Finishing Bridle Leather Edges

[llucas]

Some time ago I purchased some leather from a company that went out of business about six years ago. As it turns out, it is Wickett&Craig English Bridle. I use primarily veg tan for my projects and have no experience with this leather -- but I got a great deal so I bought it, lol. Question: how do you finish the edges of this kind of leather after cutting straps for belts? This is not my father's veg tan.

[simontuntelder]

FYI W&C bridle or any bridle for that sake is still veg tan

[llucas]

FYI W&C bridle or any bridle for that sake is still veg tan

I experimented with this leather, making a pancake holster. It would not mold like regular veg tan and resisted softening with water. With veg tan I can get a lot of detail when boning; with this bridle leather I cannot mold any detail. It forms to the general shape generically, but I cannot bone in any lines or detail. For me, it has been a different animal. I am thinking it is not useful for holsters but may be very useful for gun belts. Before I experiment with finishing the edges I thought I would ask and maybe reduce the learning curve. Thanks for the feedback. It is appreciated.

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

The reason bridle leather doesn't mold as well as "veg-tan", (which as stated above, EB IS veg-tan, as is harness, skirting and some latigo,) is because the leather has been "stuffed" with oils and waxes to make it sweat and moisture resistant, and has been compressed to increase density, reduce thickness and strengthen the leather. It is not made to mold or retain stamping detail to the extent that strap leather is (or tooling leather, or whatever you wish to call it, in your case "veg-tan"). Not to say that there aren't some gorgeous holsters made from EB, because I think there are. It is just a different type of leather, as you have discovered. As EB goes, W & C has some of the drier stuff in the industry, and I have found it to take water and case up quite well, and retain detail quite well also. As far as finishing edges, I don't do a single thing differently when using EB than if I was using any other type of veg-tan leather, i.e. skirting, harness, or strap.

[llucas]

Thanks, Big Sioux. Dealing with this W&C leather is well outside my experience. It resisted molding even after ten minutes of warm water, but did form to the gun itself without detail. Your observations about the "dryness" of W&C is helpful. When I first bought the leather I cut a few strips; put them flesh to flesh with good sides out and stitched it. The side where the needle exits the leather fractured. I assumed it was because it was older and had dried out a little. A member on leatherworker.net recommended some conditioning with saddle soap -- which I tried. It eliminated the fracturing. I will try to finish the edges on some samples as I normally do and see how it goes. Thanks for the insight from your own experience.