Handmade Leather Carrying Case. Treated and formed rectangular case with decorations incised into the leather on top. Simple, elegant, and very personal, with good quality handiwork and smooth lines.
Size: 14 3/8 x 8 1/2 x 3 in.
#8390 .
Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hogs, as well as aquatic animals such as seals and alligators. Leather can be used to make a variety of items, including clothing, footwear, handbags, furniture, tools and sports equipment, and lasts for decades. Leather making has been practiced for more than 7,000 years and the leading producers of leather today are China and India. The leather manufacturing process is divided into three fundamental subprocesses: preparatory stages, tanning, and crusting. A further subprocess, finishing, can be added into the leather process sequence, but not all leathers receive finishing. The preparatory stages are when the hide is prepared for tanning. Preparatory stages may include soaking, hair removal, liming, deliming, bating, bleaching, and pickling. Tanning is a process that stabilizes the proteins, particularly collagen, of the raw hide to increase the thermal, chemical, and microbiological stability of the hides and skins, making it suitable for a wide variety of end applications. The principal difference between raw and tanned hides is that raw hides dry out to form a hard, inflexible material that, when rewetted, will putrefy, while tanned material dries to a flexible form that does not become putrid when rewetted. The hides soak in a “tanning liquor” while the drum slowly rotates about its axis, and the liquor slowly penetrates through the full thickness of the hide. Once the process achieves even penetration, workers slowly raise the liquor’s pH in a process called basification, which fixes the tanning material to the leather. The more tanning material fixed, the higher the leather’s hydrothermal stability and shrinkage temperature resistance. Crusting is a process that thins and lubricates leather. It often includes a coloring operation, and chemicals added during crusting must be fixed in place. Crusting culminates with a drying and softening operation, and may include splitting, shaving, dyeing, whitening or other methods. For some leathers, tanners apply a surface coating, called “finishing,” which can include oiling, brushing, buffing, coating, polishing, embossing, glazing, or tumbling, among others. The commonly used term “genuine leather” does not describe a specific grade, but instead indicates true animal product turned into split leather that has been extensively processed. Due to the carbon footprint, chemical exposure, and time-consuming nature of leathermaking, the term has also come into vogue to mean leather that comes from this specific process, as opposed to alternatives (often called “faux leather”) that arose in the 20th Century for environmental, cultural, and socially conscious reasons. While leather biodegrades slowly, taking roughly 25 to 40 years to decompose, vinyl and petrochemical-derived materials are estimated to take 500 or more years to decompose, making leather a significantly less practical but still highly desired substance in sportsgear, clothing, car upholstery, and other consumer goods.
