Occasionally we might get a chrome tanned chrome-tan or oil tanned cowhide through, but typically the only chrome tanned hides we use are our exotics hides. Its the perfumes and chemicals that the leather tanneries use that ultimately give leather that unique smell.
If scent is the strongest sense tied to memory, it makes sense that strong smells like leather get caught in people's minds. We're not mad about it though. We just wish we could still smell it the way that our customers can. In fact, that typical smell that most are familiar with, is created when leather is treated with a lot of chemicals. According to the EPA, these are some of the most common tanning agents used in the world today:.
Not only are toxic ingredients like chromium salts used in chrome-tanned leather, but things like lignosulfate and specialty chemicals are also added to commercial leather products before finishing. The International School of Tanning Technology provides a list of 48 different chemicals that are commonly used in leather processing…48! The most notorious one of these chemicals is a type of chrome, which is known for putting certain tannery workers around the world at risk from exposure.
Chome-tanned leather I should note is probably the most popular type of mass-market leather used in the world today. It is extremely cheap to manufacture, has an immediately soft feel, and unbeknownst to most consumers…also happens to wear out much more quickly. An odor research study published in Chemical Senses reported that various smells presented were described as both leather-like and medicinal.
As you should know by now, harsh chemicals and unnatural ingredients have no place in my workshop. Full-grain Vegetable-Tanned leather from the top U.
I have chosen to buy my leather from an extremely reputable U. The tannery is known for the best quality natural vegetable tanned leather in the world.
Unlike other types of leathers that use chemical solutions to rush the natural process, vegetable tanned leather relaxes and softens into shape over time for maximum longevity. Basically you need to wear-in your wallet or bag over the first week or two to help the fibers stretch into shape. From there, I only use natural dyes that I make right here in my workshop with pure and simple vegetable matter.
I spend most of my free time creating tutorials like this to help those like yourself get into leatherwork and woodworking, or get better at it. If you'd like to support my efforts, consider checking out my handmade leather goods shop and purchasing a gift for yourself or a loved one. It's readers like you that help keep a small U. It can be completed in a fraction of the time and is significantly cheaper.
As chrome-tanned leather typically smells like these chemicals unless artificially perfumed, the special leather smell you remember is likely from a high quality, vegetable tanned product. This intoxicating smell comes from these natural ingredients used, and can be preserved in your product for years to come! Newspaper absorbs smells wonderfully.
If your store your goods in newspaper, any smell your product loses over time will be kept around. As an added plus, newspaper has a very pleasant, rustic smell of its own that pairs beautifully with leather. I find that once I work with something long enough, I don't smell the material any longer. I have definitely found that to be the case with leather. If I stick my nose right against it, I can still smell it.
I can smell bridle leather much easier than the various others I use. There's a fair bit of dubbin in bridle wax, oil and tallow , which has a scent of its own that I associate with leather, but is not necessarily the leather itself.
I think it's the oils oxidising. Smells like the better shoe shops did when I was a kid. I agree with some of the other posters above; unless I put my nose right up against the leather, or I've just opened a new package, I can barely smell it any more.
Russian calf treated with birch oil has a scent of its own -- just ask Coco Chanel ;-! When people come into the workshop the "leather smell" they go doolally over is primarily glue solvent, alcohol dye and scorched dust from the belt sander.
And the coffee machine. Don't know about new cars full-time leatherworker , my car smells Don't think anyone's going to want to bottle that particular scent. Sorry Matt I think i will wait awhile before asking Coco as she is dead and may have her own distinctive smell by now. I am curious about this what leathers have you seen this with? Example, Barenia leather is quite expensive, and the treatment they use is odiferous. Same goes for the Sedgwick's leather I have, very significant smell, they use a lot of oils in their leather, and some of it is fish oil, I believe.
The mimosa used to tan the Chevre Chagrin gives even the goat leather a very unique pleasant smell. Even some of the US leathers like Horween's Dublin has its own odor. All of them cause people to go "oooooooo I smell leather! As far as veg tanned, most of the South American tanned leathers I have seen don't have much odor at all, but the Hermann Oak leather has a smell that I enjoy. Wickett and Craig seems pretty neutral for me.
This and a bright pink hide I got on the cheap which smelled like fish 3 years ago, and still smells like fish today, hence why I haven't used it yet have been the exceptions to the rule for me. This reminds me on going to Petticoat Lane market in London years ago to buy a leather jacket. I found the smell of the leather really overpowering in the warehouse section of the market that sold the jackets.
In the UK you can buy a car leather upholstery cleaner which will give off a 'new leather' smell after use. Car dealers use it on both new cars and used cars. The cleaner works on the PVC and plastic parts as well, shining them up but adding that 'leather' smell. My experience has been primarily with the saddlery and harness leathers from the two vegetable tanneries left in this country, plus a few that have closed since I started, vs the cheaper leather from South America, Mexico and finished equine products made from leather tanned in Asia.
I don't use a lot of chrome tanned leather, and rarely know where it's coming from when I do buy it. If it stinks, I'm probably going to send it back to the supplier.
Both Hermann Oak and Wickett's leather has a pleasant smell, although not overly strong. I honestly have to put my nose right up to a fresh side to smell it.
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