Leather 101

Chrome Tanned Leather is a tannage using chromium salts in the tanning process along with oils and other tanning components. This is normally used for upholstery and garment leathers. The leather is usually very soft and stretchy

Cowhide Hide from a mature female bovine that has produced a calf.

Combination Tanned Leather utilizes a combination of vegetable and chrome tanning materials to make leather. The majority of leather in the market today uses this tanning method. This is the lowest grade of leather that can still be categorized with in the leather family. In the processing of leather one of the steps is to reduce the thickness of the hide depending on what type of article is being made. The process is called splitting. Once the leather is split the top portion is used to make either full or top grain leather the by product. Most tanneries sell this off by the pound to split tanneries. They in turn will process this through the tanning process and then normally apply a polyurethane coating on the surface. This coating is exactly the same as that which is used on faux leather. On a small portion of the splits they are finished with the pigment. A final embossing process with a heavy grain, such as a buffalo, is added to help hide the fibrous nature of the split surface

Glazed Finish Similar to an aniline finish except that the leather surface is polished to a high luster by the action of glass or steel rollers under tremendous pressure.

Goatskin Skin from a mature goat.

Grain Leather Hides and skins which have been processed with the grain, or outer surface, dressed for end use.

Hide The whole pelt from large animals (cattle, horse, etc.), in contrast to the term "skin", the pelt of young or small animals.

Horsehide Hide from a horse, usually from the front quarter.

Lambskin Skin from a lamb, or young sheep.

Leather The pelt of an animal which has been transformed by tanning into a non-putrescible, useful material.

Naked Leather A hide that has been dyed, with no other finishes applied.

Ounce Measurement of the thickness of leather. 1 ounce = 1/64 inch = 0.4 mm. In theory this measurement is based on the assumption that one square foot of leather will weigh a certain number of ounces and will be a certain uniform thickness. Hence, one square foot of leather which would weigh 3 ounces theoretically would be a 3-ounce leather.

Shearling Wooled sheep and lambskins, tanned with the wool intact.

Sheepskin Skin from a mature sheep.

Skin The pelt from small animals (calf, sheep, goat, etc).

Split The underneath layer of side leather which has been "split" off. Devoid of a natural grain, it may be either sueded or pigment finished and embossed.

Steerhide Hide from a mature male bovine, incapable of reproduction, having been raised for beef.

Suede Leathers that are finished by buffing the flesh side (opposite the grain side) to produce a nap. Term refers to the napping process, and is unrelated to the type of skin used.

Top Grain From the balance of the hides that are not suitable for the full grain leather comes the top grain leather. The main reason a hide is not suitable for full grain leather is surface imperfections. To remove these imperfections the leather is sanded to remove any unwanted areas on the surface. The sanding process makes the surface resembles suede. Then a coating of pigment paint is applied (similar to wall paint). The grain is then recreated in a stamping process called plating. This plating process can return the leather to what it looked like originally or can be made to look like many different animals such as elephant, ostrich and alligator. Hundreds of different grains are available options.

Vegetable is a tannage using the bark of trees and ground up berries to form an extract that is then absorbed by the hide. Normally used in making sole leather, saddle leather and some belt leathers. By nature, it is very stiff and firm, like the wood it comes from.

Weight Generally referred to the thickness of the leather. Usually measured in millimeters (mm) or ounces (see above). A good rule of thumb regarding millimeter weight is each 0.1 mm is equvalent to one sheet of standard copy paper. Therefore, a leather garment made with 1.2 mm leather is equivalent to the thickness of 12 sheets of paper. Weight guidelines are:0.5 mm - 0.8 mm = lightweight leather0.9 mm - 1.1 mm = midweight leather1.2 mm - 1.6 mm = heavyweight leather1.7 mm - 2.0 mm = super heavyweight leather (usually found in chaps)