[MR] Fwd: Re: [RN] FYI: Leather Terminology

[David Chessler]

------ Original Message ------
Received: Mon, 20 Apr 2009 02:44:42 PM EDT
From: mataustin at aol.com
To: sca-rapier at lists.ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [RN] FYI: Leather Terminology

So, from MW it appears that the buff color is rooted in the leather color
based on the etymololgy of the word.  Using it as a color adjective seems to
be about 100 years post period.   And the act of buffing only traces back to
1838.

>From Merriam-Webster:


Main Entry: 1buff

Function: noun 
Etymology: Middle French buffle wild ox, from Old Italian bufalo 

Date: 1570 

1: a garment (as a uniform) made of buff leather
3 a: a moderate orange yellow b: a light to moderate yellow


2buff 


Function: adjective 

Date: 1746 

1: of the color buff


Main Entry: 3buff 

Function: transitive verb 

Date: 1838 

1 : polish, shine <waxed and buffed the floor> 
2 : to give a velvety surface to (leather) 



Main Entry: buff leather 

Function: noun 

Date: 1580 

: a strong supple oil-tanned leather produced chiefly from cattle hides 


-----Original Message-----
From: James Crouchet <james at crouchet.com>
To: RapierNet - Fencing in the SCA <sca-rapier at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:19 am
Subject: Re: [RN] FYI: Leather Terminology




Thank you for the information.
I suspect the color buff came from the color naturally produced by the
rocess rather than the other way around. The process involved oiling
he ox skin and then buffing it with a substance (I can't recall what
ff the top of my head) that produced the color. Buff  the action
roduced buff the color.  So, was it a buff coat because it was buffed
r because it was typica
lly buff color? My guess is the latter but I
an't prove that and after a decade or two of that usage people in
eriod probably did not know either.
CD
 Good afternoon, M'Lords ~

 Not wanting to add more to the Merry Rose, I thought this
 clarification may help someone who needs to understand the difference
 between the "grain" and "flesh" sides of leather.  As a rapier
 fighter, I have been following your conversations.  As a new glove
 maker, I am getting an education.

 Split Leather: Leather made from the lower (inner or flesh side)
 layers of a hide that have been split away from the upper, or grain,
 layers. Split leather is more fragile than side leather or full-grain
 leather, and is typically used in the form of suede.
 Suede: Split leather that has been buffed and brushed to create a
 fuzzy surface feel.

 If you are referring to "buff" as the shade of the leather, let me
 offer the following quote
 as taken from:
 Glove Affair: Making Gloves, By Jorunn nic Lochlainn
 Revised 2004, All rights Reserved, copyright©Cathie Brailey, 2004

 "To soften the ‘crust’ stiffened hides they created the ‘staking’
 process.  In this process the hide was drawn back and forth over a
 rounded wooden edge after first letting them rest in wet sawdust.
 They repeated the staking process two or three times, until the hide
 was soft and supple.  Staking was always done on the flesh side of the
 hide (43) so the grain side wasn’t s
cratched (most gloves were made
 from hides with the grain side exposed).  This was the final stage of
 preparing the hide for the pattern.  Some hides were sent for dyeing,
 but most were left ‘in the white’ (from sun bleaching) and therefore
 many of the gloves we see in museums that survived from the medieval
 time period appear a buff color."

 Graciously submitted,

 Alexandra
   
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