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nstarleather

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Posts posted by nstarleather

  3. Posted · Report reply

    Hi Folks I picked up a couple lots of leather recently and got a bunch of "Double leathers" in the Adria Dollaro Tannage from Mastrotto. These are interesting because they've been finished in such a way that the suede side is a contrasting color to the front. They're used in some "fashion bags" for a unique effect. They also make the need for lining or finishing the suede side of the leather unnecessary.
    Here's more info on the leather and the full tech specs one the "regular" (not double) version of the leather.
    Most of the color Combos include one side as "Blush Pink"
     
     
     
    Hit me with any questions. I have decent quantity of many of these. It seems like the blush is usually the flesh side on these.
    Blush pink with grey Blush with Cognac Black with Blush Olive with Blush White with Blush Burgundy and Blush White with beige

    blush black.jpg

    blush and white.jpg

    bourbon blush.jpg

    grey blush.jpg

  4. Posted · Edited by nstarleather · Report reply

    23 hours ago, nstarleather said:

    Email it to me.  I’ll google search it for you.  nstarleather@shtc.net

    Not everyone can take gambles but it can work out.  I speak as someone who bought 20,000 feet of leather sight unseen last week.

    Doesn't look good bro.  Google search sends it back here to another listing.  So unless they bought it in June and are reselling or are the same person, it seems very suspicious. 

     

     

    IMG_3475.jpeg

  5. Posted · Report reply

    2 hours ago, ramrod said:

    he just showed a pic of the skiver. it wasn't in a shop. looked like it was in a spare bedroom. there was paperwork near it. i zoomed in on it but couldn't read what it was. also said there was no real interest in any of the rest of the stuff. hard to believe. he said he'd ship the skiver if i put half down and promised to pay the balance upon receipt. i did bow out of the deal, but he still wants to ship it. 

    nstarleather....i tried to google that pic but i don't know how. tried 5 ways til sunday to do it. 

    Email it to me.  I’ll google search it for you.  nstarleather@shtc.net

    Not everyone can take gambles but it can work out.  I speak as someone who bought 20,000 feet of leather sight unseen last week.

  7. Posted · Report reply

    5 hours ago, ramrod said:

    well, i'm still dealing with this. he did send pics. its like brand new. anyone in the world would buy this in a heartbeat. i asked why he didn't sell it locally and he said there was simply no interest. hard to believe.

    i'll put it to bed today. i'm gonna tell him to ship it and when it gets here, i'll venmo him the money. thank you for all of the replies, guys. i really appreciate it.

    My gut says it’s legit.  Too random of items to be scamming…especially clicker and mallet dies.   I’ve got loads of old dies and unless you have a complete pattern and it’s something you want to make, they have very little value.  
     

    Like if I were gonna scam a leather worker for $500, I’d say I’ve got a higher Desirable leather at a rock bottom price…as well as other more desirable/common machines/tools.  To me the list seems too random to be a scam…

     

     

  8. Posted · Report reply

    22 hours ago, chiefjason said:

     

    I talked to 2 of the CS folks with one tannery and one large distributor.  

    The tannery lost most of their employees during Covid.  Or at least a serious percentage.  That's a lot of institutional memory and experience that is just gone.  That's when I also really started noticing the quality dropping.  And I've talked the the my rep about the change in temper in their leather.  I just got a side of a different leather from them but have not used it yet.  

    The distributor flat out told me that one of the tanneries no longer sells them their top quality leather.  One of the biggest retailers in the country and one of the biggest tanneries won't sell them their top grade leather.  Crazy.  

    That same tannery produced the leather I got from a different distributor that was so hard I could barely mold it.  And that was their tannery run grade which is all that company carries.  

    It would probably be easier to just throw the names in there but there's a chance all 3 places are getting screwed in this process as well with employees losses and supply issues.  It's a mess.  

    It's one of those "I know it sucks but we're doing the best we can!" situations. For a while during the pandemic our normal one week or less turn around time went to 3-5 weeks and we lost a "problem customer" because he insisted we get his order done one day earlier than I promised we could...and he got mad.  In the end it's been the biggest blessing ever...the peace of not having to deal with him was so much better than any money he spent (and he was a $70K a year customer).

     

  9. Posted · Report reply

    2 hours ago, chiefjason said:

     

    Dwight, have you noticed veg tanned leather taking a serious down turn since Covid?  I've ordered from 3 top suppliers with a real mixed bag of success with my leather.  Stopped ordering from one well know place because the leather temper was way too soft.  Had some holsters that would not hold the molding through drying.  One pre dyed side so soft I can't make pancakes with it so I have to use it for other stuff.  Ordered from another and the temper is so hard it's nearly unworkable.  Now I'm on a third supplier and the leather seems more workable but the quality is lacking.  But I knew that upfront and took a chance on the cheaper grade being less stiff and more workable.  So far it seems to be.  Just having to work around more defects.  Been at this 12 years and this is the worst leather I've seen since when I was stuck buying cheap stuff a couple feet at a time.  

