Super thick leather

[billybopp]

Just now, nstarleather said:

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. 

Some say my skin is particularly thick around my skull. 

- Bill

[Vinces0583]

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

 

[Burkhardt]

SLC said Herman Oak is/has been running at full capacity (tanning pits) to keep up with demand so SLC is taking the hides after drying from the pits to get them faster rather than waiting for HO to do all the splitting themselves. They have videos explaining it and on the HO veg on their site most weights/sizes are mto.

[Matt S]

@Vinces0583 try emailing J & FJ Baker. They're a traditional pit tannery in England who are amenable to "special orders" and if it's something that can be done I expect that they can do it. I can't vouch for whether you'll like the price or lead time though! 

Do you need large panels or specific parts of the hide for your mysterious project? Some parts of a beast's hide are thicker than others and if you can make do with small parts where grain is irrelevant you might be able to find that more readily than entire hides or large cuts. Remember a cow's whole hide is about 50 SQFT once the less useful pieces are trimmed out. That's about a third the size of a single garage for context. The likelihood of getting a whole hide at that thickness is, I reckon, much less than being able to get "bits" at 20oz/8mm.

[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.

[TonySFLDLTHR]

On 12/20/2022 at 7:20 PM, Vinces0583 said:

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.

Victor is awesome and makes leather armor himself. 

20 oz might…might be possible. I can also touch base with him to see who he has talked with. Most of the unsplit sides we have are 16-18 oz from HO. As @nstarleather mentioned…leather is split wet and dry. Wet is done at the tannery and not something we do at SLC. 
 

We had a piece about 6 months ago that was around 26 oz, but it was super gnarly. 

[TomE]

@TonySFLDLTHR, planning to call SLC tomorrow to check stock on HO bridle sides.  9-10 oz sides in black, London brown, and havana.  Wanted to select 3 sides in person and I'm 3 hrs away from the store.  Do you know about current stock?

[nstarleather]

33 minutes ago, TonySFLDLTHR said:

We had a piece about 6 months ago that was around 26 oz, but it was super gnarly. 

You should have taken a picture for Instagram... I'd love to have something to show the people who say "full grain " is the same as "full thickness" smh...

[JerseyFirefighter]

The most I have seen is full thickness (14-16oz) natural saddle skirting with just a small portion of the butt area reaching 20oz and over. I would be impressed if there is someone out there that can produce a full 20oz thick side. Definitely seems like that would be an oddity that comes through the tannery every now and then, or else maybe a bit more common but they split it down because no one ever needs a single piece that thick. 

[TonySFLDLTHR]

5 hours ago, TomE said:

@TonySFLDLTHR, planning to call SLC tomorrow to check stock on HO bridle sides.  9-10 oz sides in black, London brown, and havana.  Wanted to select 3 sides in person and I'm 3 hrs away from the store.  Do you know about current stock?

Looking at the site it says we should have some good stock of it. However, I will be able to set eyes on it in the morning. 

5 hours ago, nstarleather said:

You should have taken a picture for Instagram... I'd love to have something to show the people who say "full grain " is the same as "full thickness" smh...

However, they are both genuine leather. *shhhh* LOL