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Histoire du tannage

Tannage History

by Lucille OH MY BAG In News

The history of tanning: ancestral know-how at the leather service

At the house of OH MY BAG, We are keen to offer you the pieces that will melt your heart,
This is why we work with workshops using various methods of tanning, for rendering all as beautiful as each other.
Let yourself be charmed by our plant range and its environmental involvement or by our mineral range and its participation in the development of society!

Historical

The leather tanning comes from an ancestral method whose beginnings were developed in the time of Neanderthal man, more than 50,000 years ago. It all started with smoking the skin, in order to optimize the shelf life of the hides. Oil-based tanning, developed 9,000 years ago, used fats to give flexibility to the skin and protect it from the elements. This technique is still used today to give the leather this "greasy" appearance, using animal or vegetable fats which oxidize and therefore have this drying power allowing to give the leather this appearance that we love so much. The advancement of the methods of the Egyptian, Pakistani and Sumerian civilizations have greatly contributed to the evolution of tanning. It is then thanks to the Greek and Roman peoples that we begin to use large vats allowing a leatherwork easier.

From the 1160s onwards, guilds appeared, which were categories of trades dedicated to a particular material, in this case leather. Many streets still bear the name "tanners' street" today, indicating that the area was dedicated to leather workers, tanners. These neighborhoods were often located away from the heart of the city, as the methods used were considered harmful and odorous; the waste was dumped into the canals.

In the 19th century, science developed the chrome solution: allowing faster and cheaper tanning, it was the starting point for the first tanning patent. Following this, many tools were invented and adopted by a majority of tanners. This invention directly led to the expansion of factories, in which large numbers of workers would work during the era of industrialization. In the 20th century, large tanning industries gradually took over from small ones. Tanning workshops. Nowadays, the tanners are gradually regaining their place in society, by developing human-sized tanning workshops, thus enabling a quality hand crafted.

What are the stages of leather tanning ?

It all starts with the preparation of the hides: they are first sorted according to their type and quality. The hides are then soaked to remove impurities and clean them, thus allowing for the final meticulous cleaning. They are then tanned, using one of three existing methods:mineral tanning, the vegetable tanning or the mixed tanning.

Once this process is complete, the hides are further processed to give the characteristics so appreciated on our leather goods. A second tanning, called "retanning," allows for rectification or additional suppleness or strength. Next comes the spinning process, eliminating most of the water contained in the piece of leather. Then the hides are dyed, greased, and dried in the open air, in an oven, or on heated cylinders. Next comes the "de-scraping" stage, which consists of equalizing the thickness, before the "tempering" stage, which allows the material to be moistened to give it suppleness.

The finishes applied are as diverse as there are types of leather, here are the most common ones:

- "veloutage" is a technique of sanding the leather on the grain or flesh side in order to give a nubuck leather or velvet.

- "graining" is an embossing technique carried out using an engraved plate affixed to the leather to give it a grained appearance or a patterned leather.

- "smoothing" aims to give the leather a smooth feel and a shiny appearance: it is the result of rubbing with a glass or stone cylinder, or pressing on a heated plate.

What are the tanning methods ?

Mineral tanning: its development reached its peak in the 20th century, thanks to its speed of execution. The hide is first acidified in about 10% sea salt, then with the addition of minerals. The result is astonishing, the leather becomes supple and acquires stability as well as a high resistance.

Vegetable tanning: the beginnings of this method are prehistoric and use vegetable tannins from berries, bark, plants, etc. They also give flexibility and resistance to the leather which naturally develops a patina over the years.

Mixed tanning, on the other hand, uses vegetable tanning and mineral tanning in order to get the best out of both methods.

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