DStubb

Yep looks like alum tanned leathers are the popular choice for laces and chrome tanned for the actual glove construction. Man i sure wish you could go cow hunt'n like you can with deer lol. Speaking of which i tossed away four deer hides this season, are there people on here interested in putting them to use next year? I usually fill all my deer tags here in Ohio.

I guess the high end market would be the other glove repair people that i would like to supply lace to. And yes i do not want to provide a cheap product that's advertised as top quality. Right now glove repair people are paying between $3 - $5 for one 72" piece of lace. If i could somehow find a quality product at a decent price i could make up to $2.50 - $4.50 per single strand sold. Those are huge profits when you consider that a glove repair man will need at least 3 - 4 strands just to re-lace one single glove. I would think that most shops and repair men would be ordering 50-300 strands per order. I have used so many laces from so many different suppliers and i must say that the sample i had cut today seems like the perfect lace. Of course there are those questions as to how will it dye, will it become brittle, will it bleed, will it hold up to the conditions. Who knows and only time will tell, and if it doesn't then i will start over from the ground up and try the next best thing. I'm in this to make money and if the only way for me to make a quality lace is by spending $150 - $200 on a single hide then it won't work. Even if i need to learn to tan the leathers myself from my basement or garage then i'll explore it. There really is quite a bit of money to be made. I'm a graphic/web designer by trade and i know that i could really market these things well, i just need to crack the code on how to achieve a quality lace at low cost.

These are the same laces that i have been using. I would actually prefer a little thicker. This is a better image.

It's funny you say that Joel because i just got home from Tandy and i did exactly as you said. I took some high quality lace with me for them to see and they said that it looked like latigo to them but they weren't positive. We talked about possibly using the cheap economy grade veg tan leathers that they carry and they seemed to think that i wouldnt have any problems with it as long as i used a sealer after the dyeing process. They even cut me a piece of lace from some 5 oz scrap and i must say that it does have a nice feel and look. The one thing i dont like is that the back side is pretty rough, is there a way to sand or smooth out the back side of leather? And thanks for help btw.

Yes i know nothing about leather and that's why i came here. I have been trying to learn as much as i can the last few days but there really isn't much useful information online regarding leathers used for baseball lacing. I'm not planning on building my own leather gloves, wallets or belts just trying to find out what the best leather would be for cutting some simple laces. If i am able to find the right leather at the right price then i will be bugging all of you about the dyeing process. I have watched a couple videos on how to alum tan hides but they were tanning rabbits and bobcat furs. They basically were just using two gallons water, one cup alum (purchased in the canning section at the supermarket), and one cup non iodized salt. They let it soak for about a week, hung it up to dry, and then stretched it. Could i simply just repeat that process on a cheap veg tan hide?

Thanks for the advice i guess i will have to abandon that idea. Yes we play baseball in the rain as long as there is no lightning or downpour. I did find a tannery near where i live who makes chrome tanned leather lacing in a variety of colors but the minimum order is 100 laces per color. If i were to buy from them i would be paying around $2.00 per lace which is better than my previous prices but i still want to find a way to get my cost around $0.50 per lace.

After searching and searching online i have come to the conclusion that the high end laces are made from Alum or Chrome tanned hides. Are these types of hides on the expensive side?

Wow sorry for moving my thread to the top. And FYI TXAG i don't move it to the top every couple of hours. I did it one time and i apologize for ruining your day by doing it.

Wow that price though. The only way i would make my own lace is if i could get the hide under $50.00. I know Latigo is a popular choice for baeball laces but it's so dang expensive. Would a leather like the one i put in the link hold up to the elements like latigo?

First off i would like to say thank you to everyone who posts a reply to this thread. For years now i have been re-lacing baseball gloves for supplemental income and have recently decided to take the operation up a notch. This year i am planning on setting up tents at baseball tournaments, buying and restoring neglected gloves to resell, and possibly selling my own custom lacing to local shops and on the web. In the past i have always ordered my lacing from various websites and i typically pay around $3.00 -$4.00 for one 72" strip that's 1/4" wide or 3/16" wide. To do a full re-lace on a glove i typically use around 3 - 4 72" strips. I am spending around $12.00 - $16.00 in lace per glove which does not leave much room for profit when i charge $40.00 - $50.00 per glove. To save myself money and to expand my business by selling lace to other glove repair shops i am exploring the idea of making my own laces and offering around 10 different colors. Based on my calculation i can get around 80 - 90 72" strips from a 3' x 3' sheet of leather which would make my cost per strand way less that $1.00. My question for all of you is what type of leather should i buy and what oz thickness? I was browsing the Tandy Leather store near my house and they have this http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/en-usd/home/department/cowhide/99606-02.aspx at a very reasonable price. Something like that would make my cost per strand around $0.40. I want my laces to be thick and stiff like you get with high end glove models like the Wilson A2000. My second question is with how to dye these strips. I want the laces to be dyed all the way through so i assume that i will need to dip them rather than wipe all four sides. Should i dye the sheet before cutting or dye the strips after they have been cut? Colors that i want to make are natural tan, black, white, red, royal blue, green, purple, orange, pink, yellow, orange, and possibly a tie dye. Has anyone ever dip dyed an entire hyde?