The tanning industry by Onthank A. Heath (Arthur Heath) 1892-

Author:Onthank, A. Heath (Arthur Heath), 1892-
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Tanning
Publisher: Boston, Mass., National Shawmut bank
Published: 1917-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

In spite of the great advantage of chrome tannage in shortening the time for the tanning processes, thereby releasing the tanner's working capital many more times a year, there are certain disadvantages which are responsible for the proportionately small amount of chrome sole leather tanned. Perhaps the largest factor determining the amount of chrome leather manufactured is the demand. The slower processes of vegetable tannage have always been and still are considered to result in superior leather, which is in demand for all branches of sole leather manufactures. These opinions are backed up with certain facts which make vegetable tanned sole leather more desirable. This leather, for instance, is said to be easier on the foot of the wearer when it is in shoes, is a better non-conductor of heat and cold, and is thicker than chrome leather. The latter, however, is .said to be a better non-conductor of water, and to be more durable. The advantages of vegetable tanned sole leather, however, so far outweigh the advantages of the chrome that it will probably always be used to a far greater extent, except in cases where great tensile strength is needed.

It should be understood that all tanning of sole leather is for stock, with the exception of one general class of the business to be noted later. This is possible because the product is practically uniform and can be readily disposed of at any time during the year.

B. Upper Leather

There is a greater diversity in methods of upper leather tanning than in sole leather tanning, due to several rea.sons. In the first place, the product is more varied than in sole leather tanneries because of the wider range of u.ses to which upper leather may be put. It is customary for upper leather tanneries to specialize on making certain classes and grades of upper leather. This tendency to specialize in product is furthered by the larger number of kinds of raw material which may be used in tanning upper leather, e. g. calfskins, sheepskins, goatskins, etc., whereas, sole leather tanneries are confined to one general kind of raw material, e. g., cattle hides. This results in tanneries concentrating on one or two of these classes of raw material instead of trying to cover the whole field. A third tendency which makes for specialization is the possibility of using more than one kind of tannage, but it is not usual for the average sized tanner to tan with more than one kind. In short, then, the upper leather field is one of specialized tanneries because

(1) it is preferable to concentrate on one cla.ss of product,

(2) this class of product is obtainable only by use of one kind of raw material,

(3) this cla.ss of product and this grade of raw material are best tanned by one kind of tannage rather than by several kinds.

There is one exception to the.se reasons for specialization. It is stated that the general practice is to choose the class of raw material and the kind of tannage which will best turn out the grade of product desired.

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