How is Leather Made?

Leather Tanning 

So how is leather made?

 

While leather is made from the hides of cows, the way it’s processed is different depending on the type of leather to be made.

 

Most leather is made for use in clothing and it’s tanned using chrome salts.  This is a fairly quick and cost effective process that makes most of the kinds of leather you run into in your daily lives.

 

The kind of leather used for the carving my artwork is made in a different way.  It is called vegetable tanned leather (or veg tan for short) and it goes through a much longer process.  Vegetable tanned leather gets its name from the fact that plant parts like bark are used to do the tanning.  This process gives the leather much different properties than the kinds of leather used for shoes or clothing.

 

 

 

Veg tan leather carving
Floral carving in leather.

” Vegetable tanned leather gets its name from the fact that plant parts like bark are used to do the tanning.”

The video at left is a tour of the Hermann Oak Tannery in St Louis Missouri.  This tannery has been making leather since 1881 and is one of the premier leather tanneries in the US today.  The vegetable tanned leather they produce is the preferred choice of many US saddle makers and other leather workers.  This video is a fascinating tour showing all the processes for making leather from raw hides to finished leather.  

 

Thanks to Weaver Leather for posting this informative video!