The Historic Village at Allaire

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Tanning Pit The history of leather working is probably as old as the history of humankind itself. From the first prehistoric humans; who began tanning hides with primitive flint tools, water and tallow and then sewing them together to form basic garments; to today's top designers such as Jimmy Choo, Emma Hope or Katerina Mootich (Mutic), leather has been a part of man's life for millennia.

Leather working and tanning found its humble beginnings in the processing of hides taken from food animals. After a kill, our prehistoric ancestor's devised ways to stretch the hide across wooden frames constructed of tree limbs and branches and, using either a wet scraping process or smoking process, scraped the hide with primitive flint knives such as those discovered by archaeologists on the Salisbury Plains of England. The wet scraping process, involved soaking the hide in water, scraping it free of any bits of matter such as animal fats, muscle tissue, flesh, bone and hair which might have adhered to the hide in its removal from the carcass, and then rubbing or pounding it with tallow or animal and vegetable derived oils.

Hide Stretching By the 11^th Century, this process developed into the grandfather of the more modern method of tanning. In preparing a hide for tanning, which derives its name from the tannic acid found in tree bark, a process similar to the one previously described is employed. The hide would either be subjected to a wet scraping, where it is soaked for several days in a clay lined pit filled with water and lime, then stretched and scraped using unhairing and fleshing knives, or it would be slowly smoked for a dry scraping. The one advantage of the dry scraping is that the hide is not affected by the chemical properties of the lime which can toughen it or erode it.

After the scraping process, the actual tanning process is begun. The hides are placed in 6 to 8 foot deep clay lined pits in the tan yard. These pits are previously filled with the tanner's "syrup" or "ooze," a solution of ground tree bark, usually oak, and water. The tannic acid in the ground tree bark, or tannin powder as it is called, produces a chemical reaction with the hide drawing out the moisture and eliminating any flesh eating micro-organisms which would promote decomposition of the hide. This process is very similar to the Ancient Egyptians' practice of mummification. The tannin powder is renewed, usually on a monthly basis, and the entire process can take as long as eighteen months. After the tanning process the hide is again dried out and the currier takes over.