Vegetable tannage of heavy leathers

摘要

The vegetable tanning process is flexible and can produce leathers with a very wide range of characteristics. Heavy hides can be converted into heavy, firm types of leather with high abrasion resistance such as sole leathers for footwear. Small skins can be used for outlets such as hard wearing leather goods that might require intricate embossing, or soft flexible leathers. Over and above properties dependent upon the type of skin or hide, the characteristics of these leathers are highly dependent upon: 1. the nature of the individual vegetable tanning material selected; 2. the percentage of tannin offered; 3. the levels of acids and salts in the tannage.