I bet when yoy hear the word leather, you think of cow’s hide. I do. Did you know that the skin of some fish can be turned into leather?
A great deal of good leather comes from the fish in the sea. Not from the walrus or seal. Thee is a different kind of leather that comes from the bodies of fish. It is a fine quality of green leather that was once manufactured in the country of Turkey. It was made from the skin of a fish called the angelfish. The angelfish is from the shark family, it has thick winglike fins that have earned it the nickname “angelfish”, even though it doesn’t look anything like an angel. It’s actually quiet ugly.
The sword grips of the officers of the German Army were actually made from shark leather also. German manufactures attempted to replicate the the same look from leather from animal hides but never could get the same results. Unlike animal hides, the fish leather is water resistant and never gets soggy from dampness, so it was ideal for sword grips, as no matter how much the perspiration the grip ramained hard and dry.
There are other fish that offer great leather making also. Take the sturgeon, despite the lumpy armor, it furnishes a valuable and attractive leather. When the boney plates are taken off, their pattern remains on the skin, just like the pattern of alligator scales remains on alligator leather. The pacific coast sturgen and the sturgeon of the great lakes produce a tough leather belting that is used to make laces for joining leather belting for machinary and the laces often out wear the belting.
The strange garfish, that is found in most American fresh waters with the long toothed jaws like a crocodile has a skin that can be polished smooth until it has a finish like ivory. The skin of the garfish has been made into jewel caskets and picture frames. The skin of the garfish was used by some of the American Indians into a type of armor. The hide is so tough and hard that it makes a breastplate that can stop a knife or spear. Some of the breastplates made of the garfish skin have been rumored to have stooped a strike from a tomahawk.
The indians, who wore the fish armor also used to wear a fish helmet. It was made from the skin of the prickly porcupine fish and besides protecting the wearer’s head, it was used as a weapon of offense. The warriors would butted their enemies with it and because it had hundreds of ironlike spikes and was painful to anything stuck with it.
The cod fish, was once a success for making leather for shoes and gloves. In Egypt, men would wear sandals made from the skin of fish from the red sea. In Russia, certain peasant costumes were beautifuly decorated with the skins of fish, the turbot.
Bookbinders, bind books with eel skin. The eel skin, also has other purpose’s. It is braided into whips. Some of the private schools in Europe at one time used these whips when disciplining kids.
The natives along the salmon rivers of Siberia, would wear leather garments dyed red and yellow. They are made from the salmon skins. In Alaska, waterproof bags used to be made from all sorts of fish skins.
The most remarkable use is the intestines of the sea lion. They are slit and stitched together to firm hooded coats which are superior to the rubber waterproof coats. Walrus intestines were once made into sails for boats by the Eskimos of the North Western America.