Oil tannage for chamois leather

Abstract

The chamois are tanned by traditional methods using unsaturated oil such as cod liver oil to give a soft and natural feel to the product. Typically chamois leather is used to dry off surfaces after washing; this is due to the absorbency of the leather (Bayramoglu 2006). In addition, grime particles are drawn away from the surface being cleaned. The particles are held within the hollow fibre of the leather, eliminating abrasion. Other uses of oil tanned leathers are for glove-making and for filtering water from petrol, etc. Chamois leather has a characteristic yellow colour and because of this reason it is not necessary to dye it. It is an example of a leathering type of process because, although it resists microbial attack, the shrinkage temperature is not raised significantly above the value of raw pelt. In essence, the process involves filling wet pelt with unsaturated oil, then polymerising the oil in situ by oxidation (Covington 2009). © 2015 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.