Appendix A - the Gatineau Valley Historical Society

e imagined the heavy wet hides required a strong pair of arms or some
mechanical assistance to lift them up for the hanging process.
The hides processed by the tanner were stiff and of poor colour and were
now ready for treatment by the currier. In small tanneries the tanner might
also serve as currier.
Currying involved cutting the hides into sections, scraping them once
more before soaking them in a solution made from the dried and chopped
leaves and shoots of the sumac. When half dried the sections were shaved
again on the flesh side. They were then stretched over a table to be "glassed"
with steel blades; this was followed by a rubbing with cod-liver oil and tallow
on the flesh side. When dry the surplus oil and grease was cleaned off and the
leather was made available to the shoemakers, saddlers and skilled leather
work~rs such as cordwainers-the last named being specialists in Spanish
leather, made of goat-skins or split horse-hides.
160