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Raw hide preservation - Damage from bacteria present in salt

Salting the hides is no guarantee of satisfactory preservation, unless the characteristic pink coloured salt-loving bacteria, micrococcus roseus, is eliminated. TFL has practical methods and highly active additives to minimise the effects, and to kill the bacteria.

Raw hide preservation - Dried and dry salted - Hint 1

Raw hides in dry or dry-salted condition are a degradable material liable to attack by micro-organisms (bacteria and mould). Procedures to minimise and eliminate this damage are available from TFL.

Raw hide preservation - Dried and dry salted - Hint 2

TFL's strategies to overcome natural fat are adapted to each individual type of hide or skin.

Raw hide preservation - Dried and dry salted - Hint 3

The dried or dry salted hide brings with it natural contaminants from the ranch and feed lot. Dried dung can interfere with successful fleshing, causing great loss of value through tearing of the hide. Both dung and urine contaminate the hide with bacteria. TFL presents strategies to overcome these difficulties.

Raw hide preservation - Dried dung and urine stains

The raw hides bring with it natural contamination from the ranch and feed lot. Dried dung can interfere with successful green fleshing, causing great loss of value through tearing of the hide. Both dung and urine contaminate the hide with bacteria. TFL presents strategies to overcome these difficulties.The raw hides bring with it natural contamination from the ranch and feed lot. Dried dung can interfere with successful green fleshing, causing great loss of value through tearing of the hide. Both dung and urine contaminate the hide with bacteria. TFL presents strategies to overcome these difficulties.

Raw hide preservation - Dried out hides and skins

Some tannery storage conditions may result in areas of the raw hide drying out. If left uncorrected, this can result in negative effects on chemical penetration and distribution. TFL's surfactants, wetting agents and enzymes from a powerful set of tools to combat this problem.

Raw hide preservation - Greasy hides

Natural fat content of skin adversely affects later processing, degrading the quality and causing a great loss in value. TFL has developed strategies to overcome this problem.

Raw hide preservation - Hair Slip

TFL's experience in combating bacteria is brought into play as soon as the hide is removed from the carcass. The auxiliaries mixed with the salt, and included in the bring solution, ensure that bacterial action is not evident as "Hair-Slip".

Raw hide preservation - Pickled material

Pickled material is liable to deteriorate in storage. TFL has solutions to prevent mould growth, and to hide the effects of creases that form when the hides are baled.

Raw hide preservation - Raw material damaged by disease or parasites / by flay cut / thorn or wire damage

Parasites, insects and other physical damage to the hide is made worse during beamhouse treatments - especially if excessive swelling occurs. TFL auxiliaries regulate this to a controlled plumping.

Raw hide preservation - Stale hides

Bacterial damage may not be evident in the wet-salted condition. Slow and extended attack by bacteria can show up in later processes. TFL's strategies include attacking the bacteria, and regulating the beamhouse processes with the correct enzymatic additives.

Raw hide preservation - Storage

Optimum conditions of storage should also prevent attack by insects and avoid the skins becoming damp. TFL proposes the use of the appropriate agents to conserve the hides in the best state of preservation.

Raw hide preservation - Veins

All hides and skins have a vein network within the structure of the skin. Under certain conditions the vein itself, or bacteria that were initially nourished by the nutrients in the vein (blood) cause the network to become exaggerated. This degrades the hide, and loses value for the tanner. TFL's leather technology proposes solutions.

Raw hide preservation - excessive draw in the wet blue

The benefits of adequate soaking are sometimes overlooked in the rush to productivity. Removal of molecular species, which hinder uniform distribution of process chemicals, is a key objective. TFL stresses the importance of the choice of auxiliary and careful adjustment of process conditions.

Sheep Nubuck

Direct method to produce sheep nubuck.

Soaking

Critical assistance to the soaking can be given by the choice of the correct soaking auxiliary. This not only speeds up the soaking process, but helps in removal of natural products in the hide which otherwise slow down the penetration of important process chemicals during the critical early stages of leather making.

