The nitrogen content as determined by this test method is normally considered to be related to the amount of hide substance (protein fiber) present in the leather sample. A factor of 5.62 is normally used to calculate the hide substance from the nitrogen content.

4.1.1 The 5.62 factor represents the average result of many analyses of animal hides, but it cannot be considered to be accurate since it varies somewhat from hide to hide of the same type, from type of hide to type of hide, and also with the thickness of hide retained in the final leather (split thickness as compared to original hide thickness). As a result of these variations, the true factor for any given leather may be expected to vary from 5.44 to 5.80 or about ±3 %.⁴

A given leather sample may contain nitrogenous substances other than hide substance (protein fiber) which will be analyzed for by this test method, such as resins, dyestuffs, etc., that contain nitrogen. Therefore, although this test method is fairly accurate for determining the nitrogen content of leather, its use for determining hide substance may result in large errors.

The hide substance value derived from this determination has a large bearing on other chemical determinations of a given leather. Any errors, such as those described in 4.1.1 and 4.2, will be carried over into these other analytical calculations.