Elk leather: was Backcheck noise

[John Delacour]

At 5:31 pm -0500 4/8/06, Alan R. Barnard wrote:

>Is that Elk soft like deer hide or is it similar to regular ol' cow leather?

"Buckskin" and "elkskin" are both made from the skin of the deer (or 
elk) which has had the grain removed and is tanned in a certain way. 
"Deerskin" is different again and not used in pianos.  "Doeskin" is 
not made from the skin of a doe but usually from the skin of sheep, 
unless the term is loosely used to denote "buckskin".  Similarly 
"rabbitskin glue" might occasionally be made from the skin of rabbits 
but the name is usually just a trade term for a high quality hide 
glue. "Genuine chamois leather" is very rarely made from genuine 
chamois, but from sheep. In other words the names used in the leather 
trade are often misleading.  The terms are used to describe the 
quality and texture of the finished product.

What is certain is that the soft firm leather used in good pianos is 
almost always from the deer.  What is called elkskin might come from 
the larger elk but might also come from the thicker part of the 
deer's skin towards the neck.  I think genuine elkskin might be 
rather coarser and "fibrous" than the thick buckskin but either is 
good for checks.  Nowadays genuine elkskin (as illustrated in my last 
message, I think) is never found on a piano I think.

As a final confusion, from  <http://tinyurl.com/l8fwh> :

"Elk- A trade term for cattlehide shoe leather of special tannage and 
finish. Genuine elk leather is made into one of several types of 
buckskins."

But cowhide would only be used in the piano on pedal levers etc.

JD