Skins typically arrived at the tannery dried stiff and dirty with soil and gore carried by a donkey, Fes el Bali, Fez, Morocco
Tanning can be performed with either vegetable or mineral methods. Before tanning, the skins are unhaired, degreased, desalted and soaked in water over a period of 6 hours to 2 days. To prevent damage of the skin by bacterial growth during the soaking period, biocides, such as TCMBT, 2-(Thiocyanomethylthio) benzothiazole, are added. After 1980 the use of pentachlorophenol and quicksilver (mercury base) biocides and their derivatives was tanning uses tannin (this is the origin of the name of the process). The tannins (a class of polyphenol astringent chemical) occur naturally in the bark and leaves of many plants. Tannins bind to the collagen proteins in the hide and coat them causing them to become less water-soluble, and more resistant to bacterial attack. The process also causes the hide to become more flexible. The primary barks, processed in Bark Mills and used in modern times are chestnut, oak, redoul, tanoak, hemlock, quebracho, mangrove, wattle (acacia; see catechu), and myrobalan. Hides are stretched on frames and immersed for several weeks in vats of increasing concentrations of tannin. Vegetable tanned hide is flexible and is used for luggage and or Fez (Arabic: فاس Fās, French: Fès) is unofficially the third largest city of Morocco, following Casablanca and Marrakech, with a population of approximately 1 million (2010). It is the capital of the Fès-Boulemane region. Fes, the former capital, is one of the country's four "imperial cities," the others being Rabat, Marrakech and Meknes. It comprises three distinct parts, Fes el Bali (the old, walled city), Fes-Jdid (new Fes, home of the Mellah) and the Ville Nouvelle (the French-created, newest section of Fes). Fes el Bali is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its medina, the larger of the two medinas of Fes, is believed to be the world's largest contiguous car-free urban area. The University of Al-Karaouine, founded in AD 859, is the oldest continuously functioning university
Size: 3560px × 5360px
Location: Fes el Bali, Fez, Morocco
Photo credit: © Miguel Lopez Sanchez / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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