xlr8tn Report post Posted June 5, 2008 I am just back from a trip to my hometown in Louisiana and decided to visit a local tannery I never knew was right under my nose. They had the nicest selection of alligator hides and I picked up a few to make some watch straps. I have been mostly working with leather hides and have not ventured out into any exotic hides as of yet. Most of the high end straps that I have examined seem to have only the expensive stuff on top and usually backed with leather. Does anyone know what is generally used on the back side of nice watch straps...is it some sort of faux suede or is it some really thin leather. Also, one of the straps I took apart had grey foam padding inside about 1 1/2 inches from the top. Does anyone know what this product is? Before I go cutting into this really nice leather hide, I figured I throw out a few questions to the wise. Thanks, Brent Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rickeyfro Report post Posted June 5, 2008 XLR8, I live in Covington and have been trying everywhere to find some gator skins, wher is it you found them? And what did they cost you? Rick Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
antipaladin Report post Posted June 5, 2008 (edited) I've made some "exotic" belts and holsters...an alligator, a sharkskin and a stingray.The exotic needs something behind it. I use hard rolled horsehide as a backing layer, dyed to match or complement the outer skin. I skive the exotic before gluing and saddle stitching it to the horsehide, then burnish the edges with heavy ballistic nylon cloth to fuse them together so it looks like just one layer of leather. The gator and shark will give you a REAL good workout if you're rubbing by hand. I think I got about a foot done during Battlestar Galactica last week. The stingray is another story...I'm going to have to buy a burnisher for that baby. Edited June 5, 2008 by antipaladin Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xlr8tn Report post Posted June 5, 2008 (edited) Some of the straps I've seen have rolled edges so I would not have to edge in that case. This is where the edges are wrapped around the backing leather and then covered with a nice piece of thin complementing leather. Rick,Check out RTL in Lafayette. I went to their tannery a few days ago and they have plenty of hides. I spoke to Andre and Lisa and they let me show up and purchase a few. A 4-5 hide was about 200$ and a smaller one was $135. I basically did a google search for "Alligator hides Louisiana Tannery". The warehouse is at 105 Dorset St., Lafayette, LA. Good Luck, Brent XLR8, I live in Covington and have been trying everywhere to find some gator skins, wher is it you found them? And what did they cost you? Rick Edited June 5, 2008 by xlr8tn Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
greg gomersall Report post Posted June 5, 2008 In your photo of the gator hide you are showing the tail. The belly is the desirable portion to use. The plates or scales are way larger on the tail portion and are prone to lift and peel over time. Greg Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xlr8tn Report post Posted June 5, 2008 In your photo of the gator hide you are showing the tail. The belly is the desirable portion to use. The plates or scales are way larger on the tail portion and are prone to lift and peel over time. Greg I have the entire hide, so I'll start my cutting on the belly section. Do I make my cuts from nose to tail or left to right? I'm thinking nose to tail so the scales will line up. Yep, the scales are much larger on the tail and better suited for a larger project. Anyone use some kind of padding between the pieces of leather? I need a product that I can buy to do this but I don't know what I'm looking for. -Brent Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rawhide Report post Posted June 5, 2008 I have the entire hide, so I'll start my cutting on the belly section. Do I make my cuts from nose to tail or left to right? I'm thinking nose to tail so the scales will line up. Yep, the scales are much larger on the tail and better suited for a larger project.Anyone use some kind of padding between the pieces of leather? I need a product that I can buy to do this but I don't know what I'm looking for. -Brent Brent, do they sell to the public, or do you need a tax ID? Marlon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xlr8tn Report post Posted June 5, 2008 Brent, do they sell to the public, or do you need a tax ID?Marlon Marlon, They sold it to me (public) and gave me a business card for future shipments. They ship a lot of hides out of there on a daily basis. They even took the time to cut me a few samples so I could order by stock number the next time. -brent Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
George Report post Posted June 9, 2008 Marlon,They sold it to me (public) and gave me a business card for future shipments. They ship a lot of hides out of there on a daily basis. They even took the time to cut me a few samples so I could order by stock number the next time. -brent I'm in New Orleans and just purchased my first alligator hide last week from AmTan in Georgia. According to their rep, all their hides still have the fish & wildlife tags on them so they could tell me exactly where in Louisiana the hide came from. I ordered a wild belly, grade I/II, and it ran around $11 per cm for a hide 27 cm wide. That comes out to around $300 before shipping. They do not have a minimum for orders. It should arrive in a couple of days and I'll let you know how it looks. Check them out at amtan.com. I like the idea of driving to Lafayette and being able to pick out hides by looks. Plus I could stop at Prejean's for some duck gumbo. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DCKNIVES Report post Posted June 11, 2008 This is the place I have been using for Florida gator, and they have a bunch more stuff as well.Dave http://ostrichmarket.com/ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
