silverrowan

I have a friend who wants a pieces finished with a large black buckle, I've been able to find black buckles up to 1" wide in the ohio travel bag catalog, and larger 'reenactment' ones at springfield leather, but those seem to have a high risk of rusting. Any recommendations on where else to look? Thank you

First off, sorry if this is a repeat question, I can't seem to find a search function for this forum. I have the opportunity to buy hides in person (sadly, only from Tandy or more expensive places so far), but I don't really know what I'm looking for in determining if a hide is decent or not, obviously visible damage to the skin is bad, as are holes, but what else should I be looking for? There's a rather steep sale on veg-tanned tooling hides and I'd like to get ones of not horrible quality - I'm starting off assuming they aren't the best. What is more or less important in determining a quality hide, etc. I'm hoping to multi-use the hide for tooling, masks and larping gear. thank you! (and hey, if anyone knows of good suppliers I could visit in the Toronto/Ontario area, or mail-order in Eastern Canada, I'd love that advice too!)