Free Leather

[Gump]

Best comic relief I've had in months. I also have picked our local Frenchy's,[ used discount clothing] for leather jackets, you can make nice bags out of them, using pockets up front and belts for shoulder straps. The customer can't tell the diff between recycled and new, and I don't think it matters. IMHO Gump.

[GoldenKnight]

+1, ditto, & amen to the leather curb couch recycle. Twice in my neighborhood area when some folks moved out, they left their leather couch or chair along witu other bulk waste furniture pieces for bulk pick-up. Both times it appeared it was left on the patio before making it to the curB.

I got busy with my knife.

[Shamenlong]

How did you guys sanatize the leather incase of mites ect in the furniturs

[billymac814]

This is a funny topic. Truth is I bet you could sell the final product for MORE money by using repurposed leather. It could be a good marketing ploy, similar to the items made of reclaimed barn wood. These days people pay a premium for stuff like that and it could be considered "Green". Of course the finished product has to look nice.

I recently made a planner out of a recycled suitcase. The suitcase was this woman's dads and I was able to incorporate alot of the details in it like where his initiials were monogrammed on there and a pice of leather from the zipper pull was used and a button was used to keep it closed. It was a bit of pressure though as I had no room for messing up as there was just enough leather, it turned out well though and she loved it, I'm sure it'll get passed down to someone else.

[Shamenlong]

To be honest Im very bacteria conscious how ever when the advice regarding bed bugs ut got me paranoid and itching for days I washed the leather at 40 degrees and tumble dried it for two hours on high heat I then bagged the leather in recycle bags and then put them into a storage tub ( rubber maid type of storage) then sanitised my whole home including tumble drier and washing machine

Its even roughly two weeks since washing and drying the leather I'm going to leave it another week before checking for bugs and I'm wondering if the risk and effort are worth it in comparison to buying leather you know is clean and doesn't carry risk

[GoldenKnight]

With living near a larger metropolitan area and people being transient with the housing & foreclosure market & jobs, I have come across some leather couches & chairs that I have repurposed.

When I find one, I cut a small slit at a seam edge in an out-of-obvious area to see if it is leather or vinyl. Sometimes a few small incisions are necessary as different brands will use more or less leather vs vinyl in various areas. The reason I make small incisions is so that if someone else wants or needs it, it isn't destroyed and they could use it. No sense in destroying something that someone else may be able to use just because I can't.

I use a box cutter and will go thru about 4 new blades "skinning" a good leather couch.