MISTER NATURAL

Many different types of leather are available, these variations depend mainly on the process used to cure and finish the leather.

ANALINE DYED Process of colouring leathers, all the way through, using non-toxic, semi-transparent dyes rather than pigments. The dye allows the natural markings on the hide to remain visible.

BRIDLE LEATHER (Bridle Butt) Strong, flexible leather made from ox or cow hide bearing a uniform thickness and a plain finish, vegetable tanned and cured.

BRUSHED PIGSKIN Pigskin leather in which the wearing surface has been finished with a velvet-like nap.

ANALINE STAINED Leather that has been stained by brushing, padding or spraying rather than pigment coating.

CALF/CALFSKIN Fine grain leather made from the skin of a young or immature bovine animal that has been fed only milk, not exceeding a certain weight, generally 14 Kilograms, in the green salted state.

CHROME TANNED Leather tanned with chromium salts alone or together with some other tanning agent in a small proportion, maintaining the essential chrome tanned character of the leather.

CORRECTED GRAIN LEATHER Leather from which the grain layer has been removed by lightly buffing and a new surface has been built by various finishes.

CRUST LEATHER Type of leather, that after tannage, has not been further processed but has simply been dried.

DOUBLEFACE Leather which is finished on both sides. For example: skins with hair or wool on one side and a sueded finish on the other.

EMBOSSED LEATHER Leather with a printed or raised pattern, either resembling or different from the natural grain, to disguise defects or create an exciting design.

FINISH The introduction of a surface coating during the final stage or stages of the manufacture of dressed leather, such as spraying, waxing or embossing.

FLESH SPLIT Mechanically separated inner or under layer of a hide or skin.

FULL GRAIN Leather made by the removal of the epidermis, leaving the original grain surface exposed with none of the surface removed by buffing, snuffing or splitting.

GLACE Gloving leather finished on the grain side to give a glossy surface, often by glazing, plating, ironing or polishing to the grain side.

GRAIN The visible pattern on the outer surface of a hide or skin created by the pores. GRAIN SPLIT The outer (wool or hair) layer of a hide or skin that has been split into two or more layers.

KID Full chrome upper leather made from kid or goat skin. Gold and silver kid may be semi-chrome tanned.

KIP/KIPSKIN Light rawhide from an immature grass-fed bovine animal of European or American origin. It is larger than calf but smaller than fully-grown cattle.The hides of mature cattle, other than buffalo, of Asian or African origin which are smaller than those of Europe and America.Kipskins weighs between 15 and 25 pounds (6.8 and 11.3 Kgs.) in the green salted state.

MINERAL TANNED Leather tanned using mineral salts such as aluminium, chrome or ziconium salts.

NAPPA Soft, full grain gloving or clothing leather, usually tanned with alum and chromium salts and dyed throughout. Made from unsplit sheep, lamb, goat or kid.

NUBUCK Cattle hide leather with a velvet-like surface after buffing on the grain side. May be moisture repellent.

PATENT LEATHER Leather to which several layers of drying oils, varnishes or synthetics resins have been applied to give a mirror-like finish.

SHEARLING Woolskin that has been tanned with the wool intact - often refered to as sheepskin.

SHOULDER The fore part of a cattlehide between the neck and a line cut across the hide from the center of the front flanks. Tends to vary in thickness and have more grain lines than top quality back leather.

SIDE Half of hide divided along the line of the backbone, with head, shoulder and belly attached.

SOLE LEATHER BEND Tanned and finished leather used for outer sole in footwear manufacturing.

SPLIT The separation of the skin of a hide into several layers known as grain split (outer split) and flesh split (inner split). Suede Leather in which the surface has been finished to produce a velvet-like nap effect by buffing the flesh side.

TANNING The converting process of the protein of the raw hide or skin, by the use of tanning material into a stable, non-perishable form of leather. Typical tanning types are: Mineral tannages, mainly chrome salts. Aluminum or zirconium salts are used in certain cases. Vegetable tannages, a tradition tanning method, now using mainly mimosa, quebracho, and chestnut extracts often in combination with synthetic tanning agents. Aldehydes, such as glutaraldehyde. Oil such as codfish oil for the chamois tannage.

VEGETABLE TANNED Tanning leather by solely using vegetable tannin; or with small portion of other agents to assist the tanning process or modify the leather without changing the essential vegetable character of the leather.