Which Cuts Of Leather To Buy For Certain Parts Of A Project?

[Notorious AmBIGuous]

Hey everyone, been lurking around here for a bit as I wade into the world of leather but I need some help.

Judging by the search results I am not the only one who would like to try their hand at making a sort of Saddleback Leather inspired briefcase. I've been researching techniques for constructing it and composing a tools and materials needed list.

One of the big issues I am having is that I don't know what kind of leather to buy. I think I am right in saying I want something veg-tanned so that I can dye (stain?) it whatever shade of brown I decide on, and something around the weight of 5-6 oz. so that it is strong enough. Using the picture from Saddleback below as reference, when I'm sketching out my pattern I have two pieces that are 12.5" x 17" as the front and middle-divider panels; a piece that is (12.5" + a lot more that I have not yet determined) x 17" to serve as the back panel and flap that goes over the front; and two more pieces which I believe I am correct in calling gussets that are I think 2.5" x 42" that attach the panels to each other and serve as the sides and bottom; as well as a few more like the little doodads all over it and the shoulder strap.

I'm looking at Tandy and the Springfield Leather Co. sites to determine what kind and how much leather to buy but I don't know what pieces to get in regards to a single shoulder, a double shoulder, a side, a bend, a belly. For example, the shoulder strap is just a few inches thin but very long whereas the back panel is fairly large in both dimensions; I have no concept of how long and wide a shoulder might be versus how long and wide a belly might be so I don't know which pieces to buy for each part of my project.

Can anyone help me or point me in the direction of some good resources for this? I want to make sure I can actually use the leather I buy so that I don't end up getting X square feet of leather and come to find that none of it is wide or long enough to cut out a certain piece that I need.

[Glendon]

The first and most basic thing to realise when figuring out the size of leather you need to get from online retailers is this, leather is always sold in square feet. A square foot is of course 12" by 12". Hides are not perfectly semetrical so you have to do some estimating based on the ratio of the long side to the short side, but if you bought say 10 sq ft of leather, at least one edge will be 10 ft long. That gets you most of the way there.

[lightningad]

if its any help - i recently bought a 22sq ft dyed thru full butt from LePrevo.co.uk This piece was roughly 4'x5' and provided more than enough leather to make two satchels...and i can probably get another smaller bag from the remains of the hide.

They are unfinished in this picture - but you get the idea. I was able to cut shoulder straps 40" long, so when using two lengths with buckles for adjusting, i can get some very long straps if i need. The main gusset on these bags is 4" wide, and the bag was sized to be big enough to hold an A4 writing pad.

One of the first pieces i ever bought was a veg tan belly - fine for small projects and i managed to cut a few belts from it, but it was no good for bags.

[Dwight]

The first and most basic thing to realise when figuring out the size of leather you need to get from online retailers is this, leather is always sold in square feet. A square foot is of course 12" by 12". Hides are not perfectly semetrical so you have to do some estimating based on the ratio of the long side to the short side, but if you bought say 10 sq ft of leather, at least one edge will be 10 ft long. That gets you most of the way there.

You might want to re-think your post, Glendon, . . . I've seen a lot of big cows, . . . but never one that a 10 foot long side could come from.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Harag]

if its any help - i recently bought a 22sq ft dyed thru full butt from LePrevo.co.uk

I'm currently ordering from Leprevo - is the leather you bought order code: 064 ??

[lightningad]

Thats correct. But be warned - its not veg-tan!

You can ask them to send you some colour samples before you buy, so at least you can be sure the colour is what you want.

[Glendon]

Dwight, good catch. I made that post in the middle of doing some other work, and completely spaced on actually doing the math. For a 10 sq ft hide you coulld be sure of at least one section that was 3 feet long, Always have to keep an extra eye on those measurements if you don't do that kind of work every day.

[Bob Blea]

American Leather Direct (ALD) has a pretty neat tool on their web site that shows what parts of the hide you are getting when you order a piece of hide. It makes it so you can see what part of the animal you are getting, but it doesn't show actual lengths since animals vary in size.

http://www.aleatherd.com/cuts.html

However, if you go to the button on the top of the page entitled 'Yield' (http://www.aleatherd.com/performance.html) they do show you what generally to expect as far as size, and they give you some handy tips about quality of the leather.

Bob