Thread: Searching quality leather

I am going to make my first strop this month. The problem is that getting good veg tanned cowhide isn't that easy. I ordered from online store some leather and mentioned that it's need to be almost perfect. Well I got my package and it was all rubbish. There is only about 30-50% usable leather for strops. Now I have to send all back.

Is there any good leather vendors that have great reputation delivering what customer is asking in Europe? How about Tandy Leather at UK?

Originally Posted by Jaatinen1982

I am going to make my first strop this month. The problem is that getting good veg tanned cowhide isn't that easy. I ordered from online store some leather and mentioned that it's need to be almost perfect. Well I got my package and it was all rubbish. There is only about 30-50% usable leather for strops. Now I have to send all back.

Is there any good leather vendors that have great reputation delivering what customer is asking in Europe? How about Tandy Leather at UK?

I would recommend A & A Crack & Sons if you wish to buy leather from a UK wholesaler. I've been to the Tandy UK premises, and whilst absolutely brilliant for tools and fastenings, I wasn't personally very impressed with the leather that they had at their shop. I can't overstate enough that this is only my own, personal opinion!

I have however, been to A & A Crack & Sons. Great people, and full of advice. If you tell them what you want, and the quality you want, I have no doubt you'd receive it.

If there's a tack shop or saddlemaker nearby they are usually happy to give you scrap or sell you suitable lengths or 5-8 ounce unblemished grain leather. Or, at least, such is my experience with tack shops in the US.

Buying quality leather online is like getting a mail order bride,you need to go look at the leather,inspect it,feel it.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Buying quality leather online is like getting a mail order bride,you need to go look at the leather,inspect it,feel it.

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BIG DITTO FOR SURE.....

I bought some Latigo online and it was definitely nice enough for strops, have you tried searching for that instead of veg tanned cowhide? May give you more options.

Find out where Brooks down in UK gets their bike saddle leather.

Originally Posted by Jaatinen1982

ordered from online store some leather and mentioned that it's need to be almost perfect. Well I got my package and it was all rubbish. There is only about 30-50% usable leather for strops. Now I have to send all back.

It is exceptional to use all, or even most, of the leather on a cowhide.

Take a whole side of cowhide for example (which is the leather used for most strops today and which is the source of latigo, english bridle, steer, etc).

The skirt bit which is near the belly usually gets thicker, softer, more fibrous and wrinkled/creased. In other words most of this skirt can be cut off and discarded,

There will be range marks like scratches and wounds from posts and wire, possible horn marks, marks from insect pests that burrow into the skin, branding iron marks, fat wrinkles, etc, etc. Areas that are prone to stretch and strain, like the shoulders, are often very lined.

In my experience approx 60% of the hide will produce good quality, fair faced leather that is suitable for strops. A small percentage will provide good quality strops with a bit more work, such as using a small skiving machine to remove thicker leather. The rest will provide some second quality strops and leather that is of no use.

So your 50% usable surface is quite good for a beginner.

The above deals with fair faced leather with the original skin surface.

In order to reduce waste, manufacturers remove the very top or skin layer by a process of milling, which produces a leather with very fine nap and silky suede like texture. A lot of small marks are removed during the milling, so you get more usable leather out of the hide. The finish is either fairly dry (like dovo) or oiled and waxed to produce bridle.

Even expensive leather like shell and kangaroo have marks. This is exacerbated with shell cordovan, which is oval. Obviously the round edges have to be cut away. With kangaroo you have to allow for the obstreporous nature of the savage little beasts and the scars they inflict on one another.

If you want to keep your outlay to minimum you only have one sensible choice - go see the product, feel it, and forget mail order.

Regards,
Neil

I'm very happy to see a Neil Miller post again even if I do have to look up words to understand the content. You've got a lot of choices of words to fill in for obstreperous (to describe the kangaroo)....my favorite was uproarious....not being from Down Under, I have a really distorted picture of a kangaroo...but these two words help me understand that they are not cute....and I hope NM you are coming around and some day I might order an uproarious strop from you.

Thank you Neil for useful post. I found supplier who sells swedish bridle leather and I am going to see her tomorrow. Learning some leather working techniques same time and going to choose few good hides also for first strops.

I don't like idea to waste over 50% of hide because it is not good enough. So now I have to think what else I could do with parts that are not suitable for strops.