It Must Be Just Me!?

[JohnD]

I seem to have the worst luck with buying leather. When I first started out, I got all my leather from Tandy. I would drive the 2+ hrs to pick out what I wanted, after the few chances I gave them to send me some didn't work out. I knew there was better leather out there so I searched around and started ordering from Weaver, which, after a few chances, didn't work out either. I called down to Waterhouse to see about driving the 2++ hours to look at some of their leather, but they aren't that kind of place and, though they were willing to make some special arrangements for me to look at some leather they weren't open weekends so I would have to take time off from my regular job to do it.Plus 15MPG would really add to the cost of the leather.

3 weeks ago I ended up calling Wickett & Craig, spoke to Glen and ended up ordering a couple of sides. Once a week since then I call Glen and he assures me my order will be on its way to me ASAP.

Yesterday (Mon 4/25)I spoke with him and asked if this was their normal business practice, to take 2 weeks to get leather out to a customer? no emails no charges to my account, I still don't even know the total cost of my order. Glen apologizes for the delay, assures me this is not how they do business and tells me he will overnight my order to me and I'll have it the next day, along with an email invoice with my total ....yesterday. Today (tues 4/26)I get an email from ups telling me to expect my delivery by Thursday 4/28. no invoice. no overnight delivery. Am I doing something wrong? I don't think I'm a bad customer. I try to be pleasant on the phone, I'm patient with my orders, I mean, I gave them a week between calls and accepted his answer each time. I don't get it.

If anyone can recommend a good, reliable supplier for vegtan sides or point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it. I like to think I provide a quality product so I've been trying to order the best quality leather I can find. It just seems that unless you pick it out yourself, It's hard to get good leather.

Well, I guess I'll find out Thursday if W&C is worth the wait.

Sorry for the rant,

John

[TwinOaks]

While Herman Oak and WC are pretty much 'premium' leathers, I have always got exactly what I ordered through Springfield. You can set up an account with them in minutes over the phone, and if you need something, you just give them a call. The only time I was disappointed with a piece of leather, it was my fault. I ordered a double shoulder of "bargain" leather without knowing what to expect. While the grain side WAS damaged more than I expected, the back had been cleaned up so I had some pretty good leather for rough out work. Even though I was ordering 'bargain' leather, they went through the trouble of making sure that at least one side of it was usable. On my last order, there was a delay of 1 day because they were out of something.....well, the next day, the item still wasn't in, so they offered to upgrade.

I've never gotten "bad" leather from them and I'm ordering the low price range items. I have no doubt that if I ordered premium leather from them I'd see the same great service. The only time I didn't have my order within two days was the last order- my business partner didn't finalize the order when he said he would. Also, I have needed to make a last minute change to the order and a simple phone call took care of it, no problems.

Springfield also offers something kinda rare in the industry- They will cut leather to your specifications.

Give them a call and talk to the wonderful ladies that take the orders.

[MADMAX22]

Thats odd, Ive ordered from WC several times and always got my order within the time they said it was gonna get here (has to be shipped ground since Im across the US). Ive also gotten stuff from springfeild leather as well and it arrived on time without issue well except it took a couple of times to get my address fully updated with them. Both places had great customer service though.

Water house I dont use for vegtan, I either get it from WC or get herman oak from springfeild.

[LilRay]

Water house I dont use for vegtan, I either get it from WC or get herman oak from springfeild.

Care to elaborate (via message if neccessary) why you don't use Waterhouses VegTan?

Newbie looking for a place to buy sides from, so I can make custom (non kit) items.

God Bless, Ray

[MADMAX22]

Ive gotten vegtan a few times from there sales. i cant speak for all there vegtan as some of the other stuff may be better. Its just that the leather on the flesh side in my experience has been really loose, also the "old english style" they say theres is tanned to has a really soft body to it, IMHO way to soft. I compare there vegtan to that of tandy (regular stuff there high end stuff is pretty good but way to pricey). I like the firmer HO or WandC style of tanning. Also if you do any vinegaroon the HO and WC take to that far better in my past experience.

If I am carving or building anything like bags and what not and using the same leather for the straps I get either HO or WC. WC specials being great for the price. This is all just my own opinion, I am by no means the most experienced person out here. Waterhouse leather has good deals on other types of leather though that I occasionally partake in.

[LilRay]

Ive gotten vegtan a few times from there sales. i cant speak for all there vegtan as some of the other stuff may be better. Its just that the leather on the flesh side in my experience has been really loose, also the "old english style" they say theres is tanned to has a really soft body to it, IMHO way to soft. I compare there vegtan to that of tandy (regular stuff there high end stuff is pretty good but way to pricey). I like the firmer HO or WandC style of tanning. Also if you do any vinegaroon the HO and WC take to that far better in my past experience.

If I am carving or building anything like bags and what not and using the same leather for the straps I get either HO or WC. WC specials being great for the price. This is all just my own opinion, I am by no means the most experienced person out here. Waterhouse leather has good deals on other types of leather though that I occasionally partake in.

Yikes, I just Googled W&C and there's a notice of "this site may harm your computer" .

i'd like to see if they might be willing to send a sample of their product.

