In the Eyes of a Tanner – Part 4

In the Eyes of a Tanner - Part 4

 

In parts 1, 2 and 3, I have spelled out for you some very important

information that if used, I feel will result in less rejections of your skins

and a much better return on the “hunter's and the taxidermist's

investment.”

 

Feel free to print any of these off and hand them out to your hunters

and or, have them in the reception area of your shop, home or office or

wherever it is that you do business with the public.

 

In part four, I’ve been thinking about what I could write that wouldn’t

bore you, or, be so far out there that you stop reading half way through

wondering what the heck I’m even talking about and what it has to do

with tanning your skins. So I went to my favorite think tank (my deer

blind) and really thought about how I should present this next topic.

The topic will be on processing your skins. I know I said it would include

business information however, I find tanning so interesting that I

wanted to spend a bit of time on this subject and bring you in

(mentally) on what is going on inside the skin and how it’s happening.

 

After much thought and consideration; it’s probably best to start

with………Physics. Why physics you ask? Well, because everything that

is going on in the seen and unseen has to do with physics. So my belief

is because of this, it would be a great starting point.

 

Take a deep breath and exhale slowly. It may take two or more times

of breathing in and breathing out too really get your head around all of

this exciting stuff. I promise I’ll do my best to keep it interesting.

First, let me express to you that I am not a physics instructor nor do I

have any kind of degree in physics or chemistry, I love to read. After all,

it’s the second best thing you can do with your eyes. The first would

be; closing them and allowing your mind to have a field day with your

imagination.

 

It wasn’t until 2004 that I took a liking to this stuff, (chemistry and

physics.) Basically; I was forced to learn it. Let me tell you, those were

scary times for me. I purchased the company in November of 2002 and

by November of 2004; my world was turned upside down. Both of my

parents died within three months of each other, my partner had left

the company and everybody that knew anything about tanning and its

processes had left as well. Little did I know, aside from my parents

passing away, this would be the single greatest thing that could have

happened for the company or me.

 

On to part 4: Physics

To the scientific community, physics has its place in a really big way.

What I mean by this is; science has many branches and physics is one of

them. The concern of physics is to study: light, heat, electricity,

magnetism, sound, energy, matter and whole bunch of other cool stuff.

They also get to write theories. A good theory should always make

predictions about things we see happening (for example, Hooke’s Law)

Robert Hooke was a 17 th century British physicist whom wrote a theory

on weight and or a spring if you will. If I hang a weight from a spring,

the amount it stretches will be proportional to that weight, double the

weight, double the stretch. In other words; the law says that, if this

thing happens, then so will that. What started as a theory became a

law. Okay, we all know someone who can top your story. You did this

and that happened to you. But wait, Mr. Z can top that one; I did this,

and that, and you should have seen what happened next. You can’t

argue with them you just shake your head and go on with your

business. Now, can you imagine having a physicist write a theory and

Mr. Z saying, “Hold on a minute, I think you’re wrong?” What do you

think happens in the physics world? Well, let me tell you; they adapt

and improve the theory, without changing its basic rules so that it

predicts both results. This way they don’t have to throw out useful

theories. Experimenting and trying different things is really the

beginning of a theory.

 

Sir Isaac Newton had a great gig going for two centuries, which is until

that pesky German patent clerk came along. You know him? Albert

Einstein. We’ll get to him a bit further on. Newton dominated the

physics world. He was an English mystic and a very cranky man but,

was also the greatest mathematician and second greatest physicist

ever. He wrote the law on gravity as well as three laws of motion that

describe how objects move. These laws still form the basis of most

movement calculations by scientists and engineers. From Newton, we

learned about, sound, light, gravity, electricity and also how the suns

heat reaches us. We also learned about energy: how it changes, how it

moves and how it never goes away. Really everything in our universe is

made up from two elements: energy and matter. These two things can

never be created or destroyed. It just is. Everything we see is made up

from tiny things called atoms. Within those atoms are even tinier

things call electrons, protons and neutrons. Believe it or not, there are

even tinnier things in those. What happened next with this information

was; it changed the course of human history.

 

Here comes Albert. He got to looking at Newton’s laws and theories

and said “Wait a minute, something is not adding up.” First, the orbit of

the planet Mercury didn’t change as the equations said it should. Next,

the speed of light had problems. So he went to work on these theories.

