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
