![]() Vegetable-tanned leather also has a distinctively sweet, woody fragrance that is normally associated with leather. The fibers of the animal hide used for the leather are visible in the finished product, lending an authenticity and personality to the leather that makes it more unique. This results in colors that are rich and deep in natural earthy tones such as browns, beiges, yellows and reds. The process of vegetable tanning uses organic material and natural tannins derived from the barks, leaves and branches of trees and plants. It is breathable and products such as shoes made with it get more comfortable the longer you use them. Due to the gentle processes involving several weeks of treatment, the vegetable-tanned leather has a much longer life than chrome-tanned leather. One of the best features of vegetable-tanned leather is that it develops a patina over time with prolonged use and exposure to the environment. Qualityīased on the craftsmanship and careful use of traditional techniques developed over centuries, the vegetable tanning process results in leather with a distinct appearance and unmatched durability. ![]() If you want a more in depth view at the ins and outs of vegetable tanning, you can check out the video of a production process in Italy below. The hides are pickled, put in another drum of tannin(the tree bark extract) to be tanned, pressed, sorted, and dyed. The rest of the tanning process is pretty straightforward. Eventually the rivers were so full of lime, that the government shut down the majority of the tanneries in the United States. In the old days, the tanneries were built on a river so they could dump the old used up lime into the river. Lime is a very potent chemical, and burns the hair off the hides. It is a pit, or in modern times a drum, full of lime, and we aren’t talking about the fruit. The beam-house is the storage facility for the green hides.įrom there the hides are put in a liming pit, which is exactly what it sounds like. When the preserved hides arrive at the tannery, they are placed in a beam-house. There is no way to reverse that kind of damage, and very little can be salvaged into good leather. The rotting destroys the grain, which is arguably the most important part of leather. If you don’t salt the hide and keep it moist, it will start to rot, and once it starts rotting, it is over. ![]() The meat is taken away for processing, and the hides are quickly salted. The process starts when the animal is slaughtered at a slaughterhouse. If you’re looking for an all purpose leather cleaner and conditioner, we recommend Chamberlain’s Leather Milk. We will also look at the advantages and disadvantages of vegetable tanned leather and discuss similar leathers. In this article we will learn about the source and special properties of vegetable-tanned leather, how it is made, what kind of products it is used in, and how to care for this type of leather.
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