50 YEARS OF "STEERING" IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION!

Happy 50th Birthday to the Atwood Family Organization, which provides the energy behind Red Steer Glove Company, one of our major suppliers. In these days of job-hopping and short-term commitments, it is refreshing to see three generations of the Atwood family involved in their glove business, beginning with founder Ralph Atwood in 1950, and continuing with sons Sandy, Mark, and grandson Mikal Carp.

Red Steer's marketing emphasis is on the retail/consumer trade with the majority of sales transitioning through distributors. With over half a century of comprehensive work glove tradition, they have continually emphasized quality. From domestic specialty leather glove manufacturing to overseas strategic factory alliances, Red Steer requires, and receives, the finest quality available per glove category.

Corporate headquarters are located in Salem, OR, with sales and warehousing six miles to the north in Brooks. The Red Steer division of the Atwood organization employs 20 administrative, warehouse and sales people. Scheduled for completion this month is an expansion which will double their warehouse space to 24,000 sq.ft.

Red Steer Glove Company was formed in 1983 as an import division to compliment the domestic glove program. Oregon Glove Company was purchased in 1996 to provide a United States domestic source of specialty leather gloves. Oregon Glove manufactures rodeo gloves, beekeepers' gloves, police gloves, and a variety of deer, elk, and goatskin gloves.

If you aren't currently using Red Steer gloves, and would like the chance to look at the various styles, let us know and we'll send along a catalog or deliver some samples for you to try. Better yet, click on our Links and click again onto Red Steer's website. You can view their products at your leisure, and then contact us!

WELCOME, NEW CUSTOMERS!

Welcome to:
California Department of Forestry
Coffman's Exhaust Systems

TANNING:-Not Just For The Sun Lovers!

Every once in a while we get a call asking us if we could make a couple of pair of gloves from a "raw" hide. Hello, Rowdy Yates! Of course we explain that we are glove distributors, not manufacturers, but the request begs the question, just what would this process entail if we did?

"Tanning" is the all important first step, since it is the process of turning an animal's skin into leather. In a 1951 book "Glovemaking For Beginners," the basic procedure as it existed at that time is described in interesting detail. It helps to explain the varying prices of leather gloves. A summary follows:

Skins arrive at the tannery in a raw state, with the wool or hair still in place. Various chemicals and procedures are used to break the hair roots and fibers, and to make the skins soft and pliable. After washing, the skins appear a dirty grayish white, receptive to the tanning and dyeing process.

Chrome and oil tanned skins are washable, alum tanned skins are not. Oil tanned skins are soaked and kneaded for many hours in a solution containing cod oil. Chrome tanning has many advantages over other processes in that it is more economical, takes a much shorter time, and the leather is washable and more soft and pliable.

After the skins have been tanned they are staked, which gives the skins the softness and pliability so necessary for gloves. Many skins are staked by machine, but the finest leathers are staked by hand. The hand stake is a post about 3 feet in height, topped with a dull, semicircular knife. The staker works the leather over the knife, applying pressure with his knee, until the entire skin is soft and supple.

There are two methods of dyeing skins--dipping and brushing. In dip-dyeing the skins are immersed in revolving drums containing the dye mixture and allowed to remain for about 3 hours. Brush-dyed skins are colored with a liquid clay solution which is applied with a flat stiff brush. In brush dyeing the dye does not penetrate the leather, and the back side remains the natural leather color.

After dyeing, the skins are sorted into different grades and weights; those that are too heavy are either split or shaved to the proper thickness. Both the splitting and shaving machines can be regulated by as little as .005 of an inch to bring the skins to the exact weight desired.

Link to our previous Newsletters:
Vol 1, No 1, Fall 1998
Vol 2, Fall 1999
Vol 3, No 1, Spring 2000