re this business of leather hardening in salt water. I
had to research the tanning process a couple of years
ago and as I understood it, far from hardening the
stuff the aim was to soften it. When hide comes in to
a tannery it is too hard to work, if you tried to bend
it you'd crack it. Soaking it in tannin (used to be
made from oak bark soaked in cold water) would soften
it enough to work, but it took months because you had
to start with a weak solution and move up to stronger
ones. They'd start by soaking it in pure water, then a
solution of lime which seared the hair off, then it
went into the tannin pits. And if you wanted it really
soft, for rich folk's glove leathers say, it went in
the mastering pit, in a solution of hot water and
animal faeces which smelt truly awful.
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