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I recently bought a side of Veg-tan from Weaver leather, and had it cut into 3/4" straps for making a bulk order of camera straps for a customer. When I received the leather straps (side) I started looking them over and most of them have a good 40-50" of quality leather, then it starts to degrade into this more fibrous portion that feels like its delaminating. Is this normal as whole sides go, or did they sell me a bullshit side of leather, cut it up and hope I'd not notice? I'll post pics as soon as I get home from the office, but I was hoping to get 2 straps out of each single weaver cut strap, but because of this nasty portion of leather it doesn't look like I'll be able to, on almost every long strap... Did I get a side with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_rot_%28leather%29 that isn't red?

While researching suppliers, it's a bit tricky sometimes to tell whether a supplier or warehouse is suitable for you. Some require a minimum order size, may be online only, and may not have a way of viewing what you're buying (e.g. ebay). With this in mind, I wanted to write a short review of my experience at suppliers so that others might benefit. A.W. Midgley and Son is a UK supplier (website http://www.awmidgley.co.uk ) based in Cheddar, in the south west. It's reasonably accessable from Bath, Bristol, and is just over an hour's drive from where I live. On the website they say they are happy for customers to call at the warehouse, so I gave them a visit. Google/satnav directed me to the buisness park (BS27 3EB) easily, and they are located towards the end of the park - just keep driving and looking, a couple of turns later you should see it on the right - there is a small carpark for visitors. On opening the door, you walk straight into the warehouse - a veritable playground of leather hides - in a hundred different colours and patterns. https://plus.google.com/photos/104400411479647274773/albums/6028107499498037585 We were met by a very nice chap, I think his name may be Will (from http://mirjamidesign.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/luxurious-leather.html). He was extremely helpful and knowledgable, and although I had a vague idea of what I wanted (some thin veg-tan natural, maybe coloured) he helped by showing me several natural veg-tan skins and explaining a lot. He also grabbed a huge stack of mixed single veg-tan shoulders, and went through them, one by one - explaining a bit about the different types. With his help, I chose 3 coloured veg-tan shoulders and a natural veg-tan calf hide. Pricing was very good too, and they seem very happy to give even the casual hobbyist a great customer service. They seem to have a pretty wide variety of hides, different weights/thickness, and plenty of colours. They also have pretty large stocks of popular (e.g. blacks and browns) - if you wanted a larger order. I would definitely recommend a visit for anyone in the south west - you're bound to find something nice, and I am definitely coming back for more in the future. Great place.

Hi All, I am at the point where I need to make the step from hand stitching to a machine stitch to increase production speed, although I am having a hard time finding suppliers for the machines I am looking at. A lot of topics in this forum are making me lean towards a Cowboy 3200 however the nearest sales partner for Cowboy is in Germany (as far as my research go's!) There seem to be a lot of old industrial machines on ebay but it is hard finding a machine that is specifically designed for stitching leather and the cost of a Cowboy is a lot having never had a go on one before making the purchase, taking in to consideration shipping costs as well. Plus there are so many versions of each Singer or Juki for example on ebay that is hard to know which one would be best and suitable, there are also people selling machines on ebay stating the machine can work with leather but unfortunately not all of these statements are true. Does anyone know of any dealers based in the UK, selling specificly leather designed machines? It would be great to find someone that deals with Singer, Cowboy, Techsew, Cobra and Juki, plus any others that could be recommended. Many thanks, Ross

This might be a stupid question, but, does anyone know if Hermann Oak's Grade A tooling leather is full grain or top grain? I am assuming it is full grain, considering that "A" is their highest grade, I'm just not 100% sure. Thanks Zayne

I'm looking to find some good suppliers for quality top/full grain, chrome tanned leathers in a variety of colours in Montreal. I prefer skins thicker than garment weight, for use in creating bags and small leather goods. Thanks!

I have purchased some Hermann Oak tooling leather recently from Springfield Leather Company, and I was very satisfied with it. Although, I found out that Hermann Oak (or at least the stuff that springfield supplies) is "grade c" quality. I was surprised, because the leather seemed to be higher quality (I am in no way knocking Hermann Oak or Springfield, both are great companies that I will probably continue to do business with). I have noticed that it is no easy task to find a leather supplier that supplies "grade A" leather in small quantities. I want the top grade stuff. Mainly for advertising purposes (that may sound stupid, but I have done research, and it does wonders for marketing). Does anyone know where I can purchase some Natural Grade A tooling sides/shoulders/etc.?? Thank you for your input Zayne

does anyone know a wholesale source for conchos such as these? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi everyone, I'm looking for a supplier for solid brass rivets - double capped, in a variety of sizes (both in brass finish and nickle-over-brass) I'm also looking for the 10mm glove snaps Tandy sells - they got rid of a lot of their bulk packages, and the price for 10 snaps is ridiculous. I've already checked Weaver (who surprisingly only seem to sell copper rivets and rhinestone ones), Brettuns Village, Zack White, Ohio Travel Bag, and a few others - but I'm having a hard time finding what I'm looking for. Any suggestions? I've found the glove snaps on alibaba.com, but my faith in them is pretty low since they are made of iron - which will likely rust. If it helps - I have a business number and am eligible for wholesale pricing. If anyone would be willing to share where they buy their rivets from (I have a rivet press, if that helps) I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks Victoria

Good Afternoon to All. I'm on the search for some "Grim Reaper" conchos....does anybody know where i can purchase some? thanks Lori

I am looking for Linen Thread supplier location in the Greater Toronto Area. Any suggestions? Regards KN