Comercial tanning of hides in the 1700 and 1800

[gak]

Have been reading a book entitled the Hunting Pioneers from1720 to 1840. Their main source of income was the sale of the hides of animals they had shot for food and just for the hides. My question is, were these hides sold to the buyers with the hair on, doesn't seem that they would have had the time or inclination to do otherwise, and if so, what were the methods of tanning used by the commercial tanners? Thanks

 

The processing of hides was totally dependent on the type of hide and its intended use.

The references show deerhides sold in two ways; half tanned and Indian tanned.

Half tanned was scraped of hair and flesh but not cured further, that being left for the commercial process.

Charleston, Balouxi, Mobile and Natchez would each ship a quarter million hides a year, sometimes more, all through the 18th century.

Indian tanned was scraped, dehaired and softened with a fat and brain solution. Comercial tanners did not want the Indian tanned hides.

Beaver was scraped of flesh and the hair left on, since the hair was the basis for the hat felt. Beaver were dried and pressed into bales.

Most other fur hides were treated the same way.

Buffalo was quickly scraped with the hair left on, folded once long way and allowed to dry. These were refered to as "flint hides" and shipped out from Dodge, Abiline and other railhead towns by the million.

Every town had its tanning factory and the process varried with each operator. Almost every small town east of the Mississippi River has a Tanner Street near what was once the edge of town. Some of the processes took almost a year from start to finish. Bark tanning, vegitable tanning and chemical processes were all used at diferent times. The one thing they all had in common was a terrible smell!

:front:

 

[gak]

Thanks. Great information. Could you recommend some reading in this area?

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Industrial revolution driven by the steam engine doomed the buffalo when a commercial tanning process was discovered for tanning their thick tough hides.

Excerted from: http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:e1Yc-...gines&hl=en

"18501880 With railroads and steel production in the east and the industrial revolution running amuck in the world a power drive train transfer system was invented. The flat leather belt was used to transfer power from steam engines to anything needing turned. Buffalo hides were converted to the best and longest lasting leather drive belt in the world. The need for these belts drove the buffalo to the edge of extinction."

Excerpted from: http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:zwOkP...gines&hl=en


" By the 1820s in the United States the stationary steam engine had been adapted to power factories. By means of belts, the engine