Leather

“ The leather should be neatly and sharply cut out for open-work decoration, and placed over a groundwork of leather, stuff or metal: the last material is well adapted by its contrast of colour to show up the ornament laid over it. Open-work leather is a good material for hangings, and when destined for this purpose the design is sewn on the groundwork of leather or stuff with a sewing-machine, or stuck with gutta-percha. ”

“ See the observations on the importance of the tanning process in the preservation of leather, in the Note at the end of this volume.
So many varieties of leather are on the market that some guide will be found useful in selecting the most suitable for the different methods of decoration. These methods may be classified as follows:
Cut, or engraved leather. Carved leather. Punched or hammered leather. Modelled leather. Modelled leather with punched background. Leather decorated by pyrogravure and pointogravure. Stamped leather. Open-work leather. Leather mosaic. ”

“ It is very simple, just two round pieces of leather and three of chamois. The top piece of leather has the design shown in Fig. 80 worked on it in beads of a colour that will look well with the leather you have chosen. Black and crystal beads will harmonise [170] with red leather or dark-green crystal and opaque white. If the leather is not so bright a colour, the beads may be more gay. Work the design with the stitch described in the directions for making an Indian beaded shirt in Chapter V., bringing the strings of beads farther apart at the outer edge of the circle than on the inside. ”

“ Leather never lies. Not good leather. An’ poor leather’s a dead give-away. My museum of soles.” He waved a showman’s hand toward the rows of shoes suspended neatly in brackets of his own devising against the walls. ”

“ Even the best of leather disintegrates in time under the action of heat, gas, light, etc., and to-day many a volume bound in leather ten or fifteen years ago has parted from its sides, necessitating rebinding or recovering. Had it been bound in a good quality of cloth it would to-day be in good condition, and probably would remain in good condition for a hundred years. ”

“ Leather was always more or less used as a cheap kind of defence, from the Saxon leather tunic with the hair left on it, down to the buff jerkin of the time of the Commonwealth, and even to the thick leather gauntlets and jack boots of the present Life Guardsman. But at the time of which we are speaking pieces of armour of the same shape as those we have been describing were sometimes made, for the sake of lightness, of cuir bouilli instead of metal. ”

“ Such patterns are made when the leather is damp and soft, and on drying they become hard and permanent. Many of the earlier impressions made on leather bindings are done by means of hard styles held in the hand and drawn along the leather. Beautiful Celtic interlacings done in this way are found in the ancient Irish “polaires” or book covers. Others are small ornamental stamps which have been impressed on the leather in the same way as we now make an ordinary seal. ”

“ Gambier and myrobalans form the main body of the tannage, together with a little quebracho extract, mimosa bark, sumach and extracts.
Upper Leather.—Under the head of upper leather are included the thin, soft and pliable leathers, which find their principal, but by no means exclusive, application in making the uppers of boots and shoes, which may be taken as a type of a class of leathers. They are made from such skins as East Indian kips, light cow and horse hides, thin split hides, such as those described under dressing leather, but split rather thinner, and calf. ”

“ It is not easy, except by long experience, to tell good leather at a glance. One authority says that good leather should "be solid, but not hard; mellow, but not soft." The black leather in a harness should have a smooth surface, close texture, and when bent between the hands should not show minute cracks. ”

“ Fine nights are at all times chilly, and men employed out of doors from the fall of the evening to the dispersal of the morning mists rely on an unusually warm under-dress of soft leather, as flexible as kid, but thicker, which is said to keep in the warmth of the body far better than any woven material. ”

“ Leather, on the other hand, is a product of the hypodermic part of the body and, as such, belongs to those parts of the organism which are filled with blood, and, therefore, permeated with life. (Note as a characteristic of leather that it requires a special treatment, tanning, to make it as immune from decay as hair is by nature.) Hair and leather, therefore, represent in themselves a salt-sulphur polarity, and thus fulfil the corresponding function when brought together with resin or glass respectively. ”

“ Leather can be stiff as bone or supple as silk, nearly as waterproof as rubber or capable of sopping up water like a sponge, tough and unyielding or resilient and stretchy, smooth and translucent as paper, deeply grained in many patterns, or softly napped. ”

“ Perhaps one of the most noted examples of the use of embossed and decorative leather work is the ancient case of stamped leather intricately foliated, a highly decorative work of art in which is enclosed that remarkable goblet of legendary fame known as "The Luck of Eden Hall." ”

“ In Wet Weather wear Shoes with double upper-leathers—- two thin leathers will keep you much drier than one thick one, and are more pliable—the Currier’s Dubbing is the best nourisher of Leather—and renders it as soft as satin, and impervious to Water. ”

“ Clothing for men and women was made from coarse wool, silk, and linen and was usually brown in color. Only the wealthy could afford to wear linen or silk. Men also wore leather clothing, such as neckpieces, breeches, ankle leathers, shoes, and boots. Boots were worn when fighting. They carried knives or axes under metal belts. They could carry items by tying leather pouches onto their belts with their drawstrings. They wore leather gloves for warmth and for heavy working with their hands. ”

“ Take, then, a piece of leather two feet long, and one inch and a half wide. The leather ought to be the thickest a shoemaker can give you, of the same sort as he makes the uppers of a navvy’s boots with. ”

“ Those who would prefer to have an entire piece of leather work can paint landscapes or flowers upon white leather, using the same medium as is used in body colour painting at the School of Design, mixed with finely powdered colours. ”

“ I must here be understood to confine my approbation to the articles manufactured from leather tanned in a regular manner, and not that paltry brown-paper-like rubbish manufactured in pots and pans by indigent natives, who often work up a skin within the third or fourth day after its being stripped from some starved sheep, or goat; but which leather may always be distinguished by a narrow streak of white, that is, of raw hide, remaining in the middle of its thickness. ”

