Whittawer

Whittawer, Tawer, Tawyer - a craftsman who used minerals to cure skins by producing rawhide.

In tawing, the hide was soaked in an aqueous solution containing potash alum and salt. Sometimes egg yolk and flour were added to improve the product. Strictly speaking, not having been tanned, a tawed skin is not leather, and is putrescible when wet.