How To Purchase Upholstery Leather

[tlw]

I will be building New yankee workshop's cigar chair. How can I order a whole hide of upholstery leather brown and know that I'm getting a quality product? This will be my first leather project ever.

[Art]

You can use almost "any" leather to upholster furniture. Really, you need to determine if you want "look", or "wear". Or Both.

From the "look" side, there is bonded leather. It is made-up of a leather slurry (like sausage) that is attached to a synthetic mesh backing. They then put a nice "finish" on it. It is put-up in rolls much like vinyl. It looks good and is very easy to handle and sew.

Chrome tanned leather is real leather, usually in hides which will either be sides of full skins. You can get this product in MANY colors, finishes, animals, and thicknesses, and imprinted or embossed versions are available.

Last but not least is the most durable and beautiful of them all, vegetable tanned. Tanners will split this leather in anywhere from 2oz to 12oz (or sometimes more) thicknesses. I would recommend getting some samples of any leather to see how it works. Veg tanned is about the hardest to work in a given thickness.

The #304 cigar chair should be easy, even with 4-6oz veg tan and even if you have never done something like this before. Looking at the design, you won't even have to sew anything and you can use staples or tacks (don't use brads).

Best bet is to call Springfield Leather and tell them exactly what you are doing so they can help you with it. They can do everything from providing leather to cutting the leather for you (you need to provide a pattern).

Art

[DoubleC]

TLW I am redoing a director chair for a customer and I called SLC and told them the exact dimensions of HO I wanted and they cut it for me. So it's straight on all four sides and I just have to do the trimming now. They are a great company to work with. This is veg tanned leather I bought. Cheryl

[silverwingit]

I agree about Springfield Leather being a great company. No other company will cut leather for you. And if it's just veg-tan you want, they carry Hermann Oak and you can't go wrong with that. At any given time they have a great selection of leathers to choose from. For one-off projects, SL can't be beat. However, many of their leathers other than HO veg-tan are available either on a one-time only or spotty basis. So if you want to make more than one _____________ (fill in the blank), it is a dice roll whether you will be able get the same leather on subsequent orders. On the other hand, Weaver Leather is a very consistent supplier. They will send you a sample book of all their leathers, and there are ~many~. You can be assured that you will be able to order the same type of leather on a consistent basis over time. Bottom line, if you are a hobbyist making one-off items, Springfield Leather is a mother lode. OTOH, if you plan on production work where you need consistency from your suppliers, there are other, perhaps better, choices.

[tlw]

Thank You to all that replied. Using leather is something that I have never done. No sewing is involved in the making of this chair. For me the hardest part is where to purchase leather and the two recomendations above are something that I will reasearch.

One question; how about Tandy Leather? There is a store nearby in Boise Idaho. I assume all leather is the same.

I agree: Buy American!

My thanks to all of the United States Veterans. The Veterans helped make this post possible and make the USA the great nation in the world.

[Glendon]

"I assume all leather is the same."

This is actualy quite wrong. Leather quality varies greatly. Tandy is better if you can buy in store and see exactly which hide you are buying, but their stock can be very spotty. Tandy is for the weekend hobbyist wanting to do a leathr kit project or two. If it's not far of a trip, it might be worth a look, but Tandy these days is the Wal-Mart of leather.

Edited June 30, 2013 by Glendon

[Tex Shooter]

For what I do I buy mostly chrome tanned leather from a reputable source by the bundle. I will not recommend any source for leather, but the source that I use sends me sample swatches that I chose from before buying. I have found that what you get is not always exactly like what you order even when you get samples up front, so I recommend that you plan a way of selling what you don't want. I make a couple of small simple items for selling the leather that I don't want and also I have been known to sell sides that just did not work for me in what I make. If you don't get what you want, you might ask for your supplier to take some back to get there attention, although I am careful about this as it is getting harder to get good leather and if you are using a source that works with you, you just might want to keep them! -- Tex

[DoubleC]

Sadly if you agree buy American at Tandy most of their things aren't. Just the storefronts, which is better I guess than actually buying from China. But Glendon is right, it's the walmart of leather. Cheryl

Edited June 30, 2013 by DoubleC

[Art]

Try Sheridan Leather Outfitters in Sheridan WY, it's about 760 miles one way, so not a day trip. Call Luke for leather. They can be trusted to give you just whaat you need without having to go there. You MUST go to a Tandy to pick out leather, it is the only way (other than chaos theory) that you will get what you want. You need to tell whomever that you are doing BIG areas and need NO defects, that is important to you, not so much to someone doing wallets, and they won't know if you don't tell them.

Sheridan,

Springfield,

Hide House,

Weaver,

and Goliger

can pretty much be depended on to follow your instructions.

Art

[tlw]

I suspected that Tandy is not the best place to go. So I will look into the other recomendations.