A look at tanning

A brief look at the history of tanning

In ancient history, tanning was considered a noxious trade and relegated to the outskirts of town, amongst the poor. The ancients used leather for waterskins, bags, harnesses, boats, armor, quivers, scabbards, boots, and sandals. Around 2500 BC, the Sumerians began using leather, affixed by copper studs, on chariot wheels.

Tanners would take an animal skin and soak it in water. Then they would pound and scour the skin to remove flesh and fat. Next, either they soaked the skin in urine to loosen hair fibers or they let the skin putrefy for several months, after which they dipped the skin in a salt solution. After the hair fibers were loosened, the tanners would scrape them off with a knife.

Once the hair was removed, tanners would bate the material by pounding dung into the skin or soaking the skin in a solution of animal brains. They would also take cedar oil, alum, or tannin and stretch the skin as it lost moisture and absorbed the tanning agent.

Leftover leather would be turned into glue. Tanners would place scraps of hides in a vat of water and let them deteriorate for months. The mixture would then be placed over a fire to boil off the water.

Tanning beds are now used to get an allover tan for those people with little time to sit on the beach.

Site map pages | Other home articles | Terms Of Use | Resources