Peabody Leatherworkers Museum

	Common Leather Terms
	From Dictionary of Leather Terminology (Washington, DC: Tanners’ Council of America, 1983) Categories of Leather and Uses Cattle: shoes and slippers, travel bags, gloves and garments, purses, wallets, belts, harnesses, saddles, bridles, footballs, basketballs, volleyballs, bookbinding, upholstery Sheep and lamb: gloves, purses, parchment, chamois, shoe and slipper uppers and linings, textile rollers, hats Goat and kid: shoe and slipper uppers and linings, fancy leather goods and handbags, gloves and garments, bookbinding Equine: gloves and garments, luggage, belts, shoe soles and uppers Buffalo: shoe soles and uppers, fancy leather goods, handbags Pig: gloves, shoe uppers, fancy leather goods, saddlery and harness, upholstery Deer: shoe uppers, gloves, clothing, moccasins, mukluks Kangaroo: shoe uppers Fancy leathers: frog, seal, shark, walrus, camel, elephant, ostrich, alligator, crocodile, lizard, snake Leather Terms Belly The part of the hide from the under side of the animal. Blue Usually in the phrase “in the blue.” Applied to hides or skins that have been chrome-tanned but not finished. Buffing Buffing leather is a very light cut of the grain portion of a cattlehide and used mainly for bookbinding and fancy leather goods. Calfskin Leather Leather made from the skins of the young cattle and characterized by distinct grain and fiber structure. Chamois Leather A soft leather. Oil tanned and suede-finished, they are principally used for cleaning and polishing and in the manufacture of gloves and garments. Chrome Tannage Tannage of leather with chromium compounds; sometimes with small amounts of some other tanning agent but not enough to alter the chrome tanned character of the leather. Combination Tanned Tannage of two or more agents, such as chrome and vegetable. Currying The process of incorporating oils and greases into leather after tanning and otherwise preparing it for specific purposes. Embossed Leathers Hides or skins finished with designs stamped on by etched, engraved or electrotyped plates or rollers. Embossed designs may be an imitation of the natural grain of different animal skins or designs of an artificial nature. Grained Leather Any leather on which the original, natural grain has been highlighted by a finishing process. Hide The whole pelt from a large animal. In the pickle Describes skins from which the hair or wool has been removed and which are preserved in a condition ready for tanning usually in a wet state with brine, acid and sometimes polymer phosphates. Kid Leather made from the skin of a young goat. Machine Buff That cut of the hide from which a buffing of approximately 1/64th of an inch (one ounce) in thickness has been removed form the grain. This should leave a portion of the grain on approximately the entire hide. Morocco Leather Vegetable tanned fancy goatskins having a distinctive grain produced by boarding or graining. Nap Finish The process in which the natural grain layer of the leather is removed and the outer surface of the leather is then given a napped finish. See “suede.” Oak Tanned Leather Common usage is any tannage of heavy leather with vegetable extract. The term originated with leather tanned with the bark of the oak tree. Oiling Off Coating the surface of wet leather with oil before allowing to dry. Patent Leather Leather with a finish which is mirrorlike, flexible and waterproof. Pickled Sheepskins Unsplit sheep and lambskins, from which the wool has been removed and treated with a solution of salt and acid to preserve them until tanning operations begin. Side Half a whole hide, cut longitudinally. Skin Pelt from a young or small animal. Skiver The grain-split of a sheepskin, used for sweat bands for hats, bag linings, bookbinding, purses and fancy leather goods. Split A term used to describe the under portion of a hide or skin, split into two or more thicknesses. A split muse be so marked and cannot be called “genuine leather” or “genuine cowhide.” Suede Finish A finish produced by running the surface of leather on an emery wheel to separate the fibers in order to give the leather a nap. The grain side of a leather may be suede-finished, but the process is most often applied to the flesh surface. The term suede when used alone refers to leather only. The term denotes a finish, not a type of leather. Top Grain The grain split of a hide from which nothing has been removed except the hair and associated epidermis. Vegetable Tannage A generic term to cover the process of making leather by the use of tannins obtained from barks, woods or other parts of plants and trees, as distinguished from “mineral tannages.”

Common Leather Terms