Help Figuring Out Price Per Inch

[ninety5percent]

I'm trying to figure out how much a piece of leather cost that I cut from a side. This is what I need help with...

I purchases a 12"x24" inch piece of leather for $37

I cut a 7"x9" square . How much is that 7x9 pice cost.

I figure 12"x24" is 288 sq inches

take $37 divide bye 288 = .$13 per inch. Is that a correct way to figure that? And if so what is the price of the 7x9 square?

I may be looking to much into it and it's a simple answer but all these calculators online and stuff is confusing.

Thank you for any help you can offer!

[dirtclod]

What your doing is what i do. Don't forget to figure in what you will lose in scrap plus mark up on the leather it's self. The 7 by 9 piece is 63 square inches times 13 cents a inch plus your mark up.

I would buy sides their cheaper than buying by the foot like your doing.

[JLSleather]

YIKES! That's 2 sq feet, or other words $18.50 / ft. For that money, that hide otta come with some beef still attached!

[zuludog]

Your basic calculation is correct, but there is a catch in calculating the cost per piece

12 x 24 = 288 sq in, costing $37, so price per sq in is 37/288 = $0.13

7 x 9 = 63 sq in , so price per piece would appear to be 63 x $0.13 = $8.19

Then do a sketch, diagram or plan.

Draw out a rectangle 12 x 24, and cut out some rectangles 7 x 9 from another piece of paper. Then try to fit them onto the larger piece.

Although by a simple area calculation 288/63 = 4.5, in practice you can only get 3 pieces of 7 x 9 out of a 12 x 24 piece

Thus the cost per finished piece of 7 x 9 = 37/3 = $12.33

If you're going to do a project requiring several different pieces, or want to make several similar items, make some paper patterns and shuffle them around on your bulk leather to make the best use and minimum wastage.

As JLSleather and dirtclod have posted, the cost per finished piece will be cheaper if you start from a larger piece of leather, for two reasons:-

The initial cost of the leather will be cheaper

A larger area will allow you to manoeuvre the patterns more to reduce wastage

Paper, staples, glue, card & Sellotape (Scotchtape in USA?) are cheap and easy to play with. Make all the patterns, mistakes, templates, trial & error you need before you actually cut leather. If you use plain paper be sure to mark the inside/outside, or you may end up with a piece that is reversed, or mirror image; you'll probably find out the hard way what that means.

Edited July 8, 2015 by zuludog

[ninety5percent]

Thank you all for your input. Dirt, JLS, Zulu. I think I'll buy sides. I appreciate the input and thank you Zulu for the breakdown.

Edited July 8, 2015 by ninety5percent

[Norton Custom Leather]

have you ever looked at springfield leather? i'm wholesale with them & get my stuff cheeper & much better quality. by quality i mean hermann oak & horween. they will most of the time cut most leather they have to fit your needs.

you have to remember the leather prices have went up this year due to cost of suppliers tanning cost.

[JLSleather]

If you are looking for one or two sides of leather, then I would recommend Wickett $ Craig. They will split the leather to the thickness you want, in natural or drum dyed. I buy backs instead of sides, so I don't pay for the bellies. Most recent purchase was $9.96 per foot (split, holstered, drum dyed).

If you have demand enough that leather won't sit for long periods where you have to control sunlight and humidity, then Hermann Oak leather is quite good also. I mention the conditons because the tannery has a minimum order requirement of 20 sides. This works out well, though, if you have a couple people in the area and one of you would be responsible for splitting an order between a couple guys. HO runs a little different pricing depending on thickness. I use a lot of 7/8 oz -- "A" grade currently $7.22 for sides ($8.52 for backs).

[Case Kingdom]

Had trouble with this to when I first started. Basically you had the right formula. The way I find the price for my items is I find the price per inch, which is .11. I then add a .10 markup making it .21 per inch. My leather Tablet Bag uses 330 square inches, so I multiply .21 x 330 = 69.30. I charge 20.00 an hour, and it takes about three hours to make completely by hand including stitching. The price then becomes 130. The strap is $30 and the hardware adds up to $20 bringing the total price up to 180. Since I use lambskin lining I also have to find the price per inch of that and add my markup. With the lining added it comes out to around 215. I then add some overhead making the final price 230. Check out other items I have made at casekingdom.com.