SEA LEATHER.

Thames Star, Volume LVII, Issue 15679, 4 October 1922, Page 3

SEA LEATHER.

j 1 ! SHARKS’ SKINS MAKE GOOD BOOTS. One reason why boots and leather goods are cheaper than they were j is because of the success which has attended the attempt to produce leather from the skins of big fish and mammals that live in the ocean. It was not until three years had been spent in experimental work, and a sum of £50,000 sur.k in the venture, that a means was found whereby the skins of the large sea creatures could be converted into leather. THE PROFITABLE PORPOISE. The ray, or devil-fish, provides a skin which, when tunned, has an area of one hundred square feet; and the sawfish is likely to provide hn abundant source of leather supply. The dogfish being 'comparatively small, is not so individually profitable as the full-grown shark, and yet its hide is' well

worth tanning. The porpoise has a skin from which ten to twenty square feet of leather can be produced. Not only that, but from the skin can be taken a sturdy upper layer or grain of very fine quality,' and then' two underlying “splits,” the first of these being thick and strong enough for a good grade of heavy boots. The second “split” is of the character of a thick suede. The skin of the black-fish and the skin and stomach of the whale lend themselves to tanning, and from these sources leather of fine quality can be secured. 'From the hide of a single whale two hundred pairs of heavy boots over a score of shoes, several yards of belting, and shoe-lacet were made recently.