Drying leather overview
Drying the leather is an important step when manufacturing leather. It serves as a rough pre-drying process after the leather has been tanned.
The freshly-tanned hides are pressed between metal cylinders in order to reduce their water content.
These cylinders are covered in felt, which stops the hide from folding over while it’s being passed through the machine.
Pressing the hides makes them easier to dry later on in the process. Mechanical dewatering is part of the leather drying process, it’s similar to spinning out your wet laundry before hanging it out to dry.