Upholstery Leather Explained
Who takes the time to think about leather? Let me see. Upholstery leather or a leather wallet for a gift. Mercedes-Benzes leather seats or maybe a leather jacket. But beyond the item and the style of the item, who thinks about this? You’ll have a new appreciation for your everyday items after reading this article.
There are various tanning methods. One particularly surprised me. If you want really soft and lovely baby shoes, the leather was probably brain tanned. Yep. That’s a techniques. And you know how soft a baby’s first shoes are. You have to maintain leather with some oil treatments or other or the leather will rot. It is, after all, an animal product, not some synthetic. Mink oil is recommended. Of course, that is not for your rain-stained cowboy boots!
Leather comes in four forms: full grain, top grain, corrected grain, split suede. Full grain is best for high quality furniture. It’s been buffed, sanded and treated till you have a superior product that will age exquisitely with time and acquire an attractive patina. Top grain leather is the most common. Then there is a little known intriguing fact about patent leather, that shiny leather. It was invented in Newark, NJ, by Seth Boyden in 1818. He created that high gloss, plastic coat.
There’s all kinds of leathers, too. Fish leather, cowhide leather, ostrich, and sting ray. It can all be processed. Now that’s where it gets interesting. There are so many steps! And the chemicals! And the dyes! All of these old methods have a serious environmental impact. Chromium is used a great deal in tanning. Ammonia is used a lot, too. There are other methods, but …. life goes on as usual, for the most part.
Leather crafting, shoes, bookbinding and leather tapestries are still modern uses of leather. Heavy metal bands tend to sport lots of leather clothes. You would think that authentic leather is in upscale cars like Mercedes? Actually, a synthetic leather is popularly used in cars. You can, however, order specialty leathers such as chinchilla. For religious reasons, products must be labeled ‘cow’ or ‘pig’ product so as not to offend Muslims or Hindus. Vegans do not involved themselves with any animal products neither for clothes nor food. Animal rights groups like PETA support alternative materials. We have enough alternatives that, in fact, furs and skins are not necessarily the best choices for clothing.
If you want to purchase upholstery leather at wholesale prices, Carroll Leather in Conover, NC seems to be the best place to start. They are willing to work with you and help you with our purchase in the best and most doable way. They appreciate everyone’s business and want to be of service.
