Leather chemist

Also Read Chemist

If the leather industry interests you, the role of a leather scientist is to find new ways of utilising leather products and developing the technology of leather production. This may sound very simple but you would need a good grasp of mathematics and science as well as possess initiative, adaptability, and a desire to work with leather.

You would still be able to preserve the skins of leopards, lions, buck and so on for the hunters to hang on their walls or use as carpets but the main part of your job would be the conversion of raw cattle hide and sheepskins into useful and attractive products known as leather.

The old days, when people used their hands, salt, chemicals, knives and rocks to tan skins are gone from the modern industry and sophisticated machines are now being used to preserve leather. This conversion process, called tanning, requires a knowledge of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Microbiology.

Qualified leather chemists can also work in research and development sections of major supply companies where they provide tanning and other materials to the leather industry. They also are found in research institutes (such as LIRI Technologies) and become involved with basic research, technical developments and training. One of the other qualities which you would need is the ability to get along with other people such as workers, managers, packers and so on.

The use of leather for clothing and industry dates back to the beginning of civilization. The first clothes, worn 45,000 years ago, were the skins of animals that had been killed for food. Leather clothing, footwear, buckles and straps dating from 3000 BC have been excavated at Ur in Mesopotamia. Two main methods of preparation or tanning were used; one used juices from bark and roots which contained tannin and the other involved soaking the skins in a mixture of salt and alum. Both methods took several weeks.

In 1884, August Schultz developed the two-stage `chrome tanning' process using chromium salts instead of alum and in 1893, the American chemist, Martin Dennis, introduced a quicker, one-step chrome-tanning process . Over 850 million skins are now tanned worldwide each year.

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