A General Question about Springfield Leather, Tandy, and Weavers

[Gosut]

Note: This is not to start a bashing thread. I am looking at ordering from  Springfield Leather, Tandy, and Weaver for hardware, tools, and maybe a dye. What are the general pros and cons of each?

[TomE]

I've had good luck with all of these vendors.  Each has certain items that I prefer.  I also use Batz Corp (hardware) and Beiler's manufacturing (leather, hardware, tools).  

[bladegrinder]

I’m done with buying Herman Oak leather from Springfield.

[Charley1]

I've dealt with all 3 of them, all have done well. Must admit, I have 2 Tandy retail shops here in town. Nice to be able to buy at retail, or have things ordered for me and not have to pay for shipping.

[SUP]

Springfield starts with sending excellent quality but in later orders, they tend to be careless, at least where their leathers are concerned. I have heard others say the same. They have good return policies though. Same with Tandy, with a 60 day return policy, with receipt. So you always have that option. I don't know about Weaver though.

[Dwight]

Limited business with Springfield . . . but it was good.

Tandy is my go to shop for just about all I really need . . . 40 minute drive . . . and it goes right by a Dairy Queen   

Weaver is just to jacked up in their prices for me . . . as well as the last side of leather I got from them almost needed a band saw to cut it.  I kept it and used it for certain stuff until I've got it down to a few square feet left . . . supposed to be HO . . . and I didn't use any of it for several weeks after I bought it . . . so I just swallowed hard and have gone on.  They are stuck in the middle of Amish country (may be Amish for all I know) . . . and lemme tell you . . . everything you go to buy around there is jacked up in price and I think it has rubbed off on them.

I drive up that way occasionally . . . don't bother to stop in.

May God bless

Dwight

Edited Wednesday at 06:51 PM by Dwight

[badhatter1005]

For the probably thousandth time on these threads I'm going to agree with Dwight on all accounts. Tandy is right near me and I really enjoy being able to hold something before I buy it. I've had not so great luck from Weaver with some of their leather.  It started out being great when I first ordered however later on down the road the quality control went down significantly. With Tandy being so close I can go to the shop and pick out my hide off of the table or out of the deck that they have set up. I can hold the tools and see what they're actually going to do and what they feel like in my hand. My recommendation is to find the nearest shop and driving distance and go check it out. Ordering off of the web is handy if you know exactly what you want and exactly what it's going to do. However if you want to feel the stuff in your hands (And I think that is very important because every hand is different) then you'll want to go into a shop. Most of the shops have knowledgeable people working that can tell you what you need to know about each item. If they don't know then they have somebody on the staff that does. I will say I have met Chuck Dorsey several times from Weaver and he is a leather genius. You can see him on their YouTube page. However with leather I like Wickett and Craig now that I'm charging a little more for my stuff and can afford it. However buying that from a local shop is impossible so I've had to bite the proverbial bullet and order offline. A general rule of shopping. If you don't absolutely love it in the store you'll never use it when you take it home.

[Gosut]

I think the nearest Tandy store is a four hour drive one way. A Weaver Leather Supply store isn't even on radar. Tools specifically for leather craft are only available through order. Leather is the same way. The closest I've come to local leather for craft is a bag of "Genuine Leather" scraps seen at a thrift store (I checked the thrift and antique stores first in looking for leather working tools).  My skill level doesn't rate leather other than the cheap stuff.

 

[Dwight]

16 minutes ago, Gosut said:

I think the nearest Tandy store is a four hour drive one way. A Weaver Leather Supply store isn't even on radar. Tools specifically for leather craft are only available through order. Leather is the same way. The closest I've come to local leather for craft is a bag of "Genuine Leather" scraps seen at a thrift store (I checked the thrift and antique stores first in looking for leather working tools).  My skill level doesn't rate leather other than the cheap stuff.

 

Gosut . . . try this:  614-781-1700 is the phone number for the Columbus, Ohio Tandy store.

Call it up . . . ask for Scott . . . he's the manager.  Ask him if he has 15 minutes to chat with a newbie . . . who  needs some help.  Odds are he will have . . . and I don't know all his schedule . . . other than he is not there on Tuesdays.

Tell him what you want to do . . . what your budget is . . . what kinds of tools you think you need . . . ask him for recommendations.

Scott will not sucker punch you . . . he is top notch honest . . . and tell him I sent you.

Your shipping for whatever you buy will be a bit more than one closer . . . but you can take heart in knowing you are getting good stuff . . . and if you have some kind of ID number that identifies you as a true business . . . you'll get a price break that will help with the shipping costs.

He's never sold me any junk leather . . . if I got any . . . I picked it out myself.  And any time I've said hey Scott . . .  how do I do this . . . he showed me right then and there . . . he's just good people.

May God bless,

Dwight

[bruce johnson]

Just a generality and not for a specific place you mentioned because I have got leather from all three over the years, and several others. I have seen both versions of Tandy, Springfield once they spun off Tandy 1.0, and Weaver through  the family and now corporate ownership. I have nothing against any of them - a few hiccups that were early on because I didn't know then to help them out. . These resellers are most often getting several grades of leather in a pile. The old rule of thumb used to be 25% good to great, 50% good, and 25% below good. They don't tan it, they just sell it. If you click a button and go to a checkout cart, good chance the order pickers/packers are going to just pull the top side of the stack - whatever that one is. Might be good, might be the bottom ender.  I rolled those dice for a few years and got along, then tried another supplier I'd heard about. The phone rep asked me "what are you going to be making?". Umm rope can covers, nobody has ever asked me before.... "can you work around a brand?"...sure. I got a side with a rib brand that would have been problematic for belts, great for my needs on those rope cans. Another time I was making belts and needed several no-brand sides with no butcher cuts on the back above the break. Below the break could have tire tracks for all I cared. Told them that and I got nice sides with low breaks for good yield. Sometimes I was basket stamping the whole project and scratches didn't bother me, other times there were going to be open areas and I needed clean sides. The deal was I was talking to a live person and telling them what I was doing. That helps them and they get to know you. I called up Matt At Maverick Leather several years ago. I told him I had two saddles coming up and needed five nice skirting sides, at least two of them deep,  and then the worst piece of crap skirting side he didn't want to look at anymore. He said he had a pretty good side he'd been cutting a few sample pieces out of. No need, keep cutting samples Matt. I want ugly to cut into little strips to test splitters and tool edges. That poor cow died from a bumper crop of ticks or several shotgun blasts. I leaned toward shotgun blasts because there were multiple brands. Likely a hooky old rip or a fence jumper. By golly we used her though and I helped him move subpar piece. Here is my advice - Establish a relationship with whoever you deal with. Not every project needs A-1 leather. If you are willing to take something less, they will remember that when you do need top shelf. My two cents worth of thoughts