Magyar News, 2003. szeptember-2004. augusztus (14. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2003-11-01 / 3. szám
HONGRUYEUR - Hungarian Leather as found in Diderot’s Encyclopedia Leather from Hungary (Hongrieur) is a kind of leather that gets its name from the Hungarians who long ago were the only people who knew the secret of preparing it. Only recently have we learned in France how to prepare Hungarian Leather. It is assumed that it was Henri IV who ordered the establishment of the first factory where Hungarian Leather was made by hand; for this aim he sent a very clever tanner named ROZE to Hungary, who upon discovering the secret, returned to France where he very successfully manufactured this kind of leather. How to manufacture Hungarian Leathers. All kinds of leathers from ox hides, cow hides, horse hides and calf hides, are suitable for this process; but more are manufactured from ox hides than anyother. When ox hides arrive from the butcher's, we remove the horns and we cut them into two strips from head to tail; after that we remove the remaining flesh by placing the hide over a wooden stand and carefully scraping the inside of the hide with an instrument called afaux or scythe. This scythe has a handle at one end and must be handled carefully so as not to remove the best part of the leather or "fleur du cuir." Then we throw the hides into the river to rinse them. However these hides should not remain in the river too long for fear that pebbles attach themselves to the hides. We turn them over from time to time using a pair of long iron pliers in order to remove most of the blood that may still be there and at the same time wet the coat. Having removed the hides from the river we stretch them by packs of 5-6 on a wooden stand, the flesh side on the bottom under, and then we shave the hair with a scythe that we sharpen from time to time with a whetstone or "queux". Once this is done, we throw the hides again into the river where they soak for about 2 days depending upon the weather to allow the rest of the blood to be drained away into the water and for the hide to exsanguinate. This operation is called an exsanguination (from "desaigner", to " exsanguinate"). Then we remove them from the water and we roll them and in that condition we place them on a bench long enough for them to drain. When the hides or leathers have been exsanguinated and drained, we " alumate" them. For that we boil a solution made of a mixture of 3 pounds of alum and 5 pounds of salt per hide, in a boiler that can hold 12 pails. From the boiler we remove 2 pails of the solution which we place in a tub where a tanner who is almost naked tramples 3 hides at a time for one hour during which time we renew the water 4 times. After that we remove the hides from the tub and we lay them down in a vat, folded in four with the flesh on the outside. We do the same operation to the other hides and when they are all done, folded and stacked in the vat, we throw alumated water on top of the hides or leathers; this process is called putting the hides or leathers aside and "feed- ■ ing" them. The next day, we remove them and change vats. After that we heat up the same water and we soak the hides again into the water for 3 or 4 days during the summer and longer in the winter. We trample them again and the next day we let them drain and air-dry by hanging them up. Once this is done we unfold them and when they are half dry, we lay them on the floor and "dress" them that is we flatten them with a round stick placed over the folds to even the hides while softening them, after which they are stacked one on top of the other. All there is left then it to apply the tallow on them. To that effect we roll the sticks on the hides on both sides, on the inside and on the outside, and we hang them on the poles or sticks in a steam room to prepare them for the tallow. In that condition, we stretch them on a table and we rub them with hot tallow with the help of a brush; we put a lot on the inside and less on the outside surface. Each hide takes about seven to eight pounds of tallow. We transport these hides to another table and we pile them up until all the other hides are covered with tallow. Once this is done, two workers hold them over an iron grill under which charcoals are burning so that the heat of the coals will allow additional tallow to penetrate the leather. Then we put them back again into the steam room for half an hour with the inside of the hide facing up. After that we let them on the poles to dry. The next day, the worker stamps them with his distinctive marks, weighs them and indicates their weight. Translators:HeleneTurkewicz-SankoPh.D., and Martha Pereszlenyi-Pinter Ph.D. The equipment used to make Hungarian Leather. There are the tubs, the benches and tables. Also the fire and the boiler. There are the sticks for many uses. Page 7
