The fragrance of leather.

[SUP]

Visited Weaver Leather Supply last week - Hubby had work in Ohio and I tagged along. Then we realized Weaver was just an hour away, so dropped in.

Very friendly and helpful staff, knowledgeable as well. It was a pleasure talking to them. Best of all, they gave me whatever information I needed but did not try to sell me anything. So I could relax and browse.

The showroom is beautiful, large and airy but, surprisingly, it did not have any leather fragrance at all. Hubby noticed that as well, since our home  is redolent with the fragrance of the leather that I keep everywhere. 

They probably have some sort of air filters that freshen the air but also remove that familiar fragrance. I really missed it. Somehow, a leather store not smelling of leather leaves an unsatisfied feeling.

Tandy on the other hand has that fragrance in spades. Just walking in is a delight as one is assailed with it. 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by SUP
Spellings!

[Handstitched]

I have customers come to my stall, " O'h I love the smell of leather"    my response : " I'm so used to it, I can't smell it anymore "  ,  not unless I stick it right under my nose. On rare occasions I can smell it when I open my workshop in the morning, but after an hour or so, nup...nothing, can't smell it. 

HS 

[SUP]

@Handstitched everyone likes that smell, is it not? It is rather relaxing. Maybe it's because I find leatherworking relaxing as well. Or maybe it is something primal to which we all respond!

Continuous exposure evidently decreases our sensitivity to that fragrance.  I hope that takes a while yet, although the loss is probably gradual so I will not notice it.

If one is away from leatherworking for a while, does the ability to smell it come back? Or is this loss permanent?

I wonder.

[Handstitched]

3 hours ago, SUP said:

If one is away from leatherworking for a while, does the ability to smell it come back?

Not sure if this is even relevant, but I used to smoke,  I gave up well over 25 years ago, the smell never bothered me, but it bothered others.  But now, every time   I smell ciggies,  I hate it !!  I once worked in the fibreglass industry , making fibreglass pools,  same again, the smell was part of me.  . When I drive past a FB  factory now , I hate the smell. 

Our nostrils ( and minds)  are fickle things. Theres an association or a familiarity  with smells.  Unlike ciggies & FB,  leather is a 'pleasurable' smell . If that makes any sense  

HS

[BlackDragon]

You know, I didnt realize I dont small leather any more. Now I'm sad

[SUP]

@Handstitched that is so true. My father smoked and it never bothered me. He stopped soon enough and since then, I cannot stand the smell. Noses are fickle indeed. 

@BlackDragon, my sympathies!

[Michael Sheldon]

Been working with leather for a long time, I can't smell it like that anymore, and I miss it. I honestly don't remember the last time I noticed the smell of leather.

Barge though.... kinda wish I'd lose my sense of smell for that. 

[purplefox66]

3 hours ago, BlackDragon said:

You know, I didnt realize I dont small leather any more. Now I'm sad

I do not small leather

[BlackDragon]

17 minutes ago, purplefox66 said:

I do not small leather

*smell

I blame the tiny buttons on my phone 

[chuck123wapati]

i keep my leather in the boxes they were shipped in. first thing i do when i open them is to smell.

[Sheilajeanne]

Two of my favourite smells go together - leather and horses! 

[Mulesaw]

1 hour ago, Sheilajeanne said:

Two of my favourite smells go together - leather and horses! 

You are absolutely right.

Horses smell the best when they have been grazing. 
There is a difference in the smell if they have been eating hay in the winter time compared to the smell of them in the summer when they are on grass. 

Despite being 50 years old, I still deeply inhale that smell whenever we go to fetch the horses and bring them home in the summer. It is a smell that goes all the way down to happy childhood memories.

Oh yeah, leather smells nice too, but a horse beats that smell in my world :-)

[Doc Reaper]

I have lost my ability to smell leather, been doling it for 52 years 

[dikman]

A leather shop without that smell just isn't right!

Another smell that has a "uniqueness" about it is black powder, there's something incredibly evocative when someone shoots it on the firing line (it's a bit smoky though ).

[SUP]

@Mulesaw, @Sheilajeanne I wish I knew how horses smell at different times of the year. Not been exposed at all.. evidently I missed a lot.

@dikman I am familiar with black powder (gunpowder?) because of fireworks during festivals - smoky but wonderful! Hubby agrees. 

When I left Weaver Leather, I wondered, at first, why I felt dissatisfied. Then it struck me. I felt like I had been to an anonymous,  large, beautiful store, not a leather store. Like  a bakery without the fragrance of bread and cakes.

We unconsciously associate scent with so many things, don't we? 

[bladegrinder]

1 hour ago, dikman said:

A leather shop without that smell just isn't right!

Another smell that has a "uniqueness" about it is black powder, there's something incredibly evocative when someone shoots it on the firing line (it's a bit smoky though ).

I'm with you on the black powder, I have several black powder guns and love that smell in the air when I'm shooting them.