And by the way, he was still employed as a patent clerk. Einstein

flipped the physics world on its head. At first, they thought he was

crazy. How could a patent clerk ever be as smart Sir Isaac? It took

much deliberation to get the physics community to look at his papers

none the less hear him speak on his new theories. But, finally they

listened and history was made. He wrote four papers in 1905 and one

of those was his theory on special relativity. In this he showed that we

could never travel faster than the speed of light, mass-energy

equivalence and so on. From that moment he moved into the position

of the greatest physicist ever. Today, Einstein’s physics lead the way in

cutting edge research.

 

From reading about these two geniuses, it’s hard to figure out how

someone could be so smart. I wonder to myself; why would someone

even wonder about how the suns heat reaches us. For me, the sun is a

huge ball of fire and because we are as close as we are to it, it’s hot.

Not a big deal. To a physicist, they need to know how. If you look back

even further say, 2,500 years ago, the ancient Greeks were really into

physics as they were studying the heavens and theorizing about such

things as; earthquakes, fire, smoke and so on. They believed the earth

floated on water. Aristotle was the first to title this type of thinking as

“Physica.”

 

Quantum physics is another part of physics only they study very small

stuff like; light particles, quarks and many other tiny, tiny things.

Quarks are those very tiny bits inside the electrons and neutrons I

mentioned earlier. Quantum physics all came about by another

German physicist by the name of Max Plank. His theory was that

energy of electromagnetic waves was quantized. Heat energy is

emitted in “chunks” and would only get so small and no smaller. This

was in 1900. So, physics laws are really the basis for chemistry and

biology. In the first three parts we talked about both. How the animal

decomposes and how you can use salt to stop or at least slowdown that

process. Chemistry and physics is something that is used every day in

the tannery and even in your shop. If you’re tanning your own skins

you’re doing chemistry/physics. Someone has already mixed all the

good stuff for you but just applying it to your cape causes a whole array

of energy to begin. You just took the lid off of the genies bottle and

poured it onto your cape or skin. Now the genie is doing his work. If

you were to look through a very strong microscope you would see him

working in extremely high speed. Kind of like how superman can shoot

across a room in the movies. Here one second, there the next. SUPER

FAST!

 

Physics, if you think about it, is something we humans do every day.

Motion: walking, running, shaving, sewing and so on. Flashlight:

turning on your flashlight is physics; mass, motion, energy and

projecting the light where you want to see (waves.) You get the

picture? These are some of the things physicists think about and figure

out how it all works then of course, write their theories. Remember

earlier when I wrote about Einstein and how, they thought he was

crazy? Well, most of the time that is how really smart people are

looked upon. But, Albert did do some weird things like, float in his sail

boat when there was no wind just for the challenge. Thomas Edison

would hire a person only after eating with them. If they salted their

soup before tasting it, they didn’t get the job. Nikola Tesla didn’t like

to touch round objects and insisted he stay in hotel rooms with

numbers that were divisible by three. They’re always obsessed with

their work; they hardly ever leave the office. In fact, Edison and Tesla

only took brief naps, this way they could use all the time in the day

towards inventing. When they find the solution to the problem they

run through the streets shouting "Eureka!” I’m just kidding about that

last part. Today they probably would hold a press conference.

However, it’s been said Archimedes did shout it out. My wife Lisa can’t

understand why I get as excited as I do when “I’m on to something.”

She’ll say “Oh lord, you won’t be sleeping tonight.” And that’s the

truth. I’ll lay there in bed and my mind just won’t shut up. We all do

this. For taxidermists you get excited about a project you just closed

the deal on and you go to work, mentally at first. Then it hits you, how

the hell am I going pull this off? He wants it supported on just the tips

of hooves?! I’m going need help on this one. I’ll need leg supports

(gravity); I’ll need to weld the supports to a base (energy/electricity),

I’m really going to have to alter the form (motion.) You see where I’m

going here? Everything we do is physics and we really aren’t much

different than physicists are when we begin to theorize the outcome. If

I do this, that will happen and we lose sleep over it. Then when we’ve

figured it out, we shout “Eureka!” We get excited about it; we rant and

rave about it, and then show our spouse………..…….And they say, “You

lost sleep over this?!” And its then, we go to our sailboat on a windless

day.

 

Now it’s time to bring all this together and explain how physics,

chemistry and science plays its role in getting you a perfectly tanned

cape or hide.

