Though I'm not a leather enthusiast, I recently found myself researching about leather, different types of it, and which ones are the most durable. With that bit of research, I learned how durable real high-quality leather is, and why many people choose leather for their furniture, accessories, and footwear.
Now, there is one other type of leather which I just dug into a bit deeper today, and that's patent leather. I remember having really shiny shoes back when I was in grade school. They felt squeaky and they lasted until I outgrew them. It looks a bit tacky, but it saves time on polishing them.
Patent leather is a type of leather that has been coated with a glossy varnish which gives it that lustrous, shiny look. There are several names associated with the history and progression of patent leather, although, ultimately, the person who popularized and commercialized patent leather production was the serial entrepreneur, Seth Boyden.
It is believed that Boyden reverse-engineered the coating technique done to create this shiny leather after he had seen several samples of high-gloss leather in Europe. Before this, other inventors like Edmund Prior and Charles Mollersten in England had already been experimenting with coating techniques and varnishes that would produce a kind of flexible leather with a waterproof coating.
The leather produced from these techniques and materials might have been the inspiration that Boyden had to create his own process of coating. Essentially, the process as described by Scientific American involved treating the leather with a mixture of linseed oil, white lead, litharge, and ochre or chalk. This mixture is then applied several times, about five to six coats, over the leather, and then, finishing it with a varnish that included either "asphalte, Prussian blue, or fine ivory black".
Despite being regarded as the central figure to patent leather, Boyden never actually patented his process. Later on, with advancements in materials and techniques, the process of making patent leather became a lot cheaper.
What once used to be an oil-based coating, with the introduction of plastics, the mixture applied to leather became a combination of polyurethane and acrylic. So, most of the patent leather we have today is synthetic. This also helps ease the concerns of patent leather being a toxic hazard with the amount of lead that was applied to it back when it was first produced.
Opinions on patent leather may vary, with some opting not to buy products made from patent leather as it has the tendency for discoloration and darkening, as well as being prone to scratches, scuffs, and irreversible cracking and creasing. However, some of the advantages of patent leather products include its low maintenance, versatility, dirt resistance, and waterproof quality.
To learn more about the modern production process of patent leather and how to maintain it, check out this article from Carl Friedrik.
(Image credit: Hans/Pixabay)
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