“ The same feeling for the power of leather possibly explains the use as a seat of various kinds of skins, such as those of the tiger and antelope, by many kinds of ascetics, and in the old ritual the wife with her husband sat on the hide of a bull to promote the fertility of their union. ”

“ The boy was growing fast and in his lambskin coat worn with the fleece inside, the soft tanned shammy leather without all encrusted by gold-silk embroidery to a supple strength that kept out both cold and sabre cuts, he looked quite a young man ”

“ This leather, in the hands of an ordinary workman, would make a clumsy covering upon account of its great thickness; for it cannot be shaved down by a skin-dresser without destroying the natural grain of the leather, and, with it, its velvet-like richness and beauty; and yet, under the manipulations of these French artists, it becomes one of the most plastic of materials; rare volumes of the smallest dimensions, containing but one or two sheets, are not only covered on the exterior, but the interior of the boards, and even the joints are of Levant morocco. ”

“ The use of leather as a quarter lining in oxfords and low shoes is permitted only when used in skeleton form with fabric. Leather linings will be permitted in evening slippers where uppers are made of fabrics. ”

“ If we examine our shoes, we will find that the different parts are composed of material called leather. The bottom of the shoe is of hard leather, while the part above the sole is of a softer, more pliable leather. This leather is nothing more than the hides of different animals treated in such a way as to remove the fat and the hair. ”

“ No other leather possesses the same closeness of texture, smoothness of surface, and elasticity. From being employed as rough waist-coats for seamen, and hairy coverings for trunks, it is now in its stratified state applied to the most delicate artistic purposes. ”

“ When the leather is dry a lighter tint, transparent enough to allow the stencilled design to be visible through it, may be washed over the whole. Excellent effects of considerable richness can thus be produced. The depth of colour is further increased by the process of rubbing, which is necessary to the proper patine of leather. If done with wax, encaustic or varnish, it is an effective protection for the surface of the leather against deterioration from outside73 causes. ”

“ When we come to add to this the value of the leather for harness-making, for belting and the other purposes for which leather is used, we have over $2,000,000 taken annually from the people of this city for leather, and its fabrics. ”

“ Respectfully begs leave to acquaint Officers of the Army, the Civil Service, Cadets, and others proceeding to India, that he has introduced an entirely new process in the preparation of leather, whereby it is rendered most beautifully soft and pliable, and at the same time so much changed in its nature, as not to occasion that pain and inconvenience universally experienced in wearing new boots. ”

“ Currying of the Lighter Leathers.—The duty of the currier is not solely directed towards heavier leathers; he is also entrusted with the dressing and fitting of the lighter leathers for the shoemaker, coachbuilder, saddler, &c. He has to pare the leather down and reduce inequalities in thickness, to impregnate it with fatty matter in order to render it soft and pliable, and to give it such a surface dressing, colour and finish as will please the eye and suit the purposes of its consumers. ”

“ The art of the leather manufacturer is principally directed to overcoming the tendency to putrefaction, securing suppleness in the material, rendering it impervious to and unalterable by water, and increasing the strength of the skin and its power to resist wear and tear.
Leather is made by three processes or with three classes of substances. Thus we have (1) tanned leather, in which the hides and skins are combined with tannin or tannic acid; (2) tawed leather, in which the skins are prepared with mineral salts ”

“ In those days, when he was wandering away from men, and shrinking with a sort of horror from the fashions of the world, he had made himself a strong rough suit of leather, and this for many years was his dress. ”

“ The process of making leather by soaking hides in a solution of salt and alum, or by packing them down with dry salt and powdered alum. Used to prepare skin rugs and furs.
Tempering. The operation of wetting the leather in water to take hardness out and make leather “mull,” so that it may be worked easier.
Tip. The toe piece which is stitched to the vamp and outside of it. Stock tip is a tip of the same material as the vamp. Patent tip is a patent leather tip. Diamond tip refers to the shape extending back to a point. Imitation tip-stitching across the vamp is imitation of a tip. ”

“ With the exception of Russia leather--which they import from that country, and employ in fashioning their water-skins--their coverings for the feet, and their harness and accoutrements for horses, are manufactured of native leather. ”

“ Before the leather can be cut and sewed into the handsome articles that are sold over the counters of the retail dry goods houses and furnishing goods stores as gloves, the skins from which they are made must be specially prepared. ”

“ In the next reign the French use of the semis or powder, a single small stamp, of a fleur-de-lys, a thistle, a crown, or the like, impressed in rows all over the cover, was increasingly imitated in England, very unsuccessfully, and, save for a few traces of the style of Day, the leather bindings of the first third of the century deserve the worst epithets which can be given them.
Until, however, French fashions came into vogue after the Restoration, English binders had never been content to regard leather as the sole material in which they could work. ”

“ No one shall sell any woolen cloth that shrinks when it is wet.
Only artificers using the cutting of leather, may buy and sell tanned leather and only for the purpose of converting it into made wares. ”

“ Leather which is painted or japanned possesses little or no tenacity, and is never oiled. The patent grained elastic leather, which is so very much in use for hoods and knee-flaps, is a very beautiful substance to the eye, and is quite waterproof so long as it is free from cracks ”

“ Now mark a line along the edges of the patent leather outside the chain and prick it fine, laying on the patent leather from opening to opening, and stitching double with beeswaxed linen thread and a fine awl. Stitch the patent leather across also at the ends, catching the above-mentioned little chapes. Then pare, sandpaper, black, and well polish the edges.
To make the head-piece, cut the leather 11⁄2 in. wide and 1 ft. 10 in. long; slit it 6 in. at each end, and edge, black, and rub it well, and then crease it with a hot creaser close to the edge and at both sides of the slits. ”