chamois
Originally, a soft. pliable leather made from the
skin of the chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra), a small
goatlike antelope found in the high mountainous
areas of Europe and the Caucasus. Chamois was at
one time used to some extent in bookbinding, but
is seldom, if ever, used today because it is
hygroscopic, and, if kept dry by artificial means,
tends to become hard and prone to cracking. The
original chamois was a vegetable-tanned leather.
Today, the leather called "chamois" is a
suede-finished leather made from the FLESH SPLIT of a
sheep- or lambskin, or from sheep or lamb from
which the grain has been removed byFRIZZING (3) , and
tanned by processes involving the oxidation of
fish or marine animal oils in the skin, using
either only the oils, in which case it is a
full-oil tannage, or, in a first stage using
formaldehyde and then the oils, in which case it
is a combination tannage. In the United States,
the term "chamois" without qualification, is
restricted to the flesh split of a sheepskin
tanned solely with oils. The old term for the full
oil process was "chamoising." Also sometimes
called "shammy." (170 , 306 , 325 , 363 )
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