Waxed kip butts are a type of many similar upper leathers (waxed shoe
butts, waxed calf, waxed splits, etc.). The finish is on the flesh side.
The kip butts are soaked carefully, and shaved by machine. They are then
drummed in sumach for an hour or two, slicked out and sammed for
stuffing. The sumaching is also the scouring unless the goods be too
heavily bloomed. The samming is often done by machine. Drum stuffing
follows, wool fat and stearin being staple greases, with varying amounts
of degras and cod oil, and of tallow and cod oil. A little paraffin wax
and resin are also used sometimes. The goods are well slicked out and
dried. They may be now dubbined and laid away to mellow for whitening,
which consists of a careful shaving of the flesh by a turned-edge
slicker or by machine. The grain is stoned, set out and "starched," and
the butts grained by boarding the flesh. In the waxing, one of two
courses may be adopted. The butts may be blacked with lampblack and oil,
"bottom sized" with glue, soap and logwood, and then "top sized" with
glue, dubbin, beeswax and turpentine; or they may be given a
"soap-blacking" of soap and logwood and lampblack, applied by machine,
and sized once only.
Dressing hide butts may also be given a grain finish, such as the "memel
butts" for heavy uppers. The butts are soaked, shaved or split, sumached
in drum, and preferably thoroughly scoured on flesh and grain. They are
then sammed and heavily stuffed in the drum. The grain is buffed and
stained black with logwood, ammonia and iron solution (curriers' ink).
The butts are then dried, set out, thinly sized and slowly dried.
When dry on the face they are printed or embossed by machine to give the
characteristic memel pattern and dried out completely. They are then
grained four ways. The grain is finished by a coating of linseed oil
containing resin, and the flesh is whitened, French chalked and glassed.
Shoulders for "satin" receive a currying which strongly resembles the
"waxed" finishes, but the smooth finish is on the grain side. The grain
is buffed, and blacked, dubbined, set and reset, with intermediate
drying, and is sized and finished by compositions similar to those used
for waxed leathers. The flesh is whitened. Satin hide and satin calf are
dressed similarly.
Shoulders may also be finished for "levant." After soaking, splitting,
and shaving to substance, they are drum-sumached, machine-sammed, and
oiled up to dry. They are stained with logwood on the grain, and at once
printed with the typical "levant grain," blacked and dried out. They are
then softened by machine, seasoned with logwood and albumen, glazed,
grained and oiled lightly with mineral oil. It will be observed that
stuffing is omitted.
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