    I've seen some quality drop in general...I think it's a combo of less workforce, supply chain issues and because of those to factors you get less quality "because they can"...I have an order in with one of the bigger USA tanneries for 5000 feet of one of their "Flagship leathers" and they've delivered 1500 feet since April 2020...they did have another 700 this year but I said to wait till they had more to ship.  But, what am I gonna do?  Nobody else makes it (one of those that people buy for the "name" as much as for the leather)...so I just wait patiently.  

    So, they are really in the power position and if all the tanneries are working at full capacity (with huge waits), they can deliver lesser quality without worrying about complaints about quality or lead time.  

  10. Posted · Report reply

    15 minutes ago, Schick said:

    I don't have a pic of the product, but it does look a awful lot like the product in the image you supplied. In fact the numbers are very similar, except the last digit being one number off. I may need to find others Canadian sellers, and not be entirely dependent on Tandy (kinda)Leather.

    So amazing to see two so similar posts…regardless it shows Tandy is selling some cheaper quality leather.

  11. Posted · Report reply

    Hi Schick!

    Please post the picture here.  I believe we already saw it:

    z9297at9x28a1.jpg.webp

    Everyone here will agree on the same the we said on Reddit.  Chrome Tan is real leather and that is real leather but it's a low quality leather called a PU split.  It's a cheap suede covered with Polyurethane.  It's obvious from the back of the leather that it's not faux or bonded as those would have much more uniform backs.   The fuzzy aspect assures me it's cheap suede covered in PU.

  13. Posted · Report reply

    1 hour ago, ramrod said:

    Awesome guys!! Thank you!

    nstarleather.....spot on. Initials JW. what was the content of his correspondence to you if you can remember? 

    I'd love it to be legit, but chances are it's not.

    I will ask for pics and a location. I should have done that up front. But, I kept thinking this guy knew me and I'd forgotten who he was. So, I just kept going with the "deal".

    1st Email: 

    Hello,
     I'm selling the rest of my printing  due to ill health 
     if interested leave a text so i can send the list of the items for sale 
    thanks 

    2nd Email:

    yeah they are both leather and embroidery equipment 

    these are the items i have to let go 
     
    CS OSBORNE NO 86 $300
    HF Osborne splitter $150
    LARGE AND SMALL MALLET/CLICKER DIES $300
    Used Tajima DC1215 $4700
    SWF 4 Head $12000
    OKI PRO8432WT Printer $2700
    2014 Kornit Breeze $7000
    AZON DTF DESKTOP $3600
    Techsew SK-4 Leather Skiving Machine with Vacuum Suction $1700
    Cobra Class 4 premium package  $2000 
    clicker dies $900
     
    I'm deeply sorry if i disturbed we once had a deal sometime ago before my email was down so i decided to check back in to know if you might be interested in one or two items 
     
     
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    So I had no need for any of this so it didn't go further.  Here's my clues on both sides:
     
    1: Not Scam: It's a list if pretty unique items, strange way to scam right?  They're offering stuff that's kinda valueless unless you need the very specific item:  Clicker and Mallet dies?  Not worth much without more descriptions. He's also not offering at any "too good to be true" prices to start.  So I'm seeing too much that would be very dumb if they were a scammer...He also didn't push back when I said I wasn't interested.
     
    2: Possibly Scam:  Price lowered but a huge amount when you asked.  Bad grammar/writing.  "Overly polite tone" which I see with lots of scams...like "Deeply sorry", etc.
     
    If I had to guess, I'd assume he's legit but always buyer beware. 
     

  14. Posted · Report reply

    28 minutes ago, kgg said:

    I would be very wary. There are a lot of scams around and there was a similar one a couple or so years back regarding sewing equipment. There seems to be a lot of questions that need to be answered. Who referred you, who is he, where is he located, the list goes on and on. If it sounds to good to be true it probably isn't.

    kgg

    When people are getting out of the game they will sometimes sell for whatever I can get.  I've bought leather dirt cheap over the year from folks closing down or bigger companies discontinuing a production run.  Always be careful but occasionally "too good to be true" can happen....I once purchased 600 feet of shell at $2.50 per foot lol!  Now I wish deals like that came along more often!

    Sometimes a person with a business has to close and has nowhere to put the stuff so they'll sell dirt cheap.  I keep an eye on equipment auctions and stuff sometimes gets sold at an incredibly low price. 

    Based on the item and the price, the same dude sent me an email too (a couple months ago), he said he'd offered me an item or two before...I totally don't remember and I've  lost my older emails but it's possible.   Guy's initials JW?

