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Old 10th August 2020, 05:58 AM   #18
Philip
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: California
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Interested Party
I understood shagreen to be mule or donkey hide boiled in a cupric solution.

Thanks Philip for answering my question before I asked it. I don't like tanning much. I do not think I would try to make it...
You're most welcome. The term "shagreen" is widely used, and in many cases it's not clear whether the writer or speaker is really describing something from surf (ray- or sharkskin) or turf (donkey, onager, etc).

And I've heard some people think that the word implies that the material must be green in color. (as regards your quote, compounds containing copper have indeed been used in a wide variety of dyes, glazes, and vitreous powders to impart a green color to a variety of materials, including hides, fibers, ceramics, and glass -- largely reduced in modern times in many applications due to the toxicity of many cupric compounds.)

Because of the confusion that the term shagreen engenders, I prefer to use terms based on the exact material involved (such as ray skin, leather, etc), and because finished hides can come in a variety of surface textures or grains (some being artificially created, such as the "morocco" used for bookbinding), use "shagreen leather" to identify the material with the specific bumpy or pimply look associated with certain scabbards.

Speaking of artificial texturing, here's something else (as if this subject isn't complicated enough already) -- In the Far East, hilt- and scabbard fitters imitated the bumpy texture of ray skin and natural shagreen leather in a couple of ways:

1. In Japan and Korea, embossed sheets of silver or gilt copper, were on occasion laid on the sides of sword hilts under the braided wrapping just as samé, or natural ray skin, was normally used.

2. In China, natural shagreen was by the 17th cent. onwards imitated by embossing vellum between rollers. The material was used to cover scabbards, being dyed either black or dark green, and protected with clear lacquer. This method ensured strict uniformity in the size of the bumps, and although they were very closely packed, the distribution does (upon close inspection) reveal a repetitive pattern due to the way that the rollers were cut. This is the way the product can be readily distinguished from natural, despite similar thickness, color, and surface sheen.
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