Eat your veggie

[Nathanjespers]

First time using this forum. I have some questions concerning the color variations of natural veg tan. Is there a gradient scale as to the quality of the leather with regards to it's color? Or a rule of thumb even, personal opinion...? For instance, I saw some pieces of veg tan yesterday most where's the average pinkish color and a few of them were very light like a matte eggshell. It didn't look very good but obviously I don't know good or bad. Any help is appreciated. Hope you all are having a good one. 

[PastorBob]

4 hours ago, Nathanjespers said:

First time using this forum. I have some questions concerning the color variations of natural veg tan. Is there a gradient scale as to the quality of the leather with regards to it's color? Or a rule of thumb even, personal opinion...? For instance, I saw some pieces of veg tan yesterday most where's the average pinkish color and a few of them were very light like a matte eggshell. It didn't look very good but obviously I don't know good or bad. Any help is appreciated. Hope you all are having a good one. 

Welcome to the forum!  Typically the imported natural veg-tan leather is much lighter in color.  They add additional chemicals during the tanning process to speed it up.  It is typically less expensive than, say, the US tanned leather.  You will find that tanneries such as Hermann Oak and Wickett / Craig leather has a tannish color to it and appears to be much richer.  The imports are normally very slick on their hide surface, where the others will have a little more texture.  In my early days, I purchased the imports to save a little money.  It is fine for small projects and you can make it work for carving and stamping.  When I took the plunge into the better leather, it was truly obvious in how it worked when carving/ stamping vs. the import.

In a nut shell, color really doesn't determine the quality, it is more about the tanning process.  Also, if leather is stored where UV rays can get to it, that will darken the leather as well.  Hope this helps.

[Samalan]

When  I saw the title it made me think of operation vegetarian , An Infamous World War two operation, that thank God Didn't happen.

RJF has some great leather.

[ButtonLady]

Hey, fellow Masshole! 

58 minutes ago, Samalan said:

operation vegetarian , An Infamous World War two operation

I had never heard of this, so I looked it up:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Vegetarian

Oh... dear... God...

[Tugadude]

I've noticed some incredible variations in the raw color of vegetable tanned leather.  While I haven't done any testing, I'm assuming that if you use a light color dye, any variations in the color of the undyed leather will be apparent.  So the main thing would be to make sure all of the leather for a project is similar.

[Samalan]

3 hours ago, ButtonLady said:

Hey, fellow Masshole! 

Guilt by location should you ever need a heavy stitching machine I have a cobra 4 you are welcome to use just because your a fellow Masshole.

 

4 hours ago, ButtonLady said:

Hey, fellow Masshole! 

 

[Matt S]

The colour of "natural" veg tanned leather (we call it "russet" in the UK) varies by all sorts of things, not simply quality. One of those is exactly what single or mix of tanstuff is used -- certain barks give different shades. I'll see if I can dig out some books on the subject but IIRC mimosa and willow gives a particularly light or fair tan, and hemlock and oak darker ones. There's also the matter of what dressings are used after the hide has been tanned and dried. Even tooling veg gets dressed with a little oil (often fish or neetsfoot) or grease, and again what it is and how/how long it's oxidised for, including "tanning" in the presence of UV light, can affect its shade.

Then different hides react differently to what we put on it once we're done "making". I've had some really nice milled russet veg that was very pale, like oat porridge. Intended for shoe linings. Unfortunately it looked like wet cardboard if you put any oil on it.

[MikeRock]

ButtonLady......Oh my God.......   yup.   Same folks that gave smallpox soaked blankets to the Indians.

[ButtonLady]

8 hours ago, Samalan said:

Guilt by location should you ever need a heavy stitching machine I have a cobra 4 you are welcome to use just because your a fellow Masshole.

Awww... that's really nice of you!  Haven't done much sewing lately, though (although I really should).  I actually joined because I'm interested in spots (rhinestones, metal, etc.) for leather.  Oooh... shiny...