Sanding leather

Sanding leather - Buffing leather

When sanding leather, the leather surface (grain side) or back side (flesh side) is sanded by means of abrasive paper on a rotating roller. This results in a uniform surface. In the earlier times of leather production, such work was purely manual work.

When sanding the grain side, you get a light velvet-like pile. The leather is then called nubuck.

If a smooth leather is sanded for smoothing the surface, the tanner also calls this buffing. Buffing is also called the flat sanding of scars in the leather. That result is a nubuck.

Nubuck

Nubuck is made by sanding rough (buffing) the grain side.

Corrected grain

Sometimes, buffing is carried out before applying a binder-based pigment colour layer and embossing the leather. The result is then a corrected grain. The reasons are to make skin damages invisible and also the desire to obtain a uniform grain pattern in order to reduce the cutting waste. Such leather does not belong to the superior quality, because the finish and the embossing reduces softness and naturalness. Aniline leather and semi-aniline leather are not buffed and are rarely embossed and are therefore higher quality and more beautiful leather.

Some leathers are only slightly buffed and embossed and feel beautifully soft and warm. But they are an exception.

Buffed and embossed leather. The hair pores are removed by buffing and embossing.

To test whether a finished leather has been sanded before, the finish must be removed with a solvent. If a nubuck-like surface appears, the leather has been buffed before the finish application.