TANNING PROCESS

1	Hides are salted
2	Hides are soaked to remove excess dirt
3	Hides are then drum painted - addition of alkali agents then left to stand overnight
4	Hides are then transported to lime pits - mixture of water, lime and chemicals. Hides are immersed for one day, then transferred to another lime pit containing stronger liquor which is maintained at 75 degrees for 6 days
5	A blunt bladed machine is used to de-hair the hides.
6	A fleshing machine is then used to remove unwanted flesh to leave clean fat free flesh, this leaves the hide with a collagen finish, which is converted, into leather. In this condition, the hide is called a pelt.
7	The pelts are then placed into clean lime liquor pits overnight, then lifted onto a rounding table where the belly edge is cut off.
8	The pelts are now ready for de-liming; this is achieved by placing them into pre-tanned pits for 24 hours to soak containing water and added chemicals, which wash out the alkali in the pelts.
9	After the pre-tanning the pelts are ready for tanning. This can take up to 4 weeks. The pelts are placed into much used and almost exhausted liquors, and then progressively into stronger liquors to fix more tan. The pelts removed daily by hand to ensure that the tan liquor moves freely between pelts. During this process the material becomes known as leather.
10	At the end of the tanning process the hides are taken from the pits toile for 2-3 days then e to drums for fatliquoring. After this process the leather is washed to remove any excess tan before being hung up to dry. The leather is now allowed to dry out naturally with no high temperature as this causes the grain to crack. Once the leather is dry it is sorted for grading and then distributed.