Have You Purchased Leather From.......

[Red Cent]

Hide House?

https://hidehouse.com/

[Treed]

All my chap leather for over 25 years. Almost every order placed with Rodger

[Red Cent]

Thank you. Where do you buy your holster and belt leather, if I may ask?

[vaalpens]

It seems that there HO side price is close to the price of Goliger, but it does not say if it is A or B grade. I am very interested to know if anybody purchased the Premium Veg-Tanned shoulder and made some holsters out of it.

[Treed]

My Holster and belt leather comes from Oregon Leather in Portland.... I only live about 40 miles from the Portland store and can go in an hand pick each hide that I want. They have also been in business for over a hundred years.....Its a family run business with stores in Portland, Eugene, Seattle and Billings Mt. I use Herman Oak leather and their prices usually beat everyone else..... doing business with them for over 30 years. Both these business have employee turn over only when there is a retirement.

[camano ridge]

Treed, do you know where the one in Seattle is located. I can't find a listing and there site only shows Portland and Eugene. The only company I know of in Seattle besides Tandy is Macpherson leather, they sell Herman Oak. Would love to shop at Oregon leather if they had one closer to me then Portland.

Ok answered my own question looks like Oregon Leather, Montana Leather (Billings Mt.) and Macpherson's Leather(Seattle) are all owned by the MacPherson family.

Edited July 6, 2014 by camano ridge

[Treed]

They are one store basically the only problem is that Montana and McPherson's carry Barry King tools and they sell them 5 bucks cheaper than Barry and they don't carry them in Portland.... Trying to remedy this. Usually can't go wrong with a company that has been in business as long as they have and keep employees long enough to retire.

[vaalpens]

I just called Oregon Leather in Portland and they have been very helpful. They indicated to me that they sell HO A and B, and also a tannery run #1 and #2 grade. The HO A and B have been quoted at $9.95 and $9.50 per side and the #1 and #2 tannery run at $6.10 and $5.75 per side. They don't sell double shoulder, but they do sell belly.

Has anybody used the tannery run grades for holster making? Oregon Leather did indicate that you can request a firmer leather since some of these are firm and some are more supple.

[Treed]

Unless it is a special custom order for Hamley's or such, I pretty much use the TR 1's and for antiqued rigs the TR 2's. The advantage is living close enough that I can hand pick the hides. When you call ask for Abdul and explain what you are looking for. Tell him that I refereed you. He knows pretty much what I like and use for holsters.... another reference for them is the same leathers that A.E. Nelson Leather of Scio, Oregon (Holster and leather company dates back to 1938). TR's are going to have some range scars and blemishes, but for the savings I can work around them.

[vaalpens]

Unless it is a special custom order for Hamley's or such, I pretty much use the TR 1's and for antiqued rigs the TR 2's. The advantage is living close enough that I can hand pick the hides. When you call ask for Abdul and explain what you are looking for. Tell him that I refereed you. He knows pretty much what I like and use for holsters.... another reference for them is the same leathers that A.E. Nelson Leather of Scio, Oregon (Holster and leather company dates back to 1938). TR's are going to have some range scars and blemishes, but for the savings I can work around them.

Bobby, thanks for the information and suggestion to reference you when ordering. Good to know that TR1 is being used since I only make holster for family and friends, no need for the expensive HO A/B. Looks like I am getting closer to my decision where to buy my next leather from. Thanks again for responding to my question.

[Red Cent]

PREMIUM GRADE, #1, #2, A , B, craftsmen grade, Oak grade (Tandy), tannery run,......

Is there a chart somewhere?

In addition, some of the leather sales companies supply other retailers from which we buy. Quite a circus for the uninitiated.

I did learn that you can show your business license or number and the prices drop. Gotta go do some research on leather production.

[Treed]

I have not been able to find a chart.....It is mostly based on the tannery as to how they label them. Herman Oak is A and B are premium hides with little or no blemishes..... hides are very uniform in thickness and firmness. The TR's have more blemishes, may have brands, cuts, can vary in thickness and firmness. The only thing that I really pay attention to is the brands and amount of blemishes. I can work around any thickness issues as holsters and books are small and the thickness issue is very small. I can work around any firmness issue with holsters coming out of the firm parts and books getting stiffeners fixes that issue. For the price difference I have found that the TR's work great.

[camano ridge]

Red, here are two items that might help you although I believe that any grading system can and is loosely interpeted by some tanneries and or resellers. The second one is a free ebook from Weaver, it does a pretty good job of explaining the grades and other information you might find useful if you have not already seen it. Page three gives a explanation of grades. THere is also a page that gives the attributes of the different areasof a hide and there is a page on costing out leather and on yield. Here is a link to a post by Chuck Burrows over on cascity with his explanation of grades and some other good info. http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,24427.0.html

As to Tandy grades as near as I can find out

Royal Oak is what they believe to be there A grade

Oak Leaf = B grade

Craftsman = C

And Economy grade is their bottom

I looked at some Royl Oak the other day and it was worse then a comparable size Crafstman both were marked Brasil

http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/en-usd/home/infoandservices/leatherguide/leatherguide.aspx

http://offers.weaverleathersupply.com/insiders-guide-to-leather-learn-to-work-with-leather

Edited July 10, 2014 by camano ridge

[Red Cent]

Thanks Camano

[vaalpens]

Thanks CR for the information. I pulled down the eBook from Weaver.

And a big thanks to Red for starting this discussion. It has helped me a lot since it gives me some additional leather purchasing options.