Help Search 3.5 Oz English Bridle Leather

[denisfilatov]

Hi Guys !

tell me where you can buy a leather full-grain 3.5 oz English Bridle leather? for a very long time looking for the bridle and they're all thick !

[zuludog]

I wonder if you are getting confused?

Bridle leather is so called because it is used to make bridles, harnesses,and similar equipment for horses; as well as belts and heavy duty straps. To achieve the strength it needs to be thick, typically 3 to 5 mm, about 7 to 13 oz. I have not found any bridle leather thinner than 2,4 mm, about 6 oz. Or to put it another way, bridle leather is thick leather.

It is frequently dyed in a distinctive shade of medium brown with a slight hint of orange or red ( I did say slight! ) that is called English Tan or British Tan - the colour of the wallets you have shown.

In fact it is so common that you might think that any leather dyed in English Tan is called bridle leather. Not so; or to put it more clearly:-

Bridle leather is 3 to 5 mm thick, but can be dyed any colour

Leather of almost any type or thickness can be dyed English Tan, but that doesn't make it bridle leather

Calf leather is thinner, so as you have suggested, suitable leather for making wallets would be good quality calf leather with a thickness of 1.2 mm/about 3 oz, dyed in the colour of your choice, which in this case appears to be English Tan.

I am by no means an expert on leather & hides, so I would be happy to have any corrections or other opinions

All I can suggest is that you Surf the Net for a supplier

Edited December 5, 2014 by zuludog

[Hi Im Joe]

You can buy bridle from Wickett and Craig and they will split it down to w/e thickness you want.

[DavidL]

You can try baker in england or sedgwick leather also in england. Needs to be split to 3.5 ounce. I think some leathers they make specifically for bridle work and another for shoemakers. Im not completely certain so it wouldn't hurt to ask if theres a difference.

[MonicaJacobson]

I'd like to order from Abbey England to be sure of this myself, but I have read that English Bridle (from England) is more hot stuffed than American English Bridle. I hadn't heard of it before, but when I was researching it, someone said Western Bridle is more hot stuffed than American English Bridle. The Wicket & Craig catalog says that their English bridle is "lightly hot stuffed", while their harness leather is "heavily hot stuffed" and their Show Harness is "heavily waxed and oiled".

Granted, this is just rumor that I've read, I don't have the leathers in hand myself. But I'm going to get black thread from Abbey England, and I'll see if I can get them to throw in a sample.

[Hi Im Joe]

I'd like to order from Abbey England to be sure of this myself, but I have read that English Bridle (from England) is more hot stuffed than American English Bridle. I hadn't heard of it before, but when I was researching it, someone said Western Bridle is more hot stuffed than American English Bridle. The Wicket & Craig catalog says that their English bridle is "lightly hot stuffed", while their harness leather is "heavily hot stuffed" and their Show Harness is "heavily waxed and oiled".

Granted, this is just rumor that I've read, I don't have the leathers in hand myself. But I'm going to get black thread from Abbey England, and I'll see if I can get them to throw in a sample.

I'd be interested to hear how it handles. I've wanted to make a briefcase out of bridle but have never been able to justify dropping the 300 bucks on a side of bridle.

[MonicaJacobson]

Me too - though I'm too chicken to make a briefcase yet. I did not at ALL like the Hermann Oak English Bridle I bought. It was terrible. It was dry, stiffer than veg tanned, and felt lacquered. I've been meaning to ask you about the English Bridle you used on the pockets of some of your roll top bags. What is the texture on that, and where did it come from?

[Hi Im Joe]

You mean this one:

The tan colored leather is Hermann Oak London Tan...I have no idea if its tooling leather or bridle as I bought it from someone off the forum and all he said was "Hermann Oak London Tan." I'm guessing its tooling leather. But it is definitely very stiff and has an almost lacquered feeling to it. Your description of their bridle leather made me second guess.

I would PM Ducjecs (the guy who posted the bi-fold pattern). He has used W&C bridle and harness leather a lot in his wallet making. I'm sure he could provide some insight.

