You can get leather from animals ranging from alligators, pigs, to eels. Every animal produces a unique hide for any task or occasion. Here are just a few animals that are used for as leather, and their characteristics: 1. Cattle Leather: Hide from cattle is the most popular and common type of leather.
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Leather furniture is classified into several categories based on its characteristics, and this provides a couple of grading systems. There are basically two cuts of leather based on which part of the hide the leather comes from: top-grain and split. However, both of these types may also be categorized based on the dyes or pigments used to treat the leather.
Top Grain
Top-grain leather comes from the top portion of the hide, which is considered to be the highest quality type of leather, because an animal’s skin is usually strongest at the surface. This type of leather may be processed into full-grain leather, which means it’s not buffed or sanded so it retains the natural markings on the hide, or corrected-grain leather, which means it is buffed and sanded to remove the natural markings. Corrected grain leather is typically smoother and more uniform than full grain, but both have the same level of quality.
Split Leather
The lower layer of the hide is used to make split leather. Split leather has fewer natural markings than top grain, and it's also less expensive. Coated split leather has a protective coating; it is stiffer than top grain leather and not as durable. It’s often used to cover the parts of the sofa that won’t be seen.
Nubuck and Suede
Nubuck and suede are similar in appearance but come from different parts of the hide. Nubuck leather is higher quality than suede, because it comes from the top portion of the hide. It has a slight nap similar to suede, because it has been corrected on one side, but it is more durable because it is a top grain leather. If split leather from the lower portion of the hide is buffed and sanded, you create suede. Nubuck and suede are often treated with chemicals to improve their resistance to stains and water.
Aniline, Pigmented and Semi-Aniline
Leather upholstery may also be classified based on the treatment it receives. Most tanned leather used to upholster a sofa is colored with a penetrating aniline dye, which is absorbed by the pores so it permeates the surface of the hide, adding color without hiding natural markings. This type of leather, which is also called pigmented leather, is often stamped with a leatherlike texture and is the most durable and least expensive type of treated leather available. Semi-aniline leather sofas have only a thin surface coating of dye, while aniline leather has not been treated with color at all. While they have a natural look and feel, aniline and semi-aniline are the least resistant to staining. Aniline leather is considered to be the highest quality, and because only a small number of hides are good enough to use without dye or pigments, it’s also the most expensive.
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Renee Miller began writing professionally in 2008, contributing to websites and the 'Community Press' newspaper. She is co-founder of On Fiction Writing, a website for writers. Miller holds a diploma in social services from Clarke College in Belleville, Ontario.
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Miller, Renee. 'Classification of Different Types of Leather for Sofas.' Home Guides | SF Gate, http://homeguides.sfgate.com/classification-different-types-leather-sofas-92091.html. Accessed 26 June 2019.
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A hide or skin is an animal skin treated for human use. The word 'hide' is related to the German word 'Haut' which means skin. The industry defines hides as 'skins' of large animals e.g. cow, buffalo; the skins refer to 'skins' of smaller animals: goat, sheep, deer, pig, fish, alligator, snake, etc.Common commercial hides include leather from cattle and other livestock animals, buckskin, alligator skin and snake skin. All are used for shoes, clothes, leather bags, belts and other fashionaccessories. Leather is also used in cars, upholstery,interior decorating, horse tack and harnesses. Skins are sometimes still gathered from hunting and processed at a domestic or artisanal level but most leather making is now industrialized and large-scale. Various tannins are used for this purpose.
The term 'skin' is sometimes expanded to include furs, which are harvested from various species, including cats, mustelids, and bears.
History[edit]
Archaeologists believe that animal hides provided an important source of clothing and shelter for all prehistoric humans and their use continued among non-agricultural societies into modern times. The Inuit, for example, used animal hides for summer tents, waterproof clothes, and kayaks. In early medieval ages hides were used to protect wooden castles and defense buildings from setting alight during a siege. Various American Indian tribes used hides in the construction of tepees and wigwams, moccasins, and buckskins. They were sometimes used as window coverings. Until the invention of plasticdrum heads in the 1950s, animal hides or metal was used.
Parchment and vellum—a kind of paper made from processed skins—was introduced to the Eastern Mediterranean during the Iron Age, supposedly at Pergamon.
The Assize of Weights and Measures—one of the statutes of uncertain date from c. 1300—mentions rawhide, gloves, parchment, and vellum among the principal items of England's commerce. A standardized shipload of leather (a last) consisted of 20 dicker of 10 cowhides. Rabbit and squirrel skins were traded and taxed in timbers of 40 hides each. Skins were also traded in binds of 32 or 33 skins each, while gloves were sold in dickers of 10 pair and dozens of 12 pair. The parchment and vellum was traded based on dozens of the original sheepskins from which they were prepared.[1][2]
Rare furs have been a notable status symbol throughout history. Ermine fur was particularly associated with European nobility, with the black-tipped tails arranged around the edges of the robes to produce a pattern of black diamonds on a white field. Demand for beaverhats in the 17th and 18th century drove some of the initial exploration of North America, particularly in Canada, and even prompted wars among native tribes competing for the most productive areas. Natural leather continues to be used for many expensive products from limousine upholstery to designer cellular phone cases. There are, however, many forms of artificial leather and fur now available, which are usually cheaper alternatives.
Production[edit]
Fresh tanned leather
Finishgrading leather
Animal hides and skins are usually processed fresh or salted and tanned. Skins sometimes are stretched, dried, and tanned. Most hides are processed from domesticated animals; the most common wild animals used for fur—mink and rabbit—are similarly raised in captivity and farmed. Some others—including lynx and wolves[citation needed]—are still trapped in the wild for their fur.
Use[edit]
Presently, hides are mainly used for footwear, upholstery, leather goods; skins are used for clothing, particularly as coats, gloves, leather goods and footwear. It is also used for bookbinding.
Many traditional drums, especially hand drums like the pandeiro, continue to be made using natural skins. The alligator drum was formerly important in Chinese music. The Chinesesanxian and Okinawansanshin are usually prepared from snakeskin, while their Japanese equivalent, the shamisen, is made from dogskin in the case of students and catskin in the case of professional players. The African-Americanbanjo was originally made from skins but is now often synthetic. 'Hides' is used as a slang term to refer to a drumset.[3]
Kangaroo leather is the most common material for the construction of bullwhips. Stingray rawhide is a common material for the grips of Chinese, Japanese, and Scottish swords.
Pig skins are processed as pork rinds.
Rabbit fur is popular for hats, coats, and glove linings.
Controversy[edit]
Animal rights activists generally protest the use of animal hides for human clothing. Forms of protest range from PETA's 'I would rather go naked than wear fur' campaign, although more shocking and direct action, like damaging furs with red paint in imitation of blood, has been toned down, like the 'Ink, not Mink' campaign.
See also[edit]
![]() References[edit]
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hide_(skin)&oldid=902736097'
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