Different treatment of flesh side of leather

[Peterk]

Hello all,

I am starting to get into the realm of better leather than stuff you can get from Tandy, and have a few questions regarding the different treatment of leather backs (flesh side).

Basically, what do these terms mean?

Stirrup Flesh

Pasted Flesh

Buff Flesh

So far I've had to deal with a lot of fuzz on the flesh side of leather I got from Tandy and had to use Bag Kote to "glue" them to the surface. I've read about burnishing them but it is quite a labor intensive process so looking for ways to order leather that is prepared so hoping this is the way.

Thanks all!

Edited December 2, 2008 by Peterk

[moriver]

If you don't want the loose flesh to be an issue, order a buffed side. Basically the tanner runs it through a buffer and it really smooths the back side and cleans it up. Thats how rough out saddles look so clean and even with the flesh side out. You can also sand the flesh side yourself, just treat it like a piece of wood. I sometimes treat the flesh side with Aussie or something similar to help and lay it down and smooth it out.

Good luck

[Peterk]

If you don't want the loose flesh to be an issue, order a buffed side. Basically the tanner runs it through a buffer and it really smooths the back side and cleans it up. Thats how rough out saddles look so clean and even with the flesh side out. You can also sand the flesh side yourself, just treat it like a piece of wood. I sometimes treat the flesh side with Aussie or something similar to help and lay it down and smooth it out.

Good luck

Thanks much! I've recently been to Tandy and saw an example of leather with "pasted back" and it looked a heck of a lot better than the first piece of leather I had to work with. What I discovered accidentally was to coat the loose flesh side with Bag Kote. Once dried the surface is hard and the fuzz down pat. I can't wait for my Zack White leather with pasted back to come. That should save me some work before buffing.

Thanks again for the suggestions.