Stahl finishing lesson to leather students
19 April 2010This year’s Leather Finishing Training Course run by Stahl at the BSLT (British School of Leather Technology) in Northampton, UK was given to 14 students from India, Pakistan, Uganda, France, Italy and Kenya. The course showed students the basic principles of leather finishing and the ways in which finishing products could be used in formulations.
The course was run by Wolfgang Schmälzle, an expert from Stahl’s Leather Finishing Centre in Waalwijk, Netherlands. He says, ‘The students really liked it because there was enough freedom for them to create their own leathers.’
Schmälzle, was assisted by Paul Evans and Chris Barnard, members of BSLT staff, whose practical knowledge of finishing and the use of BSLT’s machinery was invaluable in ensuring that the course ran smoothly.
Each day followed a similar two-part pattern. The mornings concentrated on the theory of finishing. The afternoons provided practical work. Wolfgang covered many aspects of finishing including automotive leathers, and full and corrected grains with special reference to waterproof finishes.
Leather finishing is often not as straightforward as might be imagined. Schmälzle talked about some of the more difficult aspects, including colour matching and related metamerism under different lighting conditions and other potential problems.
Recent developments in technology formed the subject of a number of discussions and the students were especially interested in Stahl’s views on NMP-free automotive finishes.
