Where should I order my leather from?

[Prince]

Figured this category was most applicable for the topic. but anyway, I seem to have a problem with consistency with my leather orders. Seems hit and miss. I order a lot of leather from the Hide House but since it's in CA I find myself ordering from Tandy at times since I can get the leather shipped and receive it the next day. But with either one I never know what kind of quality I'll get.

Sometimes I'll order the premium grade from the hide house and the back will be nearly as nice as the front should be but the front looks like somebody killed Jabba the cow and it's loaded with wrinkles and grainy junk and will even vary in thickness or any sort of stuff like soft thin spots in the middle, etc. Same for tandy. And sometimes I'll order the economy stuff and it'll look better than the premium stuff. And sometimes the front will be nice but the back will look like a tropical hair forest.

The really annoying thing is when I order some premium stuff for a commission and some economy stuff for bracers and standard items and they ship it together and I can't even tell which hide is what quality. I feel there should be some distinction if I'm paying extra for a higher grade.

Is there even a process that decides what makes a hide better than another? In my mind surface quality, nice light color and being free of blemishes, and a nice smooth back coupled with thickness consistency is what would make a hide pristine. I understand there's a difference in carve-ability but I've never had problems with it.

For those of you who often get 8oz to 12oz leathers, who do you deal with? How much does it cost? Maybe I'm just getting the wrong leathers for my purpose?

[Schno]

Hey Az...

I'm very fortunate to live a couple of miles from my local Tandy store and a hour or so away from the Hide House. I go through the stacks of hides looking for the most pristine pieces I can find for the money. I end up passing on about 80% of them. There are a lot of sub-par hides with scars and knots and all kinds of hideous aberrations. I guess for every steakhouse cow there's fifty McDonald's cows.

I couldn't imagine ordering hides on line to be honest. The odds of getting precisely the kind of quality (or lack thereof) that you've described are way too high. If you can manage it, find some way to get out to a dealer and do it by hand. Some others may have had some luck with on line orders, but I'd be wary. Can you send back the mangled hides and get better ones?

If you're working on a commission piece and you need someone to hand pick a hide for you, let me know. Your work is simply too phenomenal to tack onto just any old dead cow.

Oh, and thanks, by the way, for inspiring me to get to work on my armor. I definitely took a page out of your book doing my girl's bodice. I'll have pics soon!

Edited September 8, 2008 by Schno

[Prince]

Hey Az...

I'm very fortunate to live a couple of miles from my local Tandy store and a hour or so away from the Hide House. I go through the stacks of hides looking for the most pristine pieces I can find for the money. I end up passing on about 80% of them. There are a lot of sub-par hides with scars and knots and all kinds of hideous aberrations. I guess for every steakhouse cow there's fifty McDonald's cows.

I couldn't imagine ordering hides on line to be honest. The odds of getting precisely the kind of quality (or lack thereof) that you've described are way too high. If you can manage it, find some way to get out to a dealer and do it by hand. Some others may have had some luck with on line orders, but I'd be wary. Can you send back the mangled hides and get better ones?

If you're working on a commission piece and you need someone to hand pick a hide for you, let me know. Your work is simply too phenomenal to tack onto just any old dead cow.

Oh, and thanks, by the way, for inspiring me to get to work on my armor. I definitely took a page out of your book doing my girl's bodice. I'll have pics soon!

Well firstly, you're very welcome.

I always order by phone and generally deal with the same people each time. Problem is even if they allow me to ship them back to exchange, I'd still have to cover shipping and since I'm doing this as a business now, any extra expense is counterproductive.

And since the closest Tandy is about 2-3 hours away in Austin; definitely not a close trip, and my truck gets 9-10 MPG so definitely not an efficient choice to make a trip. And if I go up there and only 2 hides are worth looking at, definitely a bad deal. I just wonder if someone out there deals with a supplier that charges a fair price and has good quality control. I'll pay a bit more for peace of mind and consistency. Just how much more I don't know. Depends on the product I guess.

[Drac]

*sigh* I miss the austin tandy. great people to deal with and usually a great selection of leather in a nice large location. make the drive, tell dennis I said hey and eat at green mesquite (the one right over the bridge from downtown), wan fu (the one on oltorf) or get a balogi (sp?) burger. worth the trip, especially if ya have someone else local to ya that will split the gas.

[Prince]

Haven't been to those but I do miss Razoos and Saltgrass Steakhouse for sure. Couple other places here and there that were really good. Anyways, Hopefully someone can chime in with a viable alternative than a trip every time I need some leather ; )

[Timd]

Quick and simple:http://www.wickett-craig.com/

[Dale]

http://www.goligerleather.com/

[raftert]

Haven't been to those but I do miss Razoos and Saltgrass Steakhouse for sure. Couple other places here and there that were really good. Anyways, Hopefully someone can chime in with a viable alternative than a trip every time I need some leather ; )

There are several places I go for leather, Mid-Continant (918-486-2900), Hide Crafter in Ft. Worth (817-878-5797). Talk to Tom at Mid-Continant because they handle Wicket and Craig, Herman Oak, Plus the Tandy leathers at pretty good prices. Tandy in Austin are good for emergency leather and hardware. As far as Saltgrass Steakhouse get a better quality steak at almost half the price at Big Bob's Steakhouse in Cameron, Texas.

Tim