Lohe (seafaring)
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Lohe is the general name for vegetable tanning agents, traditionally alongside the leather tanning and for preservation of sails , ropes and fishing nets were used. As a rule, tan is associated with a red to rusty brown shade.
In the earlier maritime consisting sail from plant tissues such as hemp or linen , which, in comparison with modern plastics much faster under moisture and UV-radiation suffered, so that it stains were given, were brittle or rotted or moldy . For this purpose, the fishermen all over Europe had developed various recipes, which in Germany were usually summarized under the name Lohe . If the tan originally consisted of vegetable tanning agents such as crushed spruce and oak bark containing tannic acid, the term was later also transferred to aniline colors such as Bismarck brown Y , Congo red , Benzo real copper brown , methylene blue and methyl violet . Although dyes are not preservatives per se, any agent that is able to encase the yarn will protect it for a period of time.
Some recipes, to which color pigments were added to increase UV protection , even had their own names depending on the region. In addition to birch tan brown, for example, Haffkrug brown and Finkenwerder brown are known.
To apply the fire, it was usually boiled in large kettles and the objects to be treated were thrown into the kettles. The sails or nets then picked up the fire while stirring. After they were completely soaked, they were either hung on racks provided for this purpose or laid out over a large area.
With the emergence of the chemical industry , ready-made mixtures emerged. Today tan is only occasionally used for museum purposes, that is, for the sails of historic ships, but tan-colored sails on today's traditionally rigged sailing ships are mostly made of polyester fabric .