The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-12
ODD KINDS or LEATHER.
Skins of Beasts, Birds, Fishes and
Reptiles That Reach the. Tannery.


Reptiles That Reach the Tannery.
From the Washington Star.
1T has been demonstrated that all
sorts of leather may be tanned" said a
dealer in fine skins and leather in New
York to the writer recently. Beasts,
birds, fishes and reptiles are nowadays
brought TO the tan yards, where their
skins are cured and then made up into
all kinds of useful articles.
Alligator skins have long been a ia
vorite material for the manufacture of
belts, pocketbooks, slippers and satehels.
The high price which the genuine article
now commands, from $40 to $50 for sin
gle fair-sized skin, has induced manu-
facturers to produce limitations. These
are merely embossed leather. The pc
cullar scaly nature of the real alligator
hide Is successfully initiated by means of
steel dies, which leave a durable impress
sion upon the leather that is so perfect a
resemblance to the genuine alligator
skin that only experts can tell the differ
ence. The same process Is used to imi-
tate other fancy skins, so that there is
no novelty that is not initiated within
three months of its appearance The al
ligator skins were first put on the Ameri-
can market in 1876
THE skin of the porpoise has long been
used for making shoes, and is in great
demand because of its fine grain and
waterproof properties. 1t resembles a
goat skin. The skin of the seal has
also been made into leather for shoe up
pers, and sells for about $40 dozen
skins.
Kangaroo skins have been on the mar
ket for about ten years. There are
some 5000 kangaroo skins received in
New York every month. They are tan
ned in one large establishment in New
ark, N. J., and are then made into fine
shoes. They come from Australia and
New Zealand Up to 1869 the kangaroo
were killed and eaten in Australia, and
only certain parts of their hides were
cut up into shoestrings. But an Eng
lishman named Brown in that year dis
covered the remarkable character of the
leather and brought several thousand
skins on speculation to this country.
He tried to sell the hides to various
tanners but they We're shy of the novel
ty, and he had to sell them at a sacrifice
to a bookbinder. The latter made tri-
angular corner pieces for ledgers and
commercial books out of them, and so
ascertained the good qualities of the
leather. 1t was in this way that several
large leather factories were first attract
ed to the valuable properties of'kangaroo
hide. The skin is found to be very te-
nacious, and the compactness of the
grain prevents its absorbing water,
while the acids in backing meet with an
almost imperVious substance.
THE skin of the rattlesnake is now
used chiefly for making pocket books and
ladies' belts The notified appearance of
the finished skin makes a pretty leather,
and 1t is expensive. There is an imita-
ton skin made of embossed
sheepskin. The skin Of the monkey is
also tanned and used for making pocket
No. ILL.,
with the hair on for caps, gloves and
coats, and the hides are also used for
leather.
Horses hides are successfully tanned
and put upon the market as a standard
article of leather. There are two facto-
ries in Philadelphia, that use up in sea-
son 100 horse hides a week to cover base
balls They are alum tanned. One hide
will furnish covers for ten dozen No. 1
balls and from five to six dozen inferior
ones. Horses hides for this and other
purposes sell from $3.50 to a. according
to size. Kips are also used. They sell
at IA cents a foot, and sheepskins from
forms the center, around which yarn is
wound by hand. Then they are covered
with horse hide. They are called dead
balls" and won't bounce.
American kid is now taking a proni-
nent place in the leather market, and IS
even preferred TO ErenCh Kid by many
manufacturers, who find it quite as soft,
pliable and durable and much cheaper
than the foreign article. Pigskins are
still in demand and used largely for max
ing saddles
THE most costly leather now in the
market is known to the trade as piano
leather American tanners years ago
discovered the secret of making Russia
leather, with it's peculiarly pungent and
lasting odor, but the secret of making
piano leather is known only to family
of tanners In Thurlngia, Germany. This
leather has but one use-the covering of
piano keys. A peculiar thing about Il
is that the skins from which it is tanned
are prepared almost entirely in America.
1t ia a particular kind of buckskin
THE skin of the common red or Vir-
ginia deer will not make the leather, a
species of the animal known as the gray
deer and found only In the vicinity of
the great northern lakes, alone furnish
ing the material. The German tanners
have an agency in the west, which col
lects the skins Of this deer from the In
dams and the half-breed hunters, who
supply the market. When the skins are
returned to this country as piano leather
they cost the piano manufacturers from
SIS to SIS pound. The worlds supply of
this Invaluable and necessary material is
supplied by the Kutzchman family of tan
ners who have six establishments in
Germany, the largest in Thuringia