Ostrich In Small Quantities?

[Sixer]

I've had a request for a custom holster that will require three colors of ostrich skin.

Normally I don't work much with "exotic" skins... so buying $300 worth of ostrich is not an option for me.

Does anyone know where I could buy small quantities of ostrich for a project like this?

A couple sq. feet would be plenty, or even small scrap pieces.

Thanks for the help!

[particle]

Great question - I'd like to know this too...

[DCKNIVES]

I just got off the phone with Henry at the Osrtrich Market and he says he has some different colors in smaller pieces.Give him a call off the link below.Dave

Ostrich Market

[BearMan]

Hi Sixer,

Try Kevin at Springfield Leather,,, he usually has some pretty good scraps for sale. http://springfieldleather.com/product/16708/Pieces%2COstrich-Asst.-2-lbs/ He's a LW.Net supporter also!!

Hope this helps,,, Ed the "BearMan"

[Sixer]

Dave,

I gave Henry a call and he's going to set me up. Seems like a GREAT guy by the way. Thanks for the help! I appreciate it

Ed,

Thanks! I actually called Springfield Leather first. I didn't get a chance to talk to Kevin, but they did have some smaller hides for around $150.... Thanks for the link! I did't see the 2lb assorted pack of ostrich. I might go ahead and add that to my next order. SLC is top notch in my book... all around great people there.

Thanks again for the help,

Eric

[JLD]

Dave,

I gave Henry a call and he's going to set me up. Seems like a GREAT guy by the way. Thanks for the help! I appreciate it

Ed,

Thanks! I actually called Springfield Leather first. I didn't get a chance to talk to Kevin, but they did have some smaller hides for around $150.... Thanks for the link! I did't see the 2lb assorted pack of ostrich. I might go ahead and add that to my next order. SLC is top notch in my book... all around great people there.

Thanks again for the help,

Eric

Hi Eric,

When you buy your 2lb pack of ostrich could you let me know how useful the pieces were eg size colour etc. I am in Australia and just want a little more info from someone who has bought a pack before I try.

Johanne

[Sixer]

Hi Eric,

When you buy your 2lb pack of ostrich could you let me know how useful the pieces were eg size colour etc. I am in Australia and just want a little more info from someone who has bought a pack before I try.

Johanne

Johanne,

The pieces where great! Actually better than I had expected. I really didn't need much, but there were plenty of nice medium and small usable pieces, in black, brown, and a light tan color. I'd say about 33% of the ostrich skin had quills. I don't have any pics of the bag of pieces itself but here is a pic of the holster I made using the ostrich from SLC.

I'd also recommend giving SLC a call before you place your order. If you let them know what your looking for they can usually get you what you need.

Hope that helps!

Cheers,

Edited August 9, 2011 by Sixer

[particle]

Very nice! If you had to guess, how many holsters like that could you make out of that one bag of pieces?

[Sixer]

Very nice! If you had to guess, how many holsters like that could you make out of that one bag of pieces?

Thanks Particle!

IF I had to guess... I'd say you could make at least 8-12 holsters like this one with the 2 lb bag.

2lbs, even in "scrap" is quite a bit of ostrich! Some of the pieces are big enough to cover the entire front of a small to medium semi-auto holster.

I'm assuming that these bags probably vary quite a bit, so I'm not sure if I just got a good bag or if this is the standard...

I do know that it was well worth the $15 or $16 bucks YMMV

[bruce johnson]

I bought two bags and they varieid. Both had about 1/3 quilled and the rest small quills or smooth. One had several big pieces (4-5x8 or so) and a nice mix of browns and blacks with a couple of burgundy usable pieces. The other had two large pieces and lot of smaller irregular pieces. They might work for magnetic money clips. Mostly burgundy there, with a few black and less brown. For the price it seems like a good value for what I needed pieces for.

[JLD]

Johanne,

The pieces where great! Actually better than I had expected. I really didn't need much, but there were plenty of nice medium and small usable pieces, in black, brown, and a light tan color. I'd say about 33% of the ostrich skin had quills. I don't have any pics of the bag of pieces itself but here is a pic of the holster I made using the ostrich from SLC.

I'd also recommend giving SLC a call before you place your order. If you let them know what your looking for they can usually get you what you need.

Hope that helps!

Cheers,

Hi again,

Thanks very much for that information. It is great to know firsthand. Kevin, from Springfield leather, has always been super helpful but I was always a bit hesitant in buying "packs" anywhere just in case I do get a bag of sscraps. Great I can go ahead and get some now I suppose the saying "one mans trash is another mans treasure".

Have a great day

Johanne

[WinterBear]

My first bag was small quilled pieces and more of the larger body pieces. I did get enough black body to cut out what will be a fantastic looking wallet interior-all thin strong leather with an interesting wrinkle pattern-I think it was from the body under the wing. I got a little black quill, some nice saddle tan quill, and a bit more of a very pale tan quill, but the tan was pretty heavily scarred and very uneven on the back and hard to do anything with. The saddle tan was the best of the batch, with a glossy hide with darker quills, but the pieces of that were palm sized or smaller.

However, I did not give any preferences on what I wanted for what I was trying to do, so I was sent a random bag. But I still had a few nice pieces and some odds and ends for Boy Scouts to handle, which is all I really wanted. I had enough for four inlaid buckles, a piece for either an inlaid wallet or maybe three inlaid knife sheaths, and the future black wallet interior from the body pieces, which were all a bonus in my book.