    What is strange to me is that googling him isn't leading to any business I can see, sure lots of people aren't very into the web but it is strange.  His wording and way of writing seems to be lacking...which is common for scams.

    Here's my suggestion to find out if it's a scam:  Ask for a picture of the machine, then google search the image.  If it pops up in other places, then there's no machine.  

     

     

  16. Posted · Report reply

    22 minutes ago, GrampaJoel said:

     

    I may on an occasion sell something, but I sell at my cost.
    I don’t do repeated production work for someone else either.

    So I am not a business, nor have I ever really been one it true practice.

     

    Then do what makes you happy!  It's a no risk thing: if people want it fine! if they don't it's not like it's how you're feeding the family.

    I appreciate the discussion anyway because it's something we all have to think about.

  17. Posted · Report reply

    3 hours ago, fredk said:

    Think of all the big names in the fashion trade, eg Gucci,  Nike,  Zara,  Prada, they only put their name on their items and people accept that

     

    I'm met zero people and one dog with any of those names...I've known a lot of Joel's (Prada is a cute puppy).   Op asked about improving it and if his niece had a point...

  19. Posted · Report reply

    1 hour ago, GrampaJoel said:

    if  his underwear said, North Star. Would the assumption in the movie be that his name was North Star?

    So,,, do you not mark,,  your leather goods at all?

    Yes, it’s about 3/4” long.

    I guess that's my point, a name especially just your first name makes it look like  a personalized wallet.  No no one would think someone's name was North Star...if fact if a person's name was North Star, someone seeing that stamped might think it was a brand. 

    I'm a factory, mostly private label so no I don't generally put my stamp on things.  I don't say I never do but I'm producing hundreds of wallets for a company, they generally want their name on it...a few credit me as the manufacturer but it still gets their logo. 

  21. Posted · Report reply

    Maybe I'm in the minority but if the difference between your mark and a Fossil brand (and most others) is no waitress or cashier is going to see you open a wallet and say "Oh your name's Fossil"...whereas anyone who sees a wallet that has a somewhat common first name stamped on it is going to think someone just has a personalized wallet with the name Joel. 

    IMO you need to go more stylized to make it clear it's your mark.   I think the mark would be better if you actually had your last name or initial in a stylized way that makes it looks less like it looks when someone has me stamp a name on a wallet.  Even adding a small "made in USA" below or just "USA" will make it clear that it's a brand/maker's mark...   I like the simplicity of your logo but  I do see what your niece saw but it's easily fixed with a small change or two. 

    As far as maker's marks in general go, I think they're simply a point of pride and maybe a bit of exercise in ego...I've never owned an item where I was happier because it had a prominent brand.  Some people argue for them as a way of promotion, but unless someone can quickly type a description of your mark into Google and have you pop up, then it's not promotion.     This leaves you making  a mark that's basically your entire business name if you actually want someone to see something you made and come to you.

    Just my two cents. 

  23. Posted · Report reply

    Hi Folks!  In a boot deal I picked up I have some excess leathers I'm not currently using. 

    Cognac Grizzly leather is a 6.5-7oz brown with a printed grain.  It feels very waxy.  The color is a dark brown/burgundy similar to Red Wing's Briar Oil slick.

    Temper is medium to firm.

    I have about 450 feet available $3 per foot. 

    1546167326_siedelCognacGrizzly.jpg.27e01521484941a180d1d18a36584bad.jpg

    I also have just over 200 Feet of Raging Bull which is also 6.5oz but has a slightly softer leather and the color is more of a green-based brown.  Also asking $3 a foot

    1129639632_RagingBull.jpg.2bc6da56b042f51de4b2a992e2c6c29d.jpg

    Will consider price if anyone is interested in all of it at once.

     

     

  24. Posted · Report reply

    2 hours ago, billybopp said:

    W&C will split to your requested thickness, and offers pasting the back if you wish as well.  Unfortunately, the will not cut a full hide and split parts to different thickness anymore.  They used to do that.

    - Bill

    For sure...what I was alluding to is that fact that leather is split before tanning too...just to get it to a uniform thickness.  Just like my skin is thicker on my elbow than my eyelid, in a cow you'll have parts that would naturally thicker if they didn't split for uniformity first. 

  25. Posted · Report reply

    10 hours ago, Burkhardt said:

    SLC has Herman Oaks old splitter so during busy times like currently they get the hides in full thickness and split to order. I have a hide now that I had split the lower belly area to 6oz and the rest is natural. 8-9oz up to 12-14oz in areas from shoulders to the butt.

    I would guess you’re talking about “dry slitting” in that they are tanning at their highest “stock” thickness and reducing to order.   
     

    If I understand correctly every tannery splits the raw hides first for uniformity as hide thickness would vary depending on each section of the hide.  You can imagine how hard leather would be to work with if it wasn’t uniform in thickness.

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