Chamois leather

The British Standard BS 6715: 1991[2] defines chamois leather as: Leather made from the flesh split of sheepskin or lambskin, or from sheepskin or lambskin from which the grain (the top split) has been removed by frizing, and tanned by processes involving oxidation of marine oils in the skin.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).

[3] Chamois leather is often counterfeited with goat or pig skin, the practice of which is a particular profession called by the French chamoiser.

It was discovered that when tanned in the local cod oil of nearby Biarritz, the result was a material of unprecedented absorbency.

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.

[7] Genuine chamois leather has almost no abrasive properties, and can be used as a very absorbent drying material for any automobile surface.

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.