Common Leather Myths?

[tsunkasapa]

12 hours ago, Handstitched said:

It just means the cow is a vegan  , only  eats grass, hay  & grain   

HS

If one thinks about it, meat is ACTUALLY processed vegetable matter. 

[fredk]

Mostly it might be but not always. My chickens, raised for eating, were omnivores and enjoyed eating slugs and snails in the vegetable patch. The hens did as well and we avoided eating their eggs for about 4 days after they'd had a feast. Fish eat other fish to grow

[tsunkasapa]

I don't consider either fowl or fish to be meat. Flesh perhaps, but not meat.

[Handstitched]

13 hours ago, nstarleather said:

this is what I should have told them.

They should have gone to 'specsavers' . 

10 hours ago, tsunkasapa said:

If one thinks about it, meat is ACTUALLY processed vegetable matter.

...and cooks nicely on a BBQ   

HS

[Klara]

What do you spend half an hour a week on? I haven't done anything to my dog training belt (except replacing fasteners which were badly installed), and nothing at all to my dog collar - both in daily use for over a year in all weathers... 

[Handstitched]

3 hours ago, Klara said:

I haven't done anything to my dog training belt

Yep, I have a belt , my very  first one, that I made almost 18 years ago.  Never touched it. I just put it on every day, still good to this day  With the exception of horse  saddles  & tack, I don't think I've ever spent 1/2 hr  on maintaining leather. 

HS

[fredk]

I too have never spent any time on any of my leather. Maybe I should. My first belts are looking a bit weary

The only time I did spend time, maybe an hour, on feeding a very old bag I picked up at a car-boot sale. It was a nice briefcase bag but was well dried out and worth giving it a good feeding and waxing. It came back to life very loverly looking. My no.1 dottir grabed it for her own

[Tugadude]

One reason for many misconceptions about leather goods is just the simple fact that most people have no clue as to leather differences, especially quality differences.  Just as "plastic" has multiple grades, from cheap to incredibly advanced, leather can be crap or luxurious and people still call it leather.  

The form of tanning also has a huge impact on whether leather is going to be durable and how much maintenance it might require.  But again, the general public doesn't know that.  

I see so many pairs of leather shoes, for example, that are holding up incredibly well with just some simple care.  Certainly nothing unusual.  But they started life as quality shoes with quality leather built by quality brands.  The uppers on a pair of quality shoes or boots can be resoled multiple times and keep on walking.  Cheap leather shoes will have long gone to the bin.

One of my guilty pleasures lately is watching YouTube channels where shoes and boots are rejuvenated.  The skills are amazing and the results generally extraordinary.  

But it all begins with quality leather.  And it is an uphill battle to explain that to many consumers.  

[chuck123wapati]

1 hour ago, Handstitched said:

Yep, I have a belt , my very  first one, that I made almost 18 years ago.  Never touched it. I just put it on every day, still good to this day  With the exception of horse  saddles  & tack, I don't think I've ever spent 1/2 hr  on maintaining leather. 

HS

i spend an hour or so waterproofing my boots every fall. My hunting boots are over 20 years old now and the leather is still holding up. the worst "myth" right now about leather is cow farts are destroying the world. 

[chuck123wapati]

9 minutes ago, Tugadude said:

One reason for many misconceptions about leather goods is just the simple fact that most people have no clue as to leather differences, especially quality differences.  Just as "plastic" has multiple grades, from cheap to incredibly advanced, leather can be crap or luxurious and people still call it leather.  

The form of tanning also has a huge impact on whether leather is going to be durable and how much maintenance it might require.  But again, the general public doesn't know that.  

I see so many pairs of leather shoes, for example, that are holding up incredibly well with just some simple care.  Certainly nothing unusual.  But they started life as quality shoes with quality leather built by quality brands.  The uppers on a pair of quality shoes or boots can be resoled multiple times and keep on walking.  Cheap leather shoes will have long gone to the bin.

One of my guilty pleasures lately is watching YouTube channels where shoes and boots are rejuvenated.  The skills are amazing and the results generally extraordinary.  

But it all begins with quality leather.  And it is an uphill battle to explain that to many consumers.  

i agree but i also think its more ignorance than misconception, folks don't know they can get shoes repaired because there is no one who repairs them anymore the shoe repair store in our town died way back in the 70s. We turned into a throw away culture about then too so even though leather will outlast the soles its a mute point no one fixes them they go in the dump. We are simply taught now days to throw and buy as a culture that's what we do. At least in the US! 

 Now my dad took care of his shoes, cleaned and polished them, wore over boots in the winter but as a child he got one pair a year for school, then ww2 and the army gave him his first real shoes he could wear anytime he wanted and lessons on how to take care of them. He never owned more than a couple pairs at one time in his life. His pride and joy were a pair of boots my brother had made for him in the Azores in the 70s.