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Post by paranger on Mar 4, 2021 11:35:34 GMT -7
I came across this while researching high quality 18th c. leather. It seems that Russian exported leather was considered top tier in the 18th and 19th centuries. While the production secrets of the Russian tanners guild were lost to the Bolshevik Revolution, a cargo of hemp and Russia leather was discovered off the coast of Cornwall in the Metta Catherina, sunk in 1786. Interestingly, many of the hides were preserved, rolled as they were and submerged in anaerobic silt. These hides were restored and auctioned off, from whence they found their way into high end bespoke shoes, wallets, etc. It is reputed that Prince Charles had a pair of shoes made from it. Some of Russian leather's distinguishing characteristics include insect resistance (and a characteristic smokey smell) from being infused with birch tar oil, and suppleness and strength from tanning with willow bark and treatment with seal blubber. Apparently, this process was performed on calf and reindeer hides primarily. One British tannery claims to have recreated the process after 6 years of R&D and access to the original hides from the Metta Catherina. www.purdey.com/the-russia-leather |
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Post by brokennock on Mar 4, 2021 16:08:09 GMT -7
Good post. I remember reading about this elsewhere. Oddly just today I was reading something trying to ascertain just exactly what "German tan" leather is. One person on a forum (I don't remember what the forum was, the reply came up in response to a search engine query) claimed that all fat/oil based tanning methods were reversible by washing out the oils. The exception was a tanning method from one of the Scandinavian countries using cod oils. Now we have this Russian leather that has spent all this time submerged and hasn't lost the effects of the tanning process.
I also seem to recall a period description of shot pouches, or a shot pouch, as being made of "red Russia leather."
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Post by paranger on Mar 4, 2021 16:37:05 GMT -7
I also seem to recall a period description of shot pouches, or a shot pouch, as being made of "red Russia leather." That's exactly why I began the research in the first place. I am in the process of trying to obtain some reproduction "red Russia leather" from FJ&J Baker in 🇬🇧. 😉 |
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Post by paranger on Mar 19, 2021 11:54:31 GMT -7
 It has arrived! J&FJ Baker (Colyton, Devon) produces the only reproduction 18/19th c. Russian leather based on the original supply on board the Metta Catherina. Interestingly, Baker tannery is the last oak bark tannery still operating in the U.K., on a site which has been a tannery since Roman times. I wish I could somehow upload the smell to this post - it's almost intoxicating.  |
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Post by brokennock on Mar 20, 2021 6:43:10 GMT -7
Excellent. About how thick/what weight is it? How does it feel, what is the "temper" like for that thickness/weight?
Was this leather often colored at the tannery, or by the merchants. I ask based on the aforementioned quote about "red" Russian leather.
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Post by Black Hand on Mar 20, 2021 6:57:11 GMT -7
That surface texture almost seems "artificial" - it is very regular and looks intentional...
What's the story?
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Post by paranger on Mar 20, 2021 8:10:28 GMT -7
Excellent. About how thick/what weight is it? How does it feel, what is the "temper" like for that thickness/weight? Was this leather often colored at the tannery, or by the merchants. I ask based on the aforementioned quote about "red" Russian leather. Nock, I would put it at around 5 oz, medium temper. As to coloring, this piece is undyed. The reddish-brown coloring comes purely from the bark tanning process, which involves a proprietary mix of bark types including willow and oak. Though I do not know for sure, I think it possible that "red Russia" may have simply referred to this natural reddish brown. That said, it could obviously have been dyed later for certain applications as well. |
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Post by paranger on Mar 20, 2021 8:13:29 GMT -7
That surface texture almost seems "artificial" - it is very regular and looks intentional... What's the story? Yes, like the original, the leather has an embossed grid or cross-hatched texture imparted during the currying and/or finishing process which was apparently - together with the aroma imparted by the birch tar oil - one of Russia leather's distinctive characteristics. |
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Post by artificer on Apr 6, 2021 7:40:38 GMT -7
That surface texture almost seems "artificial" - it is very regular and looks intentional... What's the story? Yes, like the original, the leather has an embossed grid or cross-hatched texture imparted during the currying and/or finishing process which was apparently - together with the aroma imparted by the birch tar oil - one of Russia leather's distinctive characteristics. FWIW, Back in the mid 1980's, a very advanced sword collector showed me the "prize" of his collection. It was a documented BYZANTIUM age sword frog made of Russia Leather. It had been properly taken care of over the centuries and looked almost new, which certainly attests to how well it was tanned. Gus |
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