Leather is generally a part of the skin removed from an animal and then treated by the technique of tanning to make it malleable and rot-proof. It is a very popular material in making leather goods, such ads shoes and other accessories.
It is also very fashionable as in the world of styling in making clothes or decorations in furniture and it has become a noble and expensive material. However, can you tell the difference between calf leather and cowhide?
What are the different types of leather?
As already mentioned, leather is made from the skin of certain animals such as cows, calves, sheep, buffaloes, etc. The quality of leather depends on the way the animals are raised, their feed and the technique used to process the raw material. The latter usually goes through three stages: tanning, then dyeing and finally finishing to get the leather you see every day. Leather is differentiated by its appearance and texture.
There is the full grain leather also called aniline baked leather which is a quality leather and does not represent any defect. We get this kind of fabric from the lamb skin, calf or cowhide. There is also the pigmented full grain leather which is a very thick leather, we can have the leather by treating the veiled lamb skin or sheep skin. Finally, you can also find the leather that has a velvet aspect. This is obtained by sanding the surface of the leather of calf, sheep or cow.
Leather can have certain aspects depending on the interventions that it has undergone. For a more aesthetic look, leather can have a crisp, greasy, or embossed coating. You can find products with this criterion on the Italian brand Brunello Cucinelli on 24s.com.
What are the different characteristics of leather?
Each leather has its own characteristics: its resistance, its thickness and its visual aspect. These characteristics are adapted according to the product that the craftsman
wants to produce. There is soft leather, mainly used for saddlery, leather goods, decoration or clothing. We can also have soft leather from the skin of goats, cow or deer.
The leather with strong characteristics is long lasting and it is mainly used in furniture or to make saddle. Strong leather is obtained from the skin of oxen or bulls. The last characteristic of leather is the fine leather, a material very taken in the world of the stylism and the fashion. Fine leather is obtained from sheep, lamb or horse.
What is the difference between cowhide and lambskin?
Both types of leather have the same aspect: silky to the touch, of quality and they reflect well the light and the crushing. But the difference lies in the maintenance: lamb leather requires a delicate maintenance while cow leather is more rigid and requires a particular maintenance because it must be nourished more often.