God Bless, Ray

[MADMAX22]

Yeah just call them they will or should send out there swaths of all the leathers they carry in the various colors. I think they may send out a larger sized piece maybe. I can pretty much say that if you ordered one of there sides that you will be happy. They have some for $107 a side last time I looked. I also think Kevin at springfeild has some HO for close to that price as well or he use to. Not sure if he still has that on sale or not. Now these special sides arent going to be there best but they are still pretty darn good. Ive gotten one of there top shelf vegtan sides before and it was outstanding, just dont have the cash to buy that stuff very often.

[LilRay]

Yeah just call them they will or should send out there swaths of all the leathers they carry in the various colors. I think they may send out a larger sized piece maybe. I can pretty much say that if you ordered one of there sides that you will be happy. They have some for $107 a side last time I looked. I also think Kevin at springfeild has some HO for close to that price as well or he use to. Not sure if he still has that on sale or not. Now these special sides arent going to be there best but they are still pretty darn good. Ive gotten one of there top shelf vegtan sides before and it was outstanding, just dont have the cash to buy that stuff very often.

Will give them a shout tomorrow. Thanks for your help.

God Bless, Ray

[rickeyfro]

I get most of my vegtan from Kevin at springfield, always been pleased, also always ask Kevin to pick me out the hides himself, also been happy with W&C, as well as the premium bull shoulders from Zack White. but gotta add if youre willing to pay top dollar, the cleanest Ive ever gotten was A grade from Golliger Leather. All of these have reached my door in the same week that Ive placed the order.

[JET4]

My limited experience with W&C has be pleasent. Glen is who I dealt with also and was pretty good at communicating what was gong on with my order.

For the last 2 years though, I have been ordering from a supplier who is about 90 miles form me. Panhandle Leather has been very good to me. When I ask, they will hand select a hide for me and ship it the same day most of the time. They carry HO veg tan too.

BTW....got a flier from W&C today saying that starting May 1 they will start charging a $.30 / sq ft surcharge on all orders.

Edited April 28, 2011 by JET4

[hidepounder]

GOLIGER LEATHER! 888-444-4337

Ask for Cheryl.....use my name if you want, but you won't need to...

Bobby

Edited April 28, 2011 by hidepounder

[Frank]

I've always used Wickett & Craig, and I deal with Glen every time. So far I have only had one issue but it was resolved the same day. I order leather and have it split so I know my order takes 8-10 days in order to ship. At any given time I have 10-14 sides of leather in the shop, some lining, english bridle, latigo, and regular veg. tan. I deal mostly with holster and gun belts so when I have only enough of a certain type of leather to make 3-4 holsters then I order more. I never wait until I desperately need it. They do not charge your card until the day your order ships and the invoice unless you specify otherwise, will be sent in the mail and arrives a day or two after your leather. They are like clockwork as far as I'm concerned. I've never had bad dealings with them at all but I'm sure as with every other business, things happen every so many customers.

Frank

[JohnD]

Thanks for all the responses. I appreciate all the recommendations and shared experiences.

I got the leather yesterday. I did have it split, but, as Glen told me "a couple of days", I didn't expect the long delay. The quality seems fine. The leather seems a bit white to me, like Tandy's, Which I'm not a fan of, but I expect it will take dye better than Tandy's. It does have some scratches and long dark marks from handling, but I guess that's to be expected. Pretty clean hides otherwise.

Like I said, I like to think I'm a decent customer, if I like the way the leather works, I may give them another try. When I ordered the leather I had 4 seats to make and enough leather for definitely 2 maybe 3 (turned out to be 2), so I figured a week, week and a half, before I was desperate. With Weaver I had received my order, shipped it back and got a new one in that time frame, so I wasn't worried. In the mean time I have 2 more seat pans added to the mix and riding season rapidly approaching, I worried.

I do prefer the color of The HO so I will definitely look into some of the places you guys recommended. Thanks again for the responses.

John

[Randy Cornelius]

If you like the color of HO then order the russet skirting from W&C and have it split to your desired thickness. The skirting will be large sides where as the tooling leather tends to be some what smaller hides and has the paler color.

[JohnD]

Thanks for the advice Randy. Will the skirting take dye if I wanted to? Will I be able to tool it ? I'll have to check that out.

I've been working on some seats for the past couple of days and I like the quality of this leather. I like the look of the Grain compared to the HO, it dyes evenly and just looks really nice. I think it tools a little differently than the HO, Which I've gotten kind of used to.

Lately, I've been casing my leather in the same manner that Paul Burnett refers to as Quick casing in his lessons and I think I may just need to make some adjustments for the W&C. It seemed a little "grabby" on the walking tools, and I had to strop my swivel knife a lot more frequently than I usually do with the HO.

Also, the tooling didn't burnish the way that it does with the HO. This could all have to do with the casing ,which may just take some adjustment to get right. I only have one seat that needed to be carved, one is getting a basket weave and the others are just plain black, so I'll do some messing around on the scraps once I get these out.

Thanks again for all the responses.

John