I worked the leak response truck for a natural gas distributor for over 20 years, I've got a really good sniffer when it come's to smelling things!

[fredk]

20 hours ago, SUP said:

If one is away from leatherworking for a while, does the ability to smell it come back? Or is this loss permanent?

Unless you've had an illness, you don't loose your ability to smell. You've just got used to the smell of leather and your brain blocks out the scent. Its like your garbage collector, he/she has become so used to the smell of their truck that they no longer notice the pong. Or my local butcher who no longer notices the smell of chickens roasting in his machine, but he notices if they start to over-cook!

Like some others mentioned, I keep most of my leather in sealed boxes and I get a real knock-out smell of the leather when I open a box

Maybe when you were at Weavers there was a smell of leather but it was subtle and not as strong as you are used to. Just a thought

A smell for me is Castrol-R oil. Its an oil added to petrol/gas for racing car engines. That and 2-stroke oil & petrol/gas. Both remind me of of race days before we got so environmentally 'friendly' and banned those oil additives (note that the word environmentally has within it the word mental!)

[SUP]

@fredk LOL. Agree with the 'mental' part.

What you say about Weaver makes sense. The fragrance was probably subtle. Anyway, their stock on display was not as much, per sq foot of the space as the Tandy stores I visit here. The sheer volume must surely make a difference.

On a slightly different note, how do you keep your leather sealed? I live in a very humid area and am always worried that my leathers will get mildew or mold. So checking and airing each week is a chore, pleasant until now but could become tedious over the years as my collection grows. It is so humid here that the Damp-rid I place around the house, supposed to last 2 1/2 months, barely lasts a fortnight. (Damp-rid is, I think, rock salt in a hanging bag made of a thick paper through which water vapor can permeate. Attached to this bag on the lower end is a plastic bag into which the water drains.)

Edited August 22, 2023 by SUP

[fredk]

4 hours ago, SUP said:

On a slightly different note, how do you keep your leather sealed? 

1. I use big long plastic boxes meant for storing artificial Christmas trees. The lids overlap the base part and there is a snap lock at each end. I always reckoned they were maybe just about water tight but I found out last week they are 100%. I was moving them about and put a few out in my yard and forgot about them. That afternoon, thru to the next evening we had a real big storm. Not a drop of water in any of the boxes

This sort of box; the blue things at the ends are the lid locks which become handles when open

Unfortunately you can only really get these boxes at around Christmas time

4 hours ago, SUP said:

I live in a very humid area and am always worried that my leathers will get mildew or mold. So checking and airing each week is a chore, pleasant until now but could become tedious over the years as my collection grows. It is so humid here that the Damp-rid I place around the house, supposed to last 2 1/2 months, barely lasts a fortnight. (Damp-rid is, I think, rock salt in a hanging bag made of a thick paper through which water vapor can permeate. Attached to this bag on the lower end is a plastic bag into which the water drains.)

2. I bet I can compete with you on that. We don't have humidity - we just have rain, all the time. Actually our average humidity level is around 75 to 90%, all year. Today, a relatively dry summer day, humidity level was 80% and tonite it will be 90%. Get more house plants in. Certain ones take moisture out of the air and plants purify your air

[SUP]

@fredk I must look for such boxes.. Christmas is in a few months now.

I love the rains, so lucky you!  I did not know plants take moisture out of the air. I'll try that as well.

Than you for that information. 

 

[Cumberland Highpower]

I don't mind the smell of leather either.  I've bought a fair amount of leather from Weaver over the years as well.   Not all leather smells the same.  I most prefer the floral smell of Herman Oak.  Have enough leather and goods in my shop that you can smell it in the yard if the roll up door is up.

I no longer buy the imported double shoulders that are finished/struck through from Weaver's though.  The chemical smell is pretty bad on these and being around it makes me dizzy and my face go numb........

Edited August 22, 2023 by Cumberland Highpower

[SUP]

 @Cumberland Highpower you are evidently allergic to something in that leather. Have you tried to determine what exactly it is to which you are allergic? Is that the only one to which you have such a reaction?

 

Edited August 23, 2023 by SUP

[Cumberland Highpower]

1 hour ago, SUP said:

 @Cumberland Highpower you are evidently allergic to something in that leather. Have you tried to determine what exactly it is to which you are allergic? Is that the only one to which you have such a reaction?

 

 

LOL.   The only thing I know for sure I'm allergic to is hard work

Actually, my wife and a part time employee made similar complaints.  It's something they use as a finish.  Heavily chemical in composition Dyes? Sealers? I don't know. It's a "veg" leather of some sort.   There are several different finishes of these double shoulders that have the smell, If I remember correctly they were/are Argentine imports? Mostly 8/9oz DS. Black, Brown, Cracked Wax finish, etc.

They still stock it, I just don't buy it.  It does eventually air out if you work it up and hang your goods.  They sell/use enough of it to stock it so maybe others don't have an issue with it?

Edited August 23, 2023 by Cumberland Highpower