[zuludog]

The pale shade of tan is known as London Tan

If you Google for 'English Leather Belts' and 'English Leather Wallets' you will get several references so you can see the range of colours and styles available

[MonicaJacobson]

Yep, and it looks exactly like the stuff I bought, which was also Hermann Oak "London Tan Bridle leather". Supposedly it will tool if you can manage to get it wet enough. That particular sample didn't really look like it, though. It looked like it would crinkle and do weird things. It felt to me like it had been compressed to be extremely dense. Anyway, I'll definitely ask Ducjecs about it. It'd be good to know if that's what people expect of it.

[Hi Im Joe]

Yep, and it looks exactly like the stuff I bought, which was also Hermann Oak "London Tan Bridle leather". Supposedly it will tool if you can manage to get it wet enough. That particular sample didn't really look like it, though. It looked like it would crinkle and do weird things. It felt to me like it had been compressed to be extremely dense. Anyway, I'll definitely ask Ducjecs about it. It'd be good to know if that's what people expect of it.

Yup that's definitely what I got. It takes forever to get wet but it will definitely tool. It is super dense and very stiff.

[truenorth]

Heres my 1.5 cents I have 4 different types of "english" bridle 1 being from Sedgwick in England and yup thats the best one on my opinion for a 10oz piece of leather or in and around there WandC and herman tie a distant second but please dont anyone get excited this is just my opinion lol!!!Most times price is a BIGGG factor when I buy a hide thats all folks!!

[JanC]

I've read places that "real" English Bridle will have bloom. I've ordered and use W&C bridle for wallets and this "bloom" was nonexistent so I'd be inclined to say that the real stuff is more hot stuffed, as a previous poster suggested. That said, W&C is still very, very good.

Edit: Very possible the higher weights have it. The stuff I used was 3/4oz.

Edited December 8, 2014 by JanC

[MonicaJacobson]

Huh, yeah, I had no idea.

http://www.keikari.com/english/bridle-leather-characteristics/

[Hi Im Joe]

I love the phrase "sniffed thoroughly for smart nasal pleasure." LOL.

[denisfilatov]

I've read places that "real" English Bridle will have bloom. I've ordered and use W&C bridle for wallets and this "bloom" was nonexistent so I'd be inclined to say that the real stuff is more hot stuffed, as a previous poster suggested. That said, W&C is still very, very good.

Edit: Very possible the higher weights have it. The stuff I used was 3/4oz.

tell English bridle how good was that?

how do you sort of took ? could not take a picture of the skin on both sides?

thanks in advance!

[JanC]

Wickett & Craig Bridle is very good. Bridle is usually finished on both sides, but when I had them split it to 3/4oz, I didn't pay to have the flesh side refinished. Still, the flesh side is uniform clean.

[denisfilatov]

Wickett & Craig Bridle is very good. Bridle is usually finished on both sides, but when I had them split it to 3/4oz, I didn't pay to have the flesh side refinished. Still, the flesh side is uniform clean.

photos do you have on it ?

the grade you ordered ?

[Andrew Chee]

I've used both english bridle leather from W&C (split down to about 5oz) as well as english bridles from Sedgwick and Claytons. Claytons you can buy from Booth and co. in Peabody Mass but they are thicker. Sedgewick does have an english bridle double shoulder I believe at 5oz thickness from Abbery England. W&C you can get whatever thickness you want.

The picture you sent looks like W&C type of bridle. Bear in mind, W&C bridle and the english stuff are nothing alike. All are great leathers but the english stuff is much more heavily stuffed. They actually come with what looks like a layer of paraffin wax on top. There's like a hard wax finish to it. You can actually scratch the wax slightly and then buff it out a bit. It's just very different than W&C which is closer to what you see in the pic you sent. I've taken a heat gun to the surface of the english stuff to see what would happen and the top wax layer melts into the leather and gives you a completely different look to the leather.

Anyways, all good but if you're looking for something like what's in the picture, go with the W&C stuff.

Andrew