Tanning is the process of preparing or processing skins/ hides into leather using tannic acid. The raw collagen fibres of the pelt are transformed into a stable material that will not rot. The principal difference between raw hides and tanned hides is that raw hides dry out to form a hard, inflexible material that when re-wetted (or wetted back) putrefies, while tanned material dries out to a flexible form that does not become putrid when wetted back. The tanning process significantly improves the natural qualities of the leather such as its dimensional stability, abrasion resistance, chemical and heat resistance, its resistance to repeated cycles of wetting and drying.
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