Degradation process found in vegetable-tanned leather
This article is about the chemical process that degrades leather. For the organism that causes red rot disease in seaweeds, see
Pythium porphyrae. For the organism that causes red rot disease in sugarcane, see
Glomerella tucumanensis.
Red rot is a degradation process found in vegetable-tanned
leather.[1]
Red rot is also caused by problems in the tanning or in the bookbinding. In the tanning examples are:
sulfuric acid residue, use of contaminated water and incomplete tanning. The bookbinding process can cause red rot when acids and bases are used when coloring the leather.[3]
The decay manifests as a characteristic powdering of the leather's surface, along with structural weakness through loss, delamination, and a felt-like consistency.
The damage caused by red rot is irreversible. However, its spread, if caused by environmental factors, may be retarded by an application of a
consolidant (such as
Klucel G) coated with a sealer (such as
Renaissance Wax).[4]
The progress of red rot can be stopped or slowed with a treatment of
aluminium alkoxide solution, which increases the pH value and becomes (in the presence of water) a buffering inorganic aluminium salt in the leather.[5]
References
^Applebaum, Barbara (1991). Guide to Environmental Protection of Collections. Madison, Conn: Sound View Press. p. 185.
ISBN978-0932087164.
^Stambolov, Todor (1989). "Environmental influences on the weathering of leather". International Leather and Parchment Symposium. 8: 1–5.
^van Soest, H. A. B.; Stambolov, T.; Hallebeek, P. B. (1984). "Conservation of Leather". Studies in Conservation. 29 (1): 21–31.
doi:
10.2307/1505940.
JSTOR1505940.