Leather making is one of the most primitive forms of activity men have involved in centuries ago. Leather is associated with animals, and they were hunted and killed for food, but before consuming, their skin was removed using sharp flints. This skin was then used to wrap around and protect from cold weather. But the skin soon started putrefying and decomposing. So, ancient men started drying the leather, a first step towards preserving leather. But this resulted in leather turning hard and inflexible losing its sheen and comfort.
Leather was then softened by rubbing fat on the skin. This made the skin to last longer and made it even more pliable and at the same time prevented it from getting wet. Later using water, barks, leaves and berries, a liquid with vegetable extracts was used for making leather supple soft and rot resistant. The active agents in this extract are called tannins and were probably the first method of tanning leather.
When leather manufacturing became more organized and systematic, tanneries were set up at special pockets with close source of raw materials like adequate supply of hides and skins, plenty of water ? lime for softening and hair removing and ample plant extracts for tannins. Even the processes we use today are based on the ancestral methodology used thousands of years ago.
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