Where to buy leather?

JeremyNielsen · January 21, 2016, 9:07pm

I second the motion

morganstanfield · January 21, 2016, 9:21pm

Awww,

But please, gentlemen, it’s Leather Woman.

takitus · January 21, 2016, 9:32pm

I saw something youd probably like the other day by a really cool leather crafting group:

morganstanfield · January 21, 2016, 9:33pm

Nice!

nunzioc · January 21, 2016, 9:40pm

Awesome, thanks for the info!

Brandon_R · January 21, 2016, 9:40pm

Woah. There’s a Tandy 4mi from my front door!
Only popped up when I searched for it specially by name so thanks @morganstanfield!

morganstanfield · January 22, 2016, 2:52am

Also, keep in mind that Tandy stores come in lots of different sizes. In the Denver area, there are two. One is a little strip-mall storefront. The other is, literally, a warehouse. Both have good sales, but the bigger one is like a gold mine and the little one is like a trip to an ATM.

So, if you have access to more than one, you might call and ask about the size of their store/stock, or just go visit each one. You’ll want to walk around and look at hides, cuts, and scraps no matter what, so it might be worth it.

tbelhumer · January 22, 2016, 4:47pm

I see there are two tandy leather store up in the twin cities. At current gas prices and driving my Prius, that’s about $7 in gas round trip. Throw in a trip to Midwest supplies or Northern Brewer for grain and yeast and I’ve “killed two birds” .
I know there are some leather suppliers close by but don’t know what kind of deals to expect from them.

areader154 · January 22, 2016, 5:04pm

I hear that Buckskin Leather Company is much better than Tandy

morganstanfield · January 22, 2016, 5:32pm

Interesting new source! I’m looking at the website ( https://www.buckskinleather.com/leather-price-list/#Vegetable-Tanned-Leather) now, and they’re HQ’d in Canada (Calgary). Looking at the USD prices, they seem comparable to Tandy or slightly lower. For example, they both sell Hermann Oak-brand veg-tan tooling bellies, a common laserable cut that is usually 5-6 sq feet per hide. Buckskin Leather is $1 USD cheaper per square foot than Tandy. Their full-grain, garment-weight split pigskin is essentially the same price as Tandy’s.

Buckskin doesn’t carry brightly colored split pigskin suede (a machine-washable garment suede that I love buying from Tandy–laserability questionable), but they do carry some more unusual leathers, like moose, (tannage unlisted).

Overall, they seem like a good site, and I’d love to hear reports from anyone who’s purchased from them! (Admittedly, it would take a lot for me to buy from them, because I wouldn’t be able to choose my own hides from the stock, but it’s great to know they’re out there and they might be a great resource for Canadians.)

morganstanfield · January 22, 2016, 5:38pm

Aaaand here’s a link to Buckskin’s virtual tour! They do have some gorgeous stuff! https://www.buckskinleather.com/virtual-tour-buckskin-leather/

And DAAAAAANG I got a thirst for that lemon yellow full-grain garment pigskin suede. Almost certainly not laserable, but WANT.

JeremyNielsen · January 22, 2016, 5:46pm

Every post from you @morganstanfield is like a trip to the candy store!! Thanks for the links and info. I don’t have one locally, but next time I’m in Calgary I’ll take a gander.

Question. How does Vegetable Tanned finish? Say I wanted a finished look like this: https://goo.gl/JdCLnO
Would that be possible? Sorry, still a noobie with all this.

JeremyNielsen · January 22, 2016, 5:47pm

Love that yellow!

areader154 · January 22, 2016, 5:48pm

I know a guy who works with leather here in Cowtown and he buys from them exclusively. He says the quality is much better than Tandy (at least for the specific leather he buys).

morganstanfield · January 22, 2016, 5:53pm

Oh, yeah–you can absolutely get that finish, @JeremyNielsen. In fact, that wallet was almost certainly veg-tanned, and you can tell because it was tooled with that monogram. The deal with veg-tanned is that most of the time, when the craftworker gets it, it’s not “finished”–it’s tanned, so it won’t rot and the collagen fibers are dry-stabilized, but there’s no color or waterproofing/softening finish (oil, wax, acryl). Once you get it wet, it can be shaped into all kinds of forms (as in tooled, stretched, wet-formed) and then it stays when it dries. It also drinks up all kinds of dyes and finishes such as oils and waxes. (You can buy it dyed, that’s just not how it usually comes.)

morganstanfield · January 22, 2016, 5:55pm

Guys, guys!! Buckskin sends free samples!! I’m ordering samples!!

JeremyNielsen · January 22, 2016, 5:55pm

GGGAAAHHHH!!! Oh thats exciting!! I’m ordering!!!

JeremyNielsen · January 22, 2016, 5:56pm

Thanks for the info!! For some reason I thought Vegetable was a lower quality leather and was its final look. Fantastic!!

JeremyNielsen · January 22, 2016, 5:58pm

@morganstanfield Do you have a link to the samples? Or how do you get them? I don’t see it on the site.

morganstanfield · January 22, 2016, 6:01pm

Ugh, no, there’s no link. You have to call them and tell them what you want. I just called a second ago and had to leave a message. I’m going to ask for a very broad selection of things–pretty much everything they have in veg-tan to test for the community, and then pretty much all the bright-colored stuff they have for my own, non-laser use (which I’ll also test some of for safety). I’ll see what they’ll give me and report back.