Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books
A Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology

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resistance of leather to acid

The maximum percentage of acid that a leather is capable of absorbing without deteriorating with time. Experiments involving both chrome- and vegetable-tanned calfskins indicate that rapid destruction of the chrome-tanned leather may be expected if the percentage (by weight of leather) of (sulfuric) acid exceeds 10%, while a percentage greater than 4% of the same acid will cause rapid deterioration of the vegetable-tanned skin. Most of the acid found in the chrome-tanned skin is probably in chemical combination with the chromium, whereas in the vegetable-tanned skin it exists as free acid. (363 )




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