Difference In Leather Stiffness?

[DSJackson]

Hey everyone, I have a question regarding types of leather, thickness of leather and stiffness/floppyness of leather in relation to eachother. I understand the concept of weight in oz. representing the thickness but I sort of thought that the thicker the leather the stiffer it might be but apparently I'm wrong on this. I have two types of cowhide leather, both 4 to 4.5oz and one is floppy and the other is stiffer, not tooling leather stiff but it is a noticable difference. Is it the tanning process?

Short of buying $100.00+ sides of leather to learn the differences in them, how do we go about knowing how much flex/stiffness a leather has?

Side note: the two leather types I have is an upholstery leather (the stiffer one) and some stoned oil cowhide (floppier).

[TwinOaks]

The tannage of the leather has a tremendous effect on the stiffness of the leather. I've had some thin veg tan that was very stiff, and some 9oz veg that was soft as butter. I currently have a double shoulder with a very soft temper that's destined for a bag. On the same trip to Tandy, I bought some 7oz for holsters that just about has to be wet to bend. Again, all in the tannage. There's also some leathers - bridle, latigo, etc...- that are hot stuffed at the tannery. That means that waxes, and oils...aka tallows....have been put in the leather. That causes it to be soft. Stoned oil tanned leather is soft because the fibers are permeated with oils and other conditioners and remain soft and flexible.

The garment leather is probably chrome tanned, which is different treatment entirely.

[kevinhopkins]

Hey everyone, I have a question regarding types of leather, thickness of leather and stiffness/floppyness of leather in relation to eachother. I understand the concept of weight in oz. representing the thickness but I sort of thought that the thicker the leather the stiffer it might be but apparently I'm wrong on this. I have two types of cowhide leather, both 4 to 4.5oz and one is floppy and the other is stiffer, not tooling leather stiff but it is a noticable difference. Is it the tanning process?

Short of buying $100.00+ sides of leather to learn the differences in them, how do we go about knowing how much flex/stiffness a leather has?

Side note: the two leather types I have is an upholstery leather (the stiffer one) and some stoned oil cowhide (floppier).

Hi... For what it's worth, thickness and stiffness of leather just really don't have any relationship to each other. Like twin oaks said, it's all in the tannage. Tanners tan leather for very specific purposes, and they tan according to strict parameters... THey can make a 4 oz pc of leather as floppy as a wet washrag, and they can turn the same pc of leather into something as hard as a board! It's a bit difficult to get experience in this sort of thing, so I'd suggest just asking lots of questions, and if possible, let the person that you're buying the leather from, know what you're going to be doing with it, so they can do their best to make sure that you get what you need. If you happen to be in the position where you need to order leather thru the mail, I'd advise calling rather than simply placing an order on line, or from a catalog. That way you'll have the best chance of getting what you really need.

Hey everyone, I have a question regarding types of leather, thickness of leather and stiffness/floppyness of leather in relation to eachother. I understand the concept of weight in oz. representing the thickness but I sort of thought that the thicker the leather the stiffer it might be but apparently I'm wrong on this. I have two types of cowhide leather, both 4 to 4.5oz and one is floppy and the other is stiffer, not tooling leather stiff but it is a noticable difference. Is it the tanning process?

Short of buying $100.00+ sides of leather to learn the differences in them, how do we go about knowing how much flex/stiffness a leather has?

Side note: the two leather types I have is an upholstery leather (the stiffer one) and some stoned oil cowhide (floppier).

Hi... For what it's worth, thickness and stiffness of leather just really don't have any relationship to each other. Like twin oaks said, it's all in the tannage. Tanners tan leather for very specific purposes, and they tan according to strict parameters... THey can make a 4 oz pc of leather as floppy as a wet washrag, and they can turn the same pc of leather into something as hard as a board! It's a bit difficult to get experience in this sort of thing, so I'd suggest just asking lots of questions, and if possible, let the person that you're buying the leather from, know what you're going to be doing with it, so they can do their best to make sure that you get what you need. If you happen to be in the position where you need to order leather thru the mail, I'd advise calling rather than simply placing an order on line, or from a catalog. That way you'll have the best chance of getting what you really need.

Hope this helps!

Kevin

Edited April 13, 2010 by kevinhopkins