Purchasing Leather

[eandrese]

I noticed that Springfield Leather has some veg sides for $25 that is advertised on their site. I have not purchased any leather beyond a bag of scraps for fear of purchasing the wrong thing and because I dont have any tools yet. Hoping Santa brings some in his sleigh this year. Anyway I have a few beginner projects in mind I could use some leather for but I wanted to see if anyone has purchased this and has any opinion. Is it awful to work with or a good deal? I dont want to make a purchase to save a few bucks just to be frustrated on my first project, but I bet I could afford to make a few mistakes with this stuff and still get a few nice coasters or mouse pads out of a side.

Thoughts?

[SteelcityK9Cop]

They are described as "Very Low Grade" so I would not expect a whole lot from them. I ordered two of them to use for experiment pieces for new designs. They are perfect for that kind of stuff.

[cgleathercraft]

They are described as "Very Low Grade" so I would not expect a whole lot from them. I ordered two of them to use for experiment pieces for new designs. They are perfect for that kind of stuff.

I did the same, I'm hoping they show up Friday. Would like to use them for small utility cases that will get a lot of wear by anyone who doesn't care so much about the looks. If anything they will make a nice gun cleaning mat after its sealed with a couple rounds of of wax. Then the wife won't complain about ruining good towels

Edited December 3, 2014 by cgleathercraft

[SteelcityK9Cop]

Never thought of a cleaning mat.. I like that idea. If they are that bad i was thinking apron.

[cgleathercraft]

The cleaning mat idea came from a youtube channel. They use a large piece of leather to cover their shooting table to be a little more forgiving on the firearms rather than the weathered wood. I can't imagine the sides are entirely waste. I called in my order, I should have asked a little more about them. If they are in decent condition i'll order a few more just to have on hand.

[raysouth]

Received my veg-tan sides from Springfield and was very pleased with them. Very good for being considered low grade. Hope everyone else receives sides as nice as mine.

At $25.00 per side, I think they are fantastic.

God Bless.

Ray

[cgleathercraft]

Received mine yesterday, they were exactly as described, Very low quality. lots of holes but clean in the middle. Will make great practice pieces and utility items.

Agree with Ray, for the price, fantastic!

[Eve]

I brought most of my leather from Hong Kong, it is almost impossible to tell those shop keeper what kind of leather processing in which way I need, I can buy what my eyes can see, and they don't speak English.

Then I ordered 2 pieces of leather from Springfield Leather, one was the usual grade, but some how they mix up the second piece, they gave me a very top grade one, it had been few years now, I still holding that better grade refuse to use it, that is the best piece I had never purchase so far!

I did cut a small stripe off to made one of bag's belt, because only that piece can provide me the length I need, but the bag's handle and other parts I used other cow hide I purchase from Hong Kong, after a year or so, the leather started to change color, even my 73 years old mother with no leather experience can tell the difference, she can point out my leather belt look much nicer than rest of the bag, the belt surface actually became shinny with very even tan color, other part of the different type of cow hide became dull and uneven dirty type of tan.

All in all, both piece of leather are the best type of tooling leather I have so far, even without doing craving on them, I still like to work on the usual grade from Springfield instead of the cow hide from HK, like my second pair of shoes for example, it is impossible to use the thinner cow hide from HK to wrap the mid-sole, and the heel, the only leather after many attempt was the usual grade from Springfield.

Edited December 24, 2014 by Eve