SIIAGREEN.
Chagrin, . . . . FR. I Sthagrim, . . . . Rus. Schagrin, . . . . GER. I Schagren, . . . . „ It is an oriental manufacture of leather, and the method of preparing it was long kept secret. It is employed in the manufacture of small cases and boxes. The leather is prepared in Poland, Astracan in Russia, and various parts of the Levant. Shagreen differs from leather in not being tanned or tawed. It bears some resem blance to parchment, but the grain or hair side is gianulated or covered with small round rough specka. It is said to be prepared front the skins of horses, wild asses, and camels, those portions being preferred which cover the chine. The fillets of skin are steeped in water until the hair is sufficiently loosened to be scraped off ; the skins are then stretched upon a board, and are unhaired and fleshed with a knife. Each fillet is then stretched in a frame, as in the preparation of rarchment, and is moistened from time to time and gradually distended. While still moist, the grain or hair side is sprinkled over with the seeds of a kind of Chenopodium ; they are hard, of a shining black colottr, and about the size of poppy seed. These seeds are forced into the surface of
the skin by the pressure of the feet or by means of a simple press, a piece of felt or thick stuff being laid over the seeds. In this state the skin is left to dry in the shade, and when the seeds are shaken out by beating the skin, the surface of the latter is pitted with small hollows corresponding with the forms of the seeds. The skin is now stretched on an inclined plane by attaching its upper end to hooks, and fastening weights to its lower end ; it is thinned off with a half-moon knife, care being taken not to eut so far as the bottom, of the little pits occasioned by the seeds. On macerating. the skins in water, they swell, and they become prominent over the shaven surface. The process is completed by steeping the stripn in a warm solution of soda ; salt brine is then used, and the skins are ready for the dyer.—Tentlinson; 21PColloch.