Re: [BKARTS] chrome tanned and vegetable tanned leather

[chela <chela@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

            ***********************************************
MDE - Innovation 2004: An International Bookbinding Design Competition
                   [No Binding Experience Required]
                 Sponsored by Meister der Einbandkunst
                    60,000 ? (Euro) in total prizes
             Full information at <http://www.mde2004.org/>
            ***********************************************

Not only is the Etherington Dictionary essential, its on-line!

http://sul-server-2.stanford.edu/don/don.html

But on the topic of choosing a leather tannage for bookbinding, I
would say that it depends on what you intend to do to the leather,
and how you want it to behave.  I find that chrome tanned leather is
very hard on my normal leather knives, and I know its not good to
breath chrome-tanned dust.  It can have a spongy/stretchy
consistency.  And I know that it will not behave the way I need it to
when doing traditional gold tooling with glair, or blind tooling
using water.  But that said, it is a much more stable product, and
normally has no problems with acid. It readily tools with gold foils.
It stick well with PVA, and I've had some success with paste, or a
mixture of paste and PVA.

 I use both tannages, depending on the circumstances, and there are
also combination tannages, often specified for conservation quality
leather.

> "
> These distinctions, with full descriptions, as well as nearly any other
> bookbinding and conservation subject you can think of are included in
> "Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books," by Roberts and Etherington,
> Library of Congress 1982.
> Available from Etherington Conservation Center and elsewhere.
>
> It's my bible."

--
Consuela Metzger
Lecturer - Book Conservation
The University of Texas at Austin
School of Information
The Preservation/Conservation Studies Program
1 University Station D7000
Austin, TX 78712-1276
(512) 471-8293
(512) 471-8285 (fax)
chela@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

            ***********************************************
       See the Book_Arts-L FAQ at: <http://www.philobiblon.com>

    *Postings may not be re-printed in any form without the express
    consent of the author - Please respect their contributions & ©*

       Archive maintained and suppported by Conservation OnLine
                   <http://palimpsest.stanford.edu>
            ***********************************************