Vegetable tanned leather: how to recognize it? As explained in our article on tanning, a leather can be vegetable or mineral tanned.
But it is not always easy to identify the origin of the tanning of a leather: Mineral tanning? Vegetable tanning?
We offer you a method to find out what type of tanning has been applied to your leather: THE FLAME TECHNIQUE.
Explanation of the flame technique:
Nothing could be easier, just bring along :
- A thin strip of leather
- A lighter
- A blank sheet of paper
- A little water
- A cutter
Once you have all these elements at your disposal, start by burning your leather by placing the flame of the lighter under it for a few minutes.
Once your leather is burnt (with black ashes) and decomposes slightly, remove the flame. Collect the ashes and place them on a white sheet of paper with a cutter.
If there are small brown shaving are formed, it is a vegetable tanned leather. vegetable tanningThe brown colour comes from the vegetable tannins.
If the tip of your leather turns green, it is a mineral tanned leather, the greenish colour coming from the chrome used in mineral tanning.
If you do not observe one of these two significant colours, we advise you to rub your burnt leather on a white sheet of paper, in order to deposit its ashes and to moisten them slightly.
The wet ash will either bring out the brown colour of vegetable tanned leather or the greenish tint of the chrome used in mineral tanning.
The flame technique on video:
Discover here our video on leather tanning.
