Tanner, handler

Pelt dressers, tanners and fellmongers tan, cure, trim, scrape and dye raw animal hides and skins to produce leather and furs for making garments and other articles.

• sorting pelts by colour, size and density;
• cleaning raw hides of remaining particles of flesh, fat or tissue;
• curing hides using lime solutions;
• preparing hides by treating them with salt;
• removing long and coarse hairs from pelts and shearing pelts to even out the length;
• dressing pelts to improve their lustre and beauty and to restore the natural appearance of the fur;
• preparing tanning mixtures for curing hides;
• treating hides in tanning solution to convert them into grain leather;
• tinting or dyeing pelts to obtain natural shades;
• removing wrinkles and straightening wet hides;
• dyeing and lacquering leather;
• stretching and smoothing processed hides;
• treating hides with chemical solutions, brushing oils onto the surface of hides and drying them in the open air.
• Examples of occupations in this unit group:
• Tanner (leather worker)
• Sorter, hides
• Finisher, leather