Tannery finishing building

The finishing building is the last stop for the hides before they are shipped.  Here the hides from the tanning facility (I have not yet built this) are sorted, dried, trimmed, and receive various colors and finishes as ordered by the buyer.  In my tannery the hides are packed in crates for shipping.  While I have a good number of vintage leather manufacture books, going into tedious detail on what occurs in the finishing process is probably not of much interest to the casual modeler.

Above is a photo of my completed finishing building.  The rail siding is to the right and the loading dock where the figure is standing serves that siding.  The right side of this building adjoins the previously built wash building.  The rear of this building backs up to the engine house and the tanning building which extends out beyond the left side loading dock used to receive supplies delivered by truck.  I have not detailed either of the hidden sides as I try not to waste time on invisible details.  The sign on the roof reads:

C W DAY TANNERY, We Tan Your Hides"

This is a wood clapboard siding building with a stone foundation and a wood shingle roof.  I am making each tannery structure a little different for visual interest.

The next structure I will build is the tanning building which will likely progress slowly due to the holidays.  The last structure will be the boiler house to provide steam for the Corliss engine.  The boiler house will be behind the rest of the tannery buildings and not connected (other than by the steam supply pipe).  The final details before applying scenery will include a water tower, an acid tank and perhaps some other small items.

Tannery Engine House

I have completed the engine house that contains the Corliss engine that drives the tannery machinery.  The engine is driven by steam from the yet to be built boiler house.  The pipe to the boiler house projects from the engine house to the left of the left side door. While I have built the engine house roof it is not shown here, and is (at least for now) removable.  There is a hole in the floor near the right front for wiring for a light for the interior.

I like detailing interiors and sadly most is seldom visible.  Inside is a workbench. some barrels, a storage cabinet, several pieces of miscellaneous machinery from the scrap box, a ladder, and a workman.  There are a number of posters on the walls (mostly pinups to entertain the workers).

The engine house is affixed to the beam house wall, and the right side of the engine house is unfinished as it will be covered by the adjoining tanning pit building (yet to be built).

I am now working on the finishing building which is in the front of the complex to the left of the wash house and behind the engine house.  Things are probably going to slow down for my modeling as the holidays approach, but there is no timeframe on my hobby work - just the fun of modeling.

Leather Hides

I have been doing more reading in my old leather manufacturing books.  Keep in mind that I model 1939 so what I say here likely differs (maybe a lot) from modern practices.  Most leather is made from hides or skins of animals slaughtered for food.  Most of those hides were apparently converted to leather regardless of the demand for leather - it seems that would diminish the price of leather but I guess they did not throw the hides away (may have sent some to the glue factories).  In any event, hides were treated before shipment to the tannery to preserve them, often with salt, to protect it from putrefying.  Before curing the hide was referred to as "green" and after salting, "green salted."

Hides were classified mainly by size and weight.  A skin is simply a small hide.  In the case of cattle, a hide weighing less than 15 pounds when green was called a calf skin.  Between 15 and 30 pounds it was called a "kip".  Over 30 pounds it was called a hide.  A hide less than 53 pounds was called a "light cow" and over 53 pounds a "heavy cow".  You can see these hides were usually heavy.

The diagram below illustrates the designation of the parts of the hides.

The terminology of hides was actually way more involved but that will do for the purpose of explaining the tannery processes for my model.  Different size hides and different parts of the hides were used to produce different types of leather, and for different purposes.

Tannerys also had preferences as to what packing plants they acquired hides from and generally preferred large packing plants which tended to have more experienced butchers who performed the process of flaying the hides from the animal with less damage to the hides.  Further, most hides in 1939 were obtained from US plants though some were imported from other countries.  Larger packing plants also often had workmen who specialized in flaying particular parts of the animal thus providing better results for the hide.  The parts are identified in the diagram above.