Is Leather Quality Dropping?

[George B]

Hello All,

Is it me? Or do others out there find the quality of the cowhide sides dropping quickly?

Last 3 sides of W&C had a lot of soft, fuzzy spots, unuseable. holes and deep cuts on the flesh side, unusable. Huge drop in weight, and either too soft to skive and split or the grain is too hard, unusale, etc., etc.

Had them split a side of black for belts and holsters thinking maybe it was my ability, same problems.

I normally order sides in the colors I am going to work with but have been thinking of investing in some air tools for dyeing.

I cannot afford to buy HO, but I have tried a couple of import hides and found both to be lacking for the cost.

For saddles I will continue to use the Seigel Calif double tan, but I can no longer afford to take this much waste leather to the dump each week.

Sorry for the rant, yesterday I used the W&C 10-12oz. russet skirting leather, ended up cutting multiple parts for the same 2 projects. Looked good to start with but the leather ended up having small soft spots I could not see or feel until it came time to skive. I'll be lucky to get 2 belts and holsters out of this hide.

Anyone else out there having similar problems?

Anyone out there had the same problems and found a new tannery?

Thanks, Frustrated George (formally known as Curious George)

[particle]

I haven't been at this long enough to know much difference, but I've certainly been less than impressed with my last two orders from W&C. I noticed the same things you described on my previous order. With my current order, I asked them to split it down the to 8oz, thinking that would eliminate the unattractive flesh side, but no luck. Still large (several square feet) sections of "raw" looking spots on the hide - with multiple deep cuts. Also noticed this particular hide is very difficult to edge with my edger. Maybe this is all normal and I just need to get used to it - but I figured I was paying for "the world's finest" and was expecting a little more than what I have been receiving.

[George B]

I haven't been at this long enough to know much difference, but I've certainly been less than impressed with my last two orders from W&C. I noticed the same things you described on my previous order. With my current order, I asked them to split it down the to 8oz, thinking that would eliminate the unattractive flesh side, but no luck. Still large (several square feet) sections of "raw" looking spots on the hide - with multiple deep cuts. Also noticed this particular hide is very difficult to edge with my edger. Maybe this is all normal and I just need to get used to it - but I figured I was paying for "the world's finest" and was expecting a little more than what I have been receiving.

I've used W&C, HO, Seigel, Tandy and a couple of other venders. The only ones I have had a problem with are the W&C. Normally near the belly, but not always.

I did 9 oz. with the same results as you, after having the hide split down.

I have had better luck with the overstock sales at W&C then with regular stock.

I definitely need a better supplier.

George

[Spinner]

Out of my last batch of 4 hides from WC two was so-so and the other two were their normal, great leather. Funny thing is, the two so-so pieces was not from their overstock, it was the #2 grade. I do know that they are currently shut down on production (skeleton crew for processing) while they do their annual cleaning & tune-up on the machinery and processing plant...maybe they really did need to be tuned up. The so-so W&C hides were still better than the Royal Meadow I got from Tandy around the same time (wanted to try the Royal Meadow to make sure I wasn't missing out on something). The RM wasn't bad but it doesn't seem to wet form as easily or take water as evenly as the W&C does which is important in my work.

In talking to Matt at W&C last week to place my next order for when they re-start, we were talking about the fact that for the last year the overstock quality appeared to be higher than that of their 1 & 2 grades. This seemed odd as I normally equate over-stock to stuff that doesn't sell. I bought my first overstock hide early last year and was really impressed with it so I kept adding 1-2 to each order to save some money. As it turns out, the overstock for most of that time has been hides cut for a recognized bag & accessory manufacturer (has the same initials as Las Vegas) that weren't 100% perfect to their requirements, which from the sounds of it, are higher than 99.5% of leatherworkers. Definitely explains why the overstock is so nice and since it's a $20-30 difference in price per hide, I'm going to start ordering all from their overstock until they run out or I notice a quality difference there too.

[mattsh]

I just placed an order with Zack White, as I have always had good luck with their Premium hides. It's been a couple years since my last order as I have been getting my leather from Springfield leather as I pass thru there occassionally which allowed me to pick and choose what I bought, but I'll let ya know how the order turns out from ZW.

[ebarber]

Would like to know how the Zack White works out also.

I use mostly Hermann Oak but have been getting some WC pre dyed in black which has been working out pretty well.

The predyed WC finishes out very nice and seems to stay harder after forming.

Its a little more pricey but worth it as I can go right into making it insead of waiting for dry time.

[woodandsteel]

I've never used W&C or HO, but the leather I got from RJFLeather was nice, and he was hesitant to send it because it wasn't up to his usual par.

http://rjfleather.com

[Shooter McGavin]

My first 4 or 5 sides of HO were awesome. My last 2, not so much. I only worked through less then half of the last hide before ordering my most recent. I couldnt cut it with a chainsaw. However, once the planets aligned and I was finally able to get a piece cut from it that roughly resembled the shape I was after, it made pretty nice holsters. The newest order has lots of soft thin spots and a fist sized hole near the center. Im tempted to say that it went from way too hard on the last hide, to way too soft on this one.

Glad it's not just me that has noticed.

[Spinner]

Would like to know how the Zack White works out also.

I use mostly Hermann Oak but have been getting some WC pre dyed in black which has been working out pretty well.

The predyed WC finishes out very nice and seems to stay harder after forming.

Its a little more pricey but worth it as I can go right into making it insead of waiting for dry time.

I recently used the predyed black WC and it worked well for me too. My recent post "rear motorcycle fender bib" shows a piece made from it. I agree, having it predyed sped the process up quite a bit.

[BigRiverLeather]

I've been very frustrated with consistency. Use to get all of my HO from Springfield, but I decided there must be a better quality cut than what they have.Even when I specified I needed hand picked hides, it was always hit and miss. With the last hide that came and was about 30% usable, I decided it was time to look elsewhere. I can't afford to buy 10 hides of one weight at a time from HO so I called them and asked who sells the Grade A hides. Golliger leather. I called them, bought a couple of "moss backs" which are very smooth flesh side backs and was very impressed. I used easily 95% of those backs. The last couple of orders have declined in quality. Lots of stretch marks and striations I can't work with. At $7+ /ft per back I expect premium hides every time.

Sigh....