Leather Industry Glossary (A-B)

Leather Industry Glossary - A collection of frequently used terms, abbreviations and jargons used in the Leather Industry with their definition and meanings.

Ageing
The process by which certain types of leather are at some stage of manufacture allowed to lie in piles to “age”.

Alum Tanning
A process of tanning with alum, used in combination with salt, egg yolk and other substances. Used for the original feathery golf balls. “In 1845 we more than doubled that. Hard work it was. I can still smell the leather, feel the heat. We used to use a chest clamp to literally compress and push those goose down feathers into the ball. Of course you cut six strips of bull hide and you soaked it in alum and of course you took three of ‘em and stitched them inside out there, and the feathers went back in, and you compressed and compressed, and the idea being that as the leather shrinks as it dries out and the feathers expand. Then that gives you the compression.” Quoted by Wally Uihlein, Sept 1998, at St.Andrews Golf Congress.

Aluta
Roman name for tawed (alum tanned) leather. Aluta was used for sails in Venice, and for shoe uppers in ancient Greece.

Aniline Leather
Leather which retains its colour only from dyestuffs rather than from pigment, and as a consequence looks more natural.

Bag and case leather
A general term for the leathers used in travelling bags and suitcases. It does not include the light leathers employed for women’s fancy handbags. The staple material for bag and case leather is cowhide.

Bag Leather
A form of vegetable tannage in which the skins are sewn together in pairs to form bags and floated in tan liquor. This method avoids drawn grain and gives good spread of leather.

Basil
Bark tanned pickled sheepskins.

Bating
The process prior to tanning proper where the fibres of a hide or skin which have been plumped or swollen by liming are reduced and softened, thus assuring pliability in the product. The word is a form of “abate” in the sense of reduce.

Beamhouse
The area of the tannery where the unhairing and liming processes are carried out. Before modern machinery the processes of fleshing, scudding and others were carried out over specially designed wooden beams using curved two handled knives with sharp or blunted edge according to the operation. Hence the name.

Belt leather
Leather used for the leather going into men’s clothing belts.

Belting leather
Leather employed for the transmission of power for machinery. The great bulk of this leather is made from the butts of high-grade cattle hides. In Europe a certain amount of buffalo hide is also used.

Boarding
A process of finishing a side or skin by folding it with the grain side in and rubbing the surface together under pressure. Gives a distinct look, and creates “box” look when done two ways and “willow” when done only in one direction.

Bougie Leather
Leather from the town of Bougie in North east Algeria. Famous in the fifteenth century.

Box Calf or box sides
Calf or side leather which has been boarded in two directions.

Buffing
Sandpapering the leather with sandpaper or emery paper for various reasons such as the creation of a suede like nap on suede, a nubuck finish on grain, or for the preparation of corrected grain leather. Sometimes done on the flesh side to tidy up its appearance.