Buffalo ( Bison) Veg Tan Leather

[oldtimer]

I have a friend who has a small herd of buffalo here in Sweden and he has plans to slaughter a couple this autumn. He plans to send a couple of hides to the tannery to make veg tan leather.

He asked me if buffalo leather will do for a western saddle, and I have no experience of buffalo so he asked me to pass that question to LW-members and US saddlemakers .

What do you think?

/ Knut

[horsewreck]

Knut,

As far as I know there are no saddlemakers working in bison leather. Most of the bison leather seems to be done in lighter weights in the 4oz. range. Perhaps the lack of any larger scale tannery turning out bison skirting is one of the reasons no one is trying to build with it. I would think due to the difference in body build between a modern steer and a buffalo, could make for some interesting saddle layout issues. I also have heard the leather turned out at small less refined tanning operations is less stable and can exibit signs of decompositions due to incomplete tanning (it stinks). Long answer short, I just can't find an example of bison being used in western saddlery. Always good to read your posts........... Jeff

[oldtimer]

Jeff

Thank´s for the reply !

I had a chat with the Tärnsjö Tannery in Sweden www.tarnsjogarveri,se , also with a US saddlemaker here on LW on this matter, and it seems to be possible to turn out good quality skirting from a bison.

Tärnsjö tannery produces high quality vegtan leather from Scandinavian stock so there will be a special run of a couple of bison hides later on.

We´ll slaughter a couple of bison in november and have them sent for tanning into saddle skirting and I will have one hide fur tanned for my couch. ( a lot of good food and plenty of rest wont hurt a man !)

I´ll get back with a report when it is done

Later / Knut