Soaking - Bacterial growth

The value-loss to the tanner from bacterial- activity is evident to the nose, as well as to the eyes. The origins of bacterial attack, how bacteria damage the hide, and how this can best be avoided all form part of the core experience of TFL. Check the section on soaking to find out more.

Soaking - Green and lime fleshing

The proper penetration of chemicals in the early processes is greatly helped by green and lime fleshing. TFL's technicians can show how this can reduce the effects of natural fat in later tanning processes.

Soaking - Selection of surfactants

The impact of natural fat in the hide is frequently a source of concern. Fat slows down the penetration of beamhouse and tanning chemicals, its fatty acids can form calcium and chrome soaps which are extremely difficult to disperse, and the adverse effects even remain present affecting the shade of dyeing, and the adhesion of finishing.

Soaking - Temperature of water

Temperature is another important parameter to which TFL's technicians pay special attention. In soaking, the correctly selected temperature range can pay dividends to leather quality and the economy of production. Handled inappropriately, the effects are not pretty to look at...

Soaking - Vessel loading / Float ratio

Leather technicians appreciate that making high quality leather is not only a matter of election the right chemicals. Water, the type of drum, speed of agitation must be adjusted for optimum results. TFL's tanning experts take into consideration every individual tannery's production set-up when designing a process to meet local needs.

Special factors to be observed when processing fresh hides

Processing fresh hides from the abattoir has many advantages. It can have several pitfalls too, as studies at BCT in Brighton / England have shown. TFL's special auxiliaries pay attention to the polymucosaccharides, which, if not removed, interfere with penetration of chemicals and spoil the leather quality.

Time in Soaking process

The speed of the soaking process becomes an issue when a long process has to be adjusted to fit within the tannery schedule. The collagen fibres must return to the original hydrated condition, as they were before drying. The consequence of poor soaking can lead to inconsistent processing within the area of the hide, and through the hide's cross-section. This can cause loss in quality and value of the finished leather. TFL's speciality auxiliaries have evolved to meet the needs of high productivity, yet also to safeguard the quality of the leather in process.

Types of finishing - Covered finishing

Covered finishing.

Types of finishing - Embossed finishing

Embossed finishing.

Types of finishing - Oil and wax finishing

Oil and wax finishing.

Types of finishing - Polymer finishing

Polymer finishing.

Types of finishing - Polyurethane finishing

Polyurethane finishing.

Types of finishing - Pull-up finishing

Pull-up finishing.

Types of finishing - Semi-aniline finishing

Semi-aniline finishing.

Wet salted hides and skins / brined hides - Hint 1

Wet-salting of fresh hides causes certain changes in the hide which need to be reversed when the hides are taken for processing. TFL proposes additives to the salt, and measures to ensure that the hide reverts to the original fully hydrated state when the process begins.

Wet salted hides and skins / brined hides - Hint 2

The raw hide brings with it natural contaminents from the ranch and feed-lot. Dried dung can interfere with successful fleshing, causing great loss of value through tearing of the hide. Both dung and urine contaminate the hide with bacteria. Process vessels (drums) have washboard perforations and drainage holes, which block if dung residues are not dispersed. TFL presents strategies to overcome these difficulties.

Wet salted hides and skins / brined hides - Hint 3

Beamhouse processes must be adapted to the structure of the individual type of hide or skin. TFL's strategies include ensuring through soaking, and control of swelling during liming as well as preventing bacterial attack.

Wet salted hides and skins / brined hides - Hint 4

Irregular and non-uniform drying out of wet-salted hides cause significant loss in value. Initial treatment involves TFL processes that are designed to cause the dried out areas to revert to the original hydrated state.

pH Conditions in Soak

The importance of maintaining the correct pH in the soaking operation cannot be overstated. The influence upon accelerated soaking systems, as well as on the activity of enzymatic soaking assistants, makes this a most important control parameter.

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