what is Latigo leather

**thevoicestellmeto** · 07-05-2008, 02:12 AM

What animal does it come from. I could not find this out even after doing a google search????

**Tony Miller** · 07-05-2008, 02:47 AM

Latigo is a name applied to leather a tanned by a certain process and is almost always Cowhide.

Oils and waxes are impregnated into the leather. It was not made specifically for strops but it's characteristics lead me to start using it on my products a few years ago and others quickly followed. It help create a nice heavy draw and since the pores in the leather are filled with the waxes they tend to absorb less moisture and tend not to cup very easily as many strops do.

Tony

**thevoicestellmeto** · 07-05-2008, 04:52 AM

Thanks Tony

**CactusBob** · 07-05-2008, 05:16 AM

Tony is right on how it is made. I believe it was originally made for saddles. The latigo is the leather strap that attaches the girth to a saddle. It allows you to tighten the saddle to the horse. If properly maintained it will last a lot of years on a saddle, as a strop if properly maintained your kids should be using it.

Bob

**Tony Miller** · 07-05-2008, 03:45 PM

As Bob said, Latigo is actually the name of the leather piece for the saddle and the nickname stuck for leather produced with a specific tanning for the application.

In practice though Latigo can vary widely depending on the tannery. My strop bodies are all a rather waxy/oily Latigo from a specific tannery, the handles and end caps which have a quite different feel, smooth and polished, not waxy at all are also Latigo but from a different tannery.
They make nice handles but would be useless for strop bodies due to the polished texture, delicate skin and lack of any waxes or oils on the surface to create draw.

Even at companies like Tandy the material varies widely. The sides they sell feel completely different than the latigo belt straps they offer. The straps are smooth, waxy and firm, the sides oily and uneven in texture.

Each piece of leather, often even from the same tannery needs to be judged on it's own merrits. Much it is will still work, but may not look or lay as nicely as others pieces will (hence the supply of practice strops)

Tony