Best Way To Store Leather

[craftsman827]

Most of us leather workers don't have enough space to store our leather flat.

So we roll it up. My question is which way to roll it ?

Grain or flesh side on outside ?

I store mine flesh side out, so I don't get tan marks from the light.

Then the leather is bent !

What about rolling grain side out, covered in packing paper ?

[JerseyFirefighter]

Curios as to this as well. I know I receive SLC's leather flesh side out, however RJF sends flesh side in. Then again the first is veg tanned and the second is latigo.

[Troy I]

I store my leather the way I get it from Wickett & Craig Tannery...rolled with the grain side out, heavy packing paper on the outside to protect it from light and scratches.

[TinkerTailor]

Grain side in is more likely to induce wrinkles.

[JLSleather]

I like it flat.. grain down. Cover a table with cardboard, then stack hides face down on it. I'd love to have a separate "slot" for each weight / type of leather, but just don't have teh room for all that.

[Dwight]

When I built my hobby / leather shop, . . . that was one of the concerns.

I had to put up a divider wall between two sections, . . . instead of a 2 x 4 wall that would be all wasted space, . . . I used a 2 x 12 on the end of it, . . . put an OSB back on it, . . . an OSB door on the front, . . . and all my leather hangs in the "vault" nowadays.

I made swinging arms that would hold 6 or 8 pieces each, . . . so I can just open the door and thumb through what I have until I find what I want.

What little I have rolled up, . . . sits on the floor of the vault, . . . awaiting a day when it too will be hung up.

Greatest invention I've done in a long time.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Wild Bill46]

Dwight, You've intriqued me !

When you say you used 2x12 on the ends ? and made swinging arms to hold 6-8 pieces on each ?

Maybe its just me but, I can't imagine this. Do you have pictures of your invention ?

This is exactly where I'm at now, in my thinking process, for a small future shop, and its storage ? --- Wild Bill46

[Dwight]

Actually, . . . what I have is nothing more than a big box, . . . almost 8 feet tall, . . . 4 feet wide, . . . 12 inches deep.

I have racks inside, . . . that swing, . . . allowing me to pick what ever piece I want for this item, project, or task.

Really pretty simple when you come down to it, . . . and as I said before, . . . was putting up a wall anyway, . . . just made it thicker and hollow, . . . serves as my "vault", . . . so to speak.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Wild Bill46]

Thank you for sharing your vault pictures !

This just may be what I need to help me make up my mind, how I want to store my leather.

Tidy, out of the way, and accessible. almost leaves no room for thinking.

Thank you once again Dwight. --- Wild Bill46

[Dwight]

Actually, . . . the original plan was for a table with drawers or a lifting top, . . . something where my leather would lay flat.

I wound up not having as big a place for that table as I felt I needed, . . . had to look for another way, . . . got the inspiration just as I was getting ready to make that wall, . . . and as the saying goes, . . . the rest is history.

What I really like, . . . is once it has hung in there for a couple of days, . . . most of the curl from being rolled goes away, . . . and it makes life easier down on the cutting table.

Good luck....

May God bless,

Dwight