How is Leather Made June 17, 2009
Posted by FAPORT International in Leather Garments & Accessories.Tags: jackets racing, l adies motorcycle jacket, ladies leather motorcycle jacket, ladies leather motorcycle jackets
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Many consumers own a variety of leather products, ranging from belts to jackets, and the resourceful material has been used for thousands of years in a variety of products. The process for making leather includes a complex set of steps from skin to finished product. These steps are often referred to as “tanning” due to the most typical part of the process, which uses the tannic acids present in plant matter to chemically modify the leather so that it will not decompose or rot.
If used without any treatment, animal hides would quickly break down and begin to stink. For this reason, the hide needs to be treated to form leather. The process can be broken down into two
basic stages: wet blue processing and finishing, both of which are adept in large commercial spaces known as tanneries. While it is possible to make leather at home, it is an aromatic and complicated process, and most people prefer to send out their hides for tanning.
Skin has three layers beginning with the epidermis, proceeding to the derma, and ending in the adipose, which is also known as flesh. When making leather, only the strong and flexible derma, which is a layer of collagen fibers, is preferred. The collagen is exuded by cells, and forms a network of useful strings. When leather is processed, these fibers are retained while everything else is stripped away.
First, the skin is fleshed, the flesh being cleaned off of the hide, and the surplus adipose, or animal fat, is removed. Then the hides are washed and soaked, which regain moisture to dried hides while loosening blood and dirt. Chemicals are added to turn the water alkaline, which will eat away at the hair and epidermis. The collagen fibers begin to swell, while excess proteins rushed out.
When this process is complete, the water is brought to a stable pH and the swelling goes down, so that enzymatic cleaners can be added to remove any remaining organic waste. Then the hide is pickled in a highly acidic solution, which prepares it for tanning. Tanning agents form bonds with the collagen in the hide, causing it to resist bacterial attack, and the hides are removed from the wet blue processing tank for finishing, after being run through rollers to remove excess water.
When the hides emerge from the wet blue stage, they are split to the preferred thickness. Depending on the planned use of the leather, this thickness may vary. Then the leather is re-tanned, with different materials depending on whether it needs to be firm or soft, and dyed. After dyeing, the leather is oiled so that it will remain flexible and soft. Then the leather is dried, mechanically treated to soften it, and buffed so that it will have a smooth and attractive surface. Some leathers are marked with patterns before the final stage, which is the function of a finishing coat of polymer or wax to protect the surface of the leather.
Leather treatment used to be a highly polluting industry, but tanneries responded to public protest about odor and pollution issues. Tanneries now recycle the liquids used in the leather making process and desist from chemical dumping. Tanning still carries a strong stink, but is no longer accompanied by environmentally unfriendly business practices in most parts of the world.
Identifications for different Leather June 1, 2009
Posted by FAPORT International in Leather Garments & Accessories.Tags: apparel, bike wear, biker, clothing, fashion, glove, jacket, leather, leather sex, motorbike glove, motorcycle, motorcycle apparel, pant, sex
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Leather is the dried, toughened, tanned and dyed skin or hide of an animal. Usually available with the hair removed form. These animal skins and hides treated to preserve and make them suitable for use as much as long. By the process of tanning these skins are converts into a stable and non decaying material.
Leather is naturally versatile material, warm in winter and cool in summer. There is almost no other natural fabric has the insulation characteristics that allow both ventilation and evaporation to take place. Genuine leather provides the service and durability.
Leather is use to prepare leather apparel and leather garments like leather Jackets, leather coats, leather lingerie, leather pants and Leather undergarments. Leather shoes are also commonly used all over the world. Leather backpack, leather briefcase, leather bags and leather purses also have very important significance in our daily life
In its broadest sense, leather is any type of tanned animal hide. Different types of leather are characterized by both the type of animal skin used and the tanning and manufacturing methods employed. The most common types of leather are made from cow hide, but leather from other animals, such as kangaroos and ostriches, is also popular in certain applications. Different types of leather are suited to different purposes, including clothing, footwear, luggage, book binding, and drums.
A variety of animal skins are used to produce different looks in leather. Once leather is tanned and processed, certain sections are selected for use on a particular application. It will then go through another series of processing and splitting for each application. Leather quality is determined by the actual processes and chemicals used in its production. Respectable manufacturers use high quality in the production of furniture, car upholstery, as well as jackets and clothing. Lower priced leather on the other hand, means lower quality and is less durable in the long run.
An animal hide can be made into leather by a number of different methods, each of which lends different properties to the final product. Leather tanned with vegetable-based products is supple but can be damaged by exposure to water. Alum-tanned leather, created with aluminum salts, is less supple and can rot in water, but it can be made in much lighter shades than vegetable-tanned leather. A newer method of tanning, using chromium salts, results in a very supple leather that holds up relatively well in water. Brain-tanned leather or buckskin, made with animal brains or other emulsified oils, is washable and significantly softer than any of the above varieties, but it is also the rarest, as it is costly and time-consuming to produce.
Stiffer, more durable types of leather, suitable for use in drums, book binding, and, historically, armor, are created with different methods. Rawhide is made by scraping animal hide, treating it with lime, and stretching it throughout the drying process. Boiling in water or wax is another method used to make extremely tough types of leather.
The softer types of leather can be prepared in a few different ways. Full-grain leather, used in the finest leather products, is not altered past removing the hair and tanning the hide. Therefore, it requires raw materials of excellent quality. Top-grain leather is sanded on one side and given an artificial grain in order to hide imperfections in the raw material. The other side of this type of leather is fuzzy. Suede is fuzzy on both sides, as it is cut from the inside of an animal hide.
Other types of leather include patent leather, which has a very shiny, smooth finish, often coated with plastic; and shagreen, rough leather usually colored green. Many special types of leather are used in luxury products from gloves to pocketbooks. Belting leather is heavy and durable and can retain its shape exceptionally well. Napa leather is known for its softness, as is slunk, made from the hide of a calf fetus. Vachetta leather is typically used as a trim on handbags.
