not rot, and after putting another skin over the fire discovered that the smoke really did preserve the hide. Skins, however, must have become hard and uncomfortable to wear, but some man discovered that fat rubbed into the pelt softened it. Thus the smoke preserved skin was turned into a sort of crude leather. From such a beginning the leather industry has grown tremendously throughout the ages until now factories have sprung up in almost every country of the world. The great meat works are the principal sources of skins for the tanner. Skins are sun dried at the slaughter house and then transported to the factory, where they are placed in vats with lime to loosen the hair or wool. Next the skins are run through machines which scrape off the bulk of the hair. After this the pelts go to men who remove the rest of the hair by hand. This is accomplished by placing the skins, upon sloping boards and scraping them. After further cleansing the skins are placed in tanning liquor, which is prepared from bark containing tannin. When saturated with tanning liquor the skins are taken out and carried away to be hung up to dry. The pelts are afterwards immersed in various other liquors, which still further carry on the curing process, and the work of striking out, or stretching and smoothing, takes place. After being shaved down to uniform thicknesses, the skins are dyed. A weak mixture of oil and soap is next worked into the leather, the object being to soften the fibres. Afterwards oil is worked into the leather by hand to increase the suppleness. The final dyeing takes place and the skins are then washed in cold water and dried again. Usually the leather is stiff after dyeing and must be softened by a process known as "striking." Formerly a task done by hand, but now performed by machines, this pulls the leather, which is moistened with wet sawdust, until it is soft. Trimming and seasoning follow, and only the glazing remains to be done before the leather can be sent out to the world's markets. This may be done either by hand or by machine, the actual glazing being done by a small cylinder of glass or agate, working upon an arm, being pulled rapidly tb and fro over the leather. Thicker kinds of leather are merely ironed by a heavy machine. Thus leather, one of our most useful products, is made from the skins of beast's. It is clear from this that the supply of leather is limited by the number of sheep and oxen and other animals taken for food. Yet the demand for leather is ever growing, and this has led men in rccent years to experiment in the making of leather from shark's skin. Factories have sprung up for this purpose and shark skin leather may ease tjhe difficulty for a time, but with the ever-growing 'Tj . ( demands and a supply that does not /[[/ grow in proportion, there must be a \^T shortage of leather in the future, with probably higher prices.