Newby Needs Help With Lace

[DStubb]

Cheap hides are tanned the same way expensive hides are. The cheap hide are because of the defects in the hide itself.

Not the tanning process.

Here's a thought.

If you have a Tandy store near you go talk to the manager about their hides. Let the manager show you and tell you the differences in person. That way you can look and feel the different kinds of leather they handle. I'll wager that most people,,, including myself, first started learning about the different kinds of leather this way.

There is nothing like a in person, hands on , for learning.

If you don't have a store near you than I guess you just have to keep asking us till you get the answer you need.

I don't mind sharing what I know, and most here don't either.

But nothing we say will help you get the feel of the leather you are seeking.

Joel

It's funny you say that Joel because i just got home from Tandy and i did exactly as you said. I took some high quality lace with me for them to see and they said that it looked like latigo to them but they weren't positive. We talked about possibly using the cheap economy grade veg tan leathers that they carry and they seemed to think that i wouldnt have any problems with it as long as i used a sealer after the dyeing process. They even cut me a piece of lace from some 5 oz scrap and i must say that it does have a nice feel and look. The one thing i dont like is that the back side is pretty rough, is there a way to sand or smooth out the back side of leather? And thanks for help btw.

[GrampaJoel]

I sand the backsides of my veg tanned leather to get a smoother more refined look and feel. I use a belt sander, and hand sanding with a wood block will work just as well. 600 grit paper.

Wear a mask, don't breath the leather dust! Very hazardous!!

.

I'm glad you made the trip to the Tandy store.

Now look at some of the leather sponsors on this forum. These leather dealers are the real deal. Tandy is ok to get started with but they are just the craft grade stuff mostly.

Btw, veg tanned leather is generally not as strong as latigo leather.

Joel

Edited February 6, 2014 by GrampaJoel

[Chris B]

Could you possibly post a picture of the lace you use? Maybe some one here would be able to identify it for you.

Chris

[DStubb]

These are the same laces that i have been using. I would actually prefer a little thicker.

This is a better image.

[cem]

Ah ok most likely alum or chrome bit hard to tell without actually seeing it in person.

One question what section of the market do you predominantly want to cater to high end (ie those who spend a lot on their gloves), kids, weekend warriors etc. I'm asking this because if you want to cater to the high end market and they find out you are using cheap veg tan lacing on their high end gloves it's not going to go down well especially if the dye bleeds, kids or the weekend warriors it's probably not going to matter so much.

As you want to expand I would probably stay away from Tandy like Grandpa Joel I agree there mostly for craft grade stuff and after doing some more searching around I can't find anywhere that would recommend veg tan for lacing baseball gloves as a business it's just not the type used for them.

I'm not sure where you are in the US but heres a tannery who seems to specialize in what you want http://www.tntanning...g...ndex.html

even if they can't supply they would be able to give a better idea of the leather tanning characteristics you need.

Edited February 7, 2014 by cem

[GrampaJoel]

Here this link works -->> http://www.tntanningcompany.com/projects.html

[DStubb]

Ah ok most likely alum or chrome bit hard to tell without actually seeing it in person.

One question what section of the market do you predominantly want to cater to high end (ie those who spend a lot on their gloves), kids, weekend warriors etc. I'm asking this because if you want to cater to the high end market and they find out you are using cheap veg tan lacing on their high end gloves it's not going to go down well especially if the dye bleeds, kids or the weekend warriors it's probably not going to matter so much.

As you want to expand I would probably stay away from Tandy like Grandpa Joel I agree there mostly for craft grade stuff and after doing some more searching around I can't find anywhere that would recommend veg tan for lacing baseball gloves as a business it's just not the type used for them.

I'm not sure where you are in the US but heres a tannery who seems to specialize in what you want http://www.tntanning...g...ndex.html

even if they can't supply they would be able to give a better idea of the leather tanning characteristics you need.

I guess the high end market would be the other glove repair people that i would like to supply lace to. And yes i do not want to provide a cheap product that's advertised as top quality. Right now glove repair people are paying between $3 - $5 for one 72" piece of lace. If i could somehow find a quality product at a decent price i could make up to $2.50 - $4.50 per single strand sold. Those are huge profits when you consider that a glove repair man will need at least 3 - 4 strands just to re-lace one single glove. I would think that most shops and repair men would be ordering 50-300 strands per order. I have used so many laces from so many different suppliers and i must say that the sample i had cut today seems like the perfect lace. Of course there are those questions as to how will it dye, will it become brittle, will it bleed, will it hold up to the conditions. Who knows and only time will tell, and if it doesn't then i will start over from the ground up and try the next best thing. I'm in this to make money and if the only way for me to make a quality lace is by spending $150 - $200 on a single hide then it won't work. Even if i need to learn to tan the leathers myself from my basement or garage then i'll explore it. There really is quite a bit of money to be made. I'm a graphic/web designer by trade and i know that i could really market these things well, i just need to crack the code on how to achieve a quality lace at low cost.

[DStubb]

Here this link works -->> http://www.tntanning...m/projects.html

Yep looks like alum tanned leathers are the popular choice for laces and chrome tanned for the actual glove construction. Man i sure wish you could go cow hunt'n like you can with deer lol. Speaking of which i tossed away four deer hides this season, are there people on here interested in putting them to use next year? I usually fill all my deer tags here in Ohio.

[cem]

Sorry about the links not working I've been replying from my iPad which I normally don't do so I'm not sure what is going on.

Yep I agree looks like there is money to be made if you can pull it off, I've come from a graphic design background myself and marketing it right would have you on to a winner the trouble is leather is an expensive product compared to synthetic stuff and there is no getting around that. Directly working with a tannery to get the quantity it sounds like you want to use is likely going to be your best bet.

Not to put a dampener on your enthusiasm to get started but to begin with you might find it beneficial to learn about the different leather tannages as I'm not sure at the moment that you quite understand the complexity of it ie your not going to be able to do alum or chrome tanning in your basement due to the types of chemicals used.