Wilting General
Wilting is a step in the leather production process and is used to roughly pre-dry the leather after the tanning process.
The wilting process
The freshly tanned hides are passed through the so-called wilting press while still wet in order to lose a large part of their moisture.
The rollers of the wilting press are covered with felt to ensure that the hides remain wrinkle-free as they pass through the press.
Withering makes the hides easier to handle for subsequent drying processes. Withering is part of the drying process and can be compared to wringing out wet laundry before hanging it up to dry.
Additional sources (accessed 09.01.2019):
- lederzentrum(punkt)de/wiki/index.php/Abwelken
- leder-info(punkt)de/index.php/Abwelken
- softart-leder-shop(dot)de/btc/leder-lexikon/begriff/abwelken
