Storing Leather?

[digdug18]

How are you guys storing your leather? Vertical, horizontal, rolled up, flat?

Is one way better than another?

Andrew

[dirtclod]

I built racks and store it rolled on it's side.

[WinterBear]

I've seen it all ways, but haven't yet figured out which is best. I've seen stored rolled into concrete forming tubes laid on their sides (available at hardware stores for forming deck footers), and another person stored theirs in a dark room with one edge of the leather clipped onto over-sized "clothes hangers" that hung on bars. Some store it flat, some roll it op and stack it on a shelf and some store upright rolls in a box.

I think each method has it's pros and cons. The flat method takes up a lot of space and it's easy to scratch the leather. Storing it rolled up on a shelf can mean that the ends can get stiff and change color where light hits it, but be of a different temper and color on the inside of a roll--storing it stacked on a shelf may mean that the roll may get crushed as well, so you may wind up with creases. Storing the rolls upright in a container means the bottom end gets smushed and the top end may suffer from exposure. Storing it hung from hangers means that it takes a lot of room, and the clips may damage the leather, or let loose, dropping leather to the floor and damaging it.

The big concrete tubes seem to be the best to my eyes. The tubes can be bolted together (and a bit of epoxy covers any bolts so there is nothing to scratch the hide) into a simple frame bolted to a wall or stud, it's hard to put so much in a tube that the lower rolls are squished, you can sort by leather type and color fairly easily, and you can hang blackout curtain material or a bit of dark vinyl or denim over the tube openings to protect the leather against the light.

[Cyberthrasher]

I was wondering this myself when I ordered my first side, so I asked a co-worker what his dad did (old-timer who's been working leather since the 20's I believe). He told me he had it all over in dresser drawers and totes and stuff like that. So, I cut my belly off (using it for something separate) and rolled up the rest of the side loosely to be placed back in the shipping box placed in a corner. Then I rolled up the belly the same way and placed it in a large tote right next to my work bench and also put all my other smaller pieces in there. That makes it really handy to just reach in there and grab what I need. Had my tote been a little longer I could have gotten the side in there too like I planned, but it was about 2 inches too short, so I made do.

[NoName]

Rolled grain side in, inside wooden (1/2 in OSB) boxes with lids and off the floor. The lids prevent UV damage.

Edited March 26, 2012 by NoName