Extremely hard to cut leather ?

[MADMAX22]

OK so a while back I got a side of 8oz that was pretty darn nice. The only issue was that a pretty good size portion cut with relative ease about on par with what I expected, however the other portion which ranged about 1/3 of the hide was extremely hard to cut. At first I thought it was my knife, so I sharpeded it again, tried my other knife, sharpened that again, tried my shears (which allmost felt like cutting metal, near impossible). I took the same knives to some other stuff and they worked fine.

Would I be correct in assuming that I have some rawhide in my hide of vegtan. I dont know much about it but have heard of it before and am wondering how common it is. Its only this one hide and it is from W&C so I know they usually have really good hide. This isnt meant to bad mouth them in any way.

The center of the hide as in depth about just under the grain layer gets pretty dark but not sure if thats a indication or not.

[Windom Leather]

I had that same deal last year with a dbl shoulder I got from Tandy. I cut into a good portion of it and in about center of the hide was a section about a 1/16" white layer that was pert near impossible to cut with anything. Went through I think 6 strap cutter blades before I figured out what was wrong. It was almost like a hard plastic. It looked to me like it was rawhide but I'm no expert. Maybe someone with a larger knowedge base than mine can chime in.

[TimKleffner]

KW

If it is WC, you might contact the dealer that you bought it from, explain your problem, they will most likely replace it with no problems. Herman Oak and Wickett/Craig leathers don't act that way. If you call, most they can say is YES, we'll replace it. sure is worth the price of a phone call.

Happy Tooling

Tim

[BobLand]

The odd time you get a side of leather that did not tan right through, this usually occurs in the neck area and the core is usually yellow or clear in color, this is rawhide. You will get the odd side like this even from tanneries like WC. I have only had a handful of sides like this from WC in close to 50 years of dealing with them and I have used a lot of their leather. It is sometimes very hard to detect as the hides are shorted at the tannery, I just put it aside when I get a side that has a rawhide core and use it in places that you need a very stiff piece of leather. You will often get this in the imported leathers, but seldom in domestic sides. Have a great day,

Bob,

www.okanagansaddlery.com

[MADMAX22]

Thanks for the input guys. Tim normally I would probably call and ask but I got this side several months ago and used most of it up allready, it did turn out some nice rifle slings so I cant say I am too disapointed.

Interesting about the rawhide, so this basically happens when you pull the leather from tanning a little to early?

[Art]

The rawhide center is from insufficient tanning and I have experienced it occasionally from HO and never from W&C. I use more HO than W&C. When this happens, it is usually in an isolated spot usually not very large. I did buy a full thickness bull hide once and the whole thing was that way, no way to get a knife through it. But........I remembered a couple of boxes of knife edge blades for my bandsaw and after putting a 120" blade on (wife said I looked like I had just taken the Tomcat to the vet), I revved her up (the bandsaw) and it cut the bull just fine. I used the whole hide for stirrup leather and I wish I could get more of it. Good stuff in the right application.

Art

Thanks for the input guys. Tim normally I would probably call and ask but I got this side several months ago and used most of it up allready, it did turn out some nice rifle slings so I cant say I am too disapointed.

Interesting about the rawhide, so this basically happens when you pull the leather from tanning a little to early?

[Bree]

Same thing happened to me on some leather I was splitting. There is a thread on here (somewhere) that I started with PIX and good explanations from the team!

[NoahL]

I have heard of this referred to by people outside of the US as "half-tanned" leather, and it is extremely desirable for knife sheaths for the exact reason you are posting--it's really hard to cut! I have never come across it domestically myself, although I believe you can order it from overseas. As others have mentioned, you probably can just call and get a replacement or refund, but I would save that piece of nigh-uncutable leather for sheaths, unless you never plan on making any.

~Noah

[tonyc1]

This type of leather, which you can buy, is good for english girth points, it is strong and wears quite well. If the leather has been soaked and kept damp overnight, will cut easy if you run it through a mechanical strap cutter.

Tony.

[MADMAX22]

Good stuff guys, atleast now ill know what to use it for if I get more of it. Thanks for all the good info.

[kevinhopkins]

For what it's worth, sometimes it's not rawhide... If it is rawhide, you'll be able to see it. If it's not, it could be an area of the hide that's been "burned". Too strong of tanning solution, or for some reason, that part of the hide was a little too eager to absorb tannin. when that happens, the inside of the leather will be a darker brown rather than have rawhide in it, and it's really hard to cut.

Kevin

[hivemind]

For what it's worth, sometimes it's not rawhide... If it is rawhide, you'll be able to see it. If it's not, it could be an area of the hide that's been "burned". Too strong of tanning solution, or for some reason, that part of the hide was a little too eager to absorb tannin. when that happens, the inside of the leather will be a darker brown rather than have rawhide in it, and it's really hard to cut.

Kevin

My local distributor had a few sole bends recently that were like that. I bought them for a song and made some leather armor out of them. When worn, you can swing a baseball bat at it and just grunt a little on impact - it's like wearing 16 gauge steel. Was the Dickens to cut though...