Leather Process

The raw hides go through a 10 stage process to reach the wet blue stage.

On receipt, hides arrive on the pallets in the salted condition. The salt helps protect the hide from bacterial action. Strict stock rotation ensures that hides are not allowed to deteriorate.

Soaking

The first stage of the operation is to soak the hides in water to remove the salt and replace the water in the hide lost since removal from the carcass. All water additions are controlled through four Huni Aquamix Stations.

Unhairing

The hair is chemically removed using sulphide & lime and the hide is allowed to swell under controlled conditions to open up the fibre structure. This allows better penetration of the chemicals and prepares the hide for future processing. All liming is carried out in canbar mixers.

Fleshing

The fat and unwanted subcutaneous matter are removed mechanically using a fleshing machine. Lang have a through fed Persico fleshing machine and a standby conventional Polletto fleshing machine.

Splitting

If hides are scheduled for lime splitting, then we regulate the substance of the hides using a Mosconi band knife splitter with a Rizzi splitting machine on standby. Both machines have FBP extractors fitted to remove the hide from the rear of the machine. The hides are then transferred to modern wooden drums to begin the tanning process.

Deliming

In order to prepare the hide for the pickling and tanning operations, the PH of the alkali swollen hide must be reduced gradually. This is carried out by washing and by using CO2 gas.

Bating

Bating is carried out to soften the hides. Modern enzymes are utilised to digest the unwanted interfibrillary proteins to give a soft, stretchy hide. Following deliming and bating, the hides are washed in cool water to remove all the dirt from the bating operations and to lower the temperature of the bath.

Pickling

Pickling, using salt and acid takes place to preserve the hide from deteriation and to further reduce the PH prior to tanning. Synthetic fat liquors are added to improve softness.

Tannage

Tannage takes place using Chromium salts. This is an irreversible chemical reaction which gives the resultant leather good thermal stability properties. Only at this stage can the hide be called leather. At all stages of the process from the raw hide to the final tan, processes are closely monitored with temperatures and PH values tested regularly during the process. All running times are recorded also.

Once the tannage has been completed and all the relevant laboratory tests have been completed, the hides are then passed through a Samming machine to remove moisture prior to final inspection. Area is measured to ensure that our customers receive good yields from our wet blue hides.

Our finished product wet blue is our customers raw material which will be dyed and finished to produce fine Scottish leather that we know today.