Vinces0583

I was in contact with a gent named Victor at Springfield Leather......they're able to get me super thick stuff. I'll be ordering a sample tomorrow when I talk to Victor....he was out today. As for the size of the panels; no, they don't need to be large at all. I could get away with pieces that are relatively small.......10 or 12 inches square would work just fine.

I'm learning a heck of a lot. Thanks for all your input so far.

That Sir, is very interesting. I'll try to give them a call on Monday. Thank you.

Fantastic leads. Thanks very much.

Not looking to become a millionaire. Simply trying to build a better mousetrap based upon an idea I had 20 some odd years ago. What I'm seeking is that animal hide that exceeds the average hide thickness. Surely there's a "thickest" hide in the animal kingdom. I know mouse hides are out of the question and T-Rex hides are scarce but surely there's a "thickest" between those two parameters. But, thanks for the well-wishes.

A question about the process that leads up to a ready-to-use material.......do the tanneries split the leather before it's tanned or after? I'm thinking perhaps an unsplit hide would be the best IF they split the thing after it's tanned. Does anyone know the range of thicknesses cowhide is prior to splitting? I see suede pieces that are in the medium ounce ranges. So let's say the post-processed hide is 25 ounces do they split it to a piece of top grain that's 12.5 and a suede that's 12.5?

Thank you for those resources. They're roughly 4 hours away from where I live it seems. I'll reach out to them and see what they say. Thanks again.

SLC? I've tried laminated pieces in the past. Doesn't work for this application. It's a very odd application to be honest. If I can find the right material and get it to work it'll be patentable for me.

So prior to steaming how thick was the rawhide? And it was buffalo rawhide? I'm assuming they skin the animal.....dry the hide naturally which makes it shrink and then steam it and make it puff back up? Veryyyyyy interesting. VERY interesting. Do you have or know where I might find the exact material you started with? I'd love to try a few things with that. I live in Philadelphia so my access to such western skills is highly unlikely.

Where the heck did you find leather that is 3/4" thick? Do you have any scraps of it floating around that I might experiment with? I'll happily pay for the material plus shipping. Anything above 5/16 or so would probably work. The thicker the better. I plan on processing it to fit my needs once I get my mitts on it.

Thank you very much for the guidance. I'll contact both of those companies,. I've reached out to Weaver who is sending me a sample of 18oz and they've been VERY nice to chat with.

Lol. Don't think I haven't considered starting to breed mini cows.

Sorry for sounding mysterious but I'd rather not say what the application is at the moment. I'm kind of trying to reinvent the wheel.....the proverbial, build a better mousetrap kind of thing; an invention of sorts that's been mulling around in my brain for the better part of 20 years and patentable I have considered most options including laminated pieces but believe it or not that's already being tried by many others with mixed degrees of success. You'll have to educate me on rawhide as the only version of it I'm familiar with is in dried chew toys for my dog. Others who make similar products use chrome tanned and/or vegetable tanned leathers so based upon what's been done in the past I can't see rawhide working unless it's able to be reconstituted somehow and contains that upper top grain. For the pieces I'll be working with I don't need large material. I could easily get away with 8 or 10 inch pieces but it's that thickness that's been the main hurdle at the moment. On that note, is the hide usually split before it's tanned either veg or chrome? What I've been thinking is if I could get hold of an un-split but tanned piece. When hides are split I'm assuming they measure from the top-grain....down....to whatever uniform thickness they're trying to achieve.

Hello all...... Brand new to the forum, just signed up. I'm desperately trying to find the thickest leather available. I need at least 20 oz leather for a project I've been working on for aaaaaaaaaages. The vast majority of retailers out there sell up to about 16 ounce but that's it. Also, can you tell me which species I should be looking for? I've read the good old bovine has some of the thickest in the neck area but also heard (rumor mostly) that water buffalo and also wild boar have super thick hides. Can anyone help point me in a legit direction with some contacts for super thick pieces of leather I can experiment with? Thanks so much all and Happy Holidays.