1. It is the business of the currier to dress the thinner kinds of
leather. In most cases, in the United States, except in and near large
cities, the business of tanning and currying are usually united in the
same individual; or, at least, the two branches of business are
carried on together, by the aid of workmen, skilled in their
respective trades.
2. The mode of dressing the different kinds of skins, varies in some
respects; but, as the general method of operating is the same in every
sort, a description applicable in one case will convey a sufficiently
accurate idea of the whole. We shall, therefore, select the calf-skin,
since it is more frequently the subject of the currier's skill than
any other.
3. The skin is first soaked in water, until it has become sufficiently
soft, and then shaved with the _currier's knife_, on the inner side,
over the _currier's beam_. It is then placed on a table, somewhat
inclined from the workman, and scoured on both sides with the edge of
a narrow, smooth stone, set in a handle, and again, with an iron
_sleeker_ of a similar shape. The skin is next _stuffed_ with a
composition of tallow and tanner's oil, on the flesh side, and then
hung up to dry. Afterwards it is rubbed on the hair side with a board,
and again scraped on the flesh side with the knife. Having been thus
prepared, the skin is blacked on the flesh side with lampblack and
tanner's oil, and subsequently rubbed with paste, applied with a
brush. When it has been dried, the whole process is finished by
rubbing both sides with a glass sleeker.
4. Horse hides are blacked on the hair side, or, as the curriers term
it, on the _grain_, with a solution of copperas water. Leather
designed for harnesses, for covering carriages, and for other similar
purposes, is also blacked on that side in the same manner.
5. The trade of the currier is divided into two or three branches.
Some dress only calf-skins and other thick leather designed for shoes,
harnesses, and carriages; others confine themselves to dressing skins,
which are to be applied to binding books, and to other purposes
requiring thin leather. It may be well to remark here, that the
dressers of thin leather usually tan the skins themselves, using the
leaves of sumach, instead of bark.
[Illustration: SHOEMAKER.]