Chamois Lined Cases

[eliphant]

I was going through the Standard Catalog of Smith and Wesson (3rd edition) and came across the mention of chamois-lined presentation boxes (pages 29-30 and 112-113). I must admit, I'm not familiar with chamois lining, even though I've always had a strong interest in presentation boxes.

I'm curious to know more and would appreciate any insights or examples from the community. Specifically, I have a few questions:

1. Is chamois a good material for lining?
2. Why isn't it commonly used anymore?
3. Does chamois contribute to corrosion, or is it treated in some way to prevent this?

Thanks in advance for any information or experiences you can share!

 

[03hemi]

Chamois is just tanned sheep skin, tanic acid is never a good thing to leave any gun in contact with for a long period of time.
Tanic acid will totally ruin a blued finish, turn nickel milky and dull stainless with time.
Might be why they quit doing it?

 

[wlw-19958]

Hi There,

Chamois is just tanned sheep skin, tanic acid is never a good thing to leave any gun in contact with for a long period of time.
Tanic acid will totally ruin a blued finish, turn nickel milky and dull stainless with time.
Might be why they quit doing it?

Real Chamois is not tanned using tannic acid. It was "tanned"
by using Cod Oil. This is the process that imparts the high ab-
sorbancy characteristics.

Originally, Chamois is the leather made from the skin of the
Chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra). In the United States, a "cham-
ois" is qualified as: "...the flesh split of the sheep or lambskin
tanned solely with oils (US Federal Standard CS99-1970)." So,
I don't know how acidic chamois is (if acidic at all). Another
quality of chamois is it ability to polish without scratching.

I don't know how good the chamois was that was used in these
cases. Was it real chamois? There is a type of cloth that is call-
ed "chamois cloth." it is a man made material and made from
cotton and other additives to impart a soft chamois like surface.
so I don't know exactly how good or detrimental Chamois is
as a liner for a gun case.


Cheers!
Webb

 

[Peak53]

I wouldn't think a skin that is designed to absorb and retain moisture is a good idea for a gun. Maybe a car

 

[glowe]

I have seen many pristine Single Shot pistol combinations in chamois leather without any signs of distress. From some research, found that if repeatedly washed with alkali soap and rinsed, then treated with natural oils there should not be any damage done.

I have not seen any other model housed in chamois, except for the Single Shots and combination sets. I am attaching pictures of a couple original chamois case that I used to line a case for my combination set about 10 years ago and nothing has ever happened to the finishes.

 

[T112-4]

Just a add on from an old guy told to him by older guy.
Fishermen use to carry real chamois cloth on their boats, when gasoline got fouled by water you could strain the gas through the chamois and it would remove the water.

 

[Warren Sear]

I think the best advice is to never store any gun in any case. No Bueno.