| ≥1 piece | 390 |
After cleaning, the cattle hides are still at full slaughter thickness. Moreover, the cowhides are not yet equally thick everywhere, which is necessary so that the leather can be processed nicely. That is why the beef hide is then cut horizontally once or twice with great precision. The process of cutting the cowhide, leaving two or three layers, is called splitting.
Depending on the thickness of the hide, during this processing of a cowhide the hide is split into usually two, but sometimes three different layers. The top, also the most beautiful, layer is called the 'grain split'. The hair of the cow used to sit on this layer of the skin. Given the continuous fiber structure of this layer of the skin, the grain split is the strongest. If the thickness of the cowhide allows for a three-layer split, the middle layer can be split from the bottom layer. The middle layer is called the 'core split', which is usually made of suede. The bottom layer is called the 'meat split'. The fibers are coarsest in this layer. In view of the undifferentiated fiber structure of the meat split, this layer is generally cheaper and more vulnerable. To maintain the quality of all layers of the cowhide, it is essential that the skin processing takes place carefully.