Chamois leather () is a type of porous leather, traditionally the skin of the

chamois The chamois (; ) (''Rupicapra rupicapra'') or Alpine chamois is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope native to the mountains in Southern Europe, from the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Apennines, the Dinarides, the Tatra Mountains, Tatra to the Carpa ...

(''Rupicapra rupicapra''), a type of European mountain goat, but today made almost exclusively from the flesh split of a sheepskin.

United Kingdom

The

British Standard British Standards (BS) are the standards produced by the BSI Group which is incorporated under a royal charter and which is formally designated as the national standards body (NSB) for the UK. The BSI Group produces British Standards under th ...

BS 6715: 1991 defines chamois leather as:

United States

In the United States, the term ''chamois'' without any qualification is restricted to the flesh split of the sheep or lambskin tanned solely with oils (US Federal Standard CS99-1970). Chamois leather is often counterfeited with goat or pig skin, the practice of which is a particular profession called by the French ''chamoiser''.

History

The term ''chamois'' as used to refer to specially-prepared leather originated sometime before 1709, referring to the prepared skin of any goat-like animal, specifically the European antelope—commonly called the "chamois"—and exclusively used by the

glove A glove is a garment covering the hand, with separate sheaths or openings for each finger including the thumb. Gloves protect and comfort hands against cold or heat, damage by friction, abrasion or chemicals, and disease; or in turn to provide a ...

making industry of southwest

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It was discovered that when tanned in the local cod oil of nearby

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; also spelled ; ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. It is a luxu ...

, the result was a material of unprecedented absorbency. This leather was fashioned into soft white gloves designed for carriage footmen, who were responsible for the care and polishing of

carriages A carriage is a two- or four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle for passengers. In Europe they were a common mode of transport for the wealthy during the Roman Empire, and then again from around 1600 until they were replaced by the motor car around 1 ...

. This industry usage later transferred to the

chauffeur A chauffeur () is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or a limousine. Initially, such drivers were often personal employees of the vehicle owner, but this has changed to s ...

s of the "

horseless carriage Horseless carriage is an early name for the motor car or automobile. Prior to the invention of the motor car, carriages were usually pulled by animals, typically horses. The term can be compared to other transitional terms, such as wireless p ...

s" invented in the early 1900s. The popularity of chamois leather greatly increased with the advent of mass-produced automobile windshields, which needed to be washed frequently for visibility purposes, but were inconvenient and time-consuming to dry through alternative means.

Properties

Genuine chamois leather has almost no abrasive properties, and can be used as a very absorbent drying material for any

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

surface. This has made it a popular product for car cleaning and drying. The elasticity of the skin's pores, which are very close together, allow it to be used in micro-filtration. Its water absorbency and low friction make it good for other uses, such as in

cycling shorts Cycling shorts (also known as bike shorts, bicycling shorts, chamois, knicks, or spats or thigh cling shorts) are short, skin-tight garments designed to improve comfort and efficiency while cycling. Their useful properties are: * reduce wind ...

(although most modern cycling shorts now use synthetic "chamois" leather). It was also used in purifying mercury, which is done by passing it through the pores of the skin. Chamois was historically used as a gasoline filter. When soaked with clean

gasoline Gasoline ( North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When for ...

, chamois will not allow water to pass through its surface fibers. This property is used to filter fuel that has been stored in drums prone to ingress of water, or from any other doubtful source. The technique is to provide a large-mouthed funnel with a wide outlet surface that supports a woven wire base, or metal plate with a grid of holes. The lower part of the funnel is tapered to fit the receptacle or tank-filler aperture. A suitably sized chamois skin is soaked in clean fuel and placed over the grid in the funnel and brought up the sides, forming a bowl, to prevent any leakage past the skin. Fuel can then be pumped into the top of the funnel by the

fuel dispenser A gasoline pump or fuel dispenser is a machine at a filling station that is used to pump gasoline (petrol), diesel, or other types of liquid fuel into vehicles. Gasoline pumps are also known as bowsers or petrol bowsers (in Australia and Sou ...

and watched for signs of water accumulation. The process can be stopped to lift out the assembly from the tank and the trapped water removed so that the job can be continued. Chamois leather is used thus as a

fuel A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work (physics), work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chem ...

filter by boaters, auto detailers, and aircraft refuelers, particularly of a past age when aircraft were flown into very remote areas.

Uses

Chamois leather is widely used for drying and buffing vehicles after washing. Small pieces of chamois leather (often called "chamois cloth") are commonly used as blending tools by artists drawing with

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ca ...

. The leather blends the charcoal more softly and cleanly than the artist's fingers, which can leave smudges. The chamois is also used to lighten the drawing (or portions of it) by removing some charcoal in a more subtle and nuanced way than most erasers could. The charcoal can be washed from the leather using soap and water. Chamois leather is used around professional film and

video camera A video camera is an optical instrument that captures videos, as opposed to a movie camera, which records images on film. Video cameras were initially developed for the television industry but have since become widely used for a variety of other ...

viewfinder In photography, a viewfinder is a device on a camera that a photographer uses to determine exactly where the camera is pointed, and approximately how much of that view will be photographed. A viewfinder can be mechanical (indicating only direct ...

s, as it provides comfort and absorbs sweat from

camera operator A camera operator, or depending on the context cameraman or camerawoman, is a professional operator of a film camera or video camera as part of a film crew. The term "cameraman" does not necessarily imply that a male is performing the task. ...

s who spend a long time with their eye planted on the viewfinder. Divers use towels made of chamois leather to dry themselves between dives, as they can be quickly dried by squeezing or wringing them.

References

{{Leather Leathermaking Leather