 

First you attest that in order to keep your skins from degrading one

must prevent putrefaction. Second, in order to do this one must

preserve the skin by means of having the cells and fiber structure

permanently altered. How all of this is achieved is through a process

called tanning. There are many steps the tannery will have to take, all

in a perfectly timed sequence of events. We talked about your end,

and that is the starting point referred to as “curing.” Again, this is

probably the most important part of the equation. If it’s not, then I do

not know what would be. This process kills some of the bacteria but

not all of it. However, if not done at all the hair will be loose and most

certainly fall out during and after the tanning process.

 

Okay, your skins have just arrived at; let’s say, H&H Fur Dressing, Inc.

we’ll use this tannery because I’ve heard it said, “They are the most

sought after highly respected tannery in America today.” and, I just so

happen to be the owner…… Moving forward, the skins will go into the

receiving department for recognition and conformation. Your skins will

then be encoded and placed into storage until it is time for the wetting

back process to begin.

 

The day has arrived,

Wetting back: or otherwise often referred to as

rehydration. The skins will be placed into a solution of water (H2o),

sodium chloride (NaCI), Surfactant (many different kinds and

determined by ionic properties and how the tannery will use on said

type of skin.) Anti-bacterial (again, depends on the manufacturer and

what type is used.)

 

Pickling: After the skins have been determined ready for the pickle,

they will be placed into a solution of; H20, NaCI, CH202, H2S04 and

C5H100 and begin their trip through the reorient and firming up stages.

 

Degreasing: it is at this point after pickling the skins will go through the

degreasing. Here the skins will be placed in a solution of H20, NaCI and

depending on which kind the tannery uses, could come in the form of a

liquid, powder or granules degreaser.  You can already see the chemistry

the skins are going through. The physics are there, in that a theory has

been drawn or wrote and became “law” and science in keeping the

structures from gelatinization and degrading.

 

Shaving: Here the shavers will take the skin down to the proper thickness

or until the “blue” appears.

 

Tanning: This is the fun part and my favorite. Here, we will now be

converting those proteins into a flexible stable material for all the

taxidermists to use and love. I just threw in that last word, however;

we do get calls from taxidermists telling us they love their skins or,

should I say, our skins after we’ve completed them. But they really are

their skins. Anyway, we have our solution of H20 and NaCI mixed and

ready for the tanning agent. We’ve arrived at this point (agent) by

weighing the shaved skins. So we dissolve the agent and mix it into our

solution. Right here and now, we have going on in the drum, is what I

like to call, “the grand finale” on the fourth of July (which just so

happens to be my birthday, just thought I’d throw that out there.) The

atoms, molecules, protons, electrons and yes, even the quarks are

going crazy right now waiting to affix themselves to the fibers of the

skins. We introduce the skins to the mixture and they become best of

friends. The atoms, molecules, protons, electrons, quarks and

everything else are like worker bees on steroids and fifteen pots of

coffee. All of this energy and fixation will continue on for 24 hours until

the tanning is complete and we begin the basification process. This is

where we close it all out and the tanning agent becomes astringent.

Remember, it takes time for the tanning agent to do its work. You

cannot rush perfection if you will. I’m not concerned with pumping out

a bunch of skins that I wouldn’t feel comfortable selling to my best

friend or worst enemies. My concern is getting our clients a product

they don’t have to fight with or worry about it attracting bugs or falling

apart because within the layers of the skin structure it is only a pickle

and a surface tan. You cannot tan a skin in three hours and call it good.

I know there are tanneries out there doing this and it just blows me

away. They really are doing a disservice to their customers. The

concern for them is the money and how fast can they get it. My

friends, they are not looking out for the wellbeing of you or your

business. In all matters concerned, they are either ignorant or have the

attitude of; oh well. My guess is, it’s most likely both.

 

There you have it. Now you know the physics, chemistry and science

behind your tanned skins.  I want to end this segment here. Hopefully

this didn’t bore you, but instead, intrigued your inner thoughts and

the three previous blogs maybe changed your behaviors. If you like this

these blogs, feel free to comment on our Facebook page. Also, if there’s

a topic you would like me to write about supposing I have the knowledge

in that subject, express it right there on our Facebook page. The next blogs

will be on business! YEA!!!!!

 

Until next time, I’m Mark Marlette