Herman oak or ?

[Sorcerer1]

Is there any tooling leather a little cheaper than HO ? I am retired and on a fixed income so every little bit of savings helps .  I read that once HO you never go back but in my case it is hard to justify the price .

Thanks in advance

Arley  Sorcerer 1 

[Mattsbagger]

Wickett and Craig. They are in PA. Give them a call.

[JLSleather]

Wickett/Craig has no minimum order (beyond that they don't cut partial hides), but the cost per sq ft is actually more than HO (by about 60¢ / ft)

 

[NVLeatherWorx]

3 hours ago, Sorcerer1 said:

Is there any tooling leather a little cheaper than HO ? I am retired and on a fixed income so every little bit of savings helps .  I read that once HO you never go back but in my case it is hard to justify the price .

Thanks in advance

Arley  Sorcerer 1 

If it is budget that you want then you will have to deal with Tandy as they have the only real "budget" leather around.  Their pricing is pretty much lower than any of the other suppliers but their quality is in that same realm, lower.  Don't know what you are finding for HO pricing but there is a place in Napa, CA (Hide House, check their website  www.hidehouse.com) where the HO pricing is not typically what you find elsewhere.  I use them for my HO all of the time and have never had an issue with quality or anything else.

[JLSleather]

It has always seemed rational to me for 2 or 3 fellas to "split" an order from H.O., thus paying $8 per foot instead of $12 per foot.  But, mention that and people scatter like there was a landslide comin'

 

[Clintock]

10 minutes ago, JLSleather said:

2 or 3 fellas to "split" an order from H.O.

 All in for that! But my budget could only get one hide at a time. Would be a lot cheaper doing that at around 180 for the back plus 20 to ship somewhere. That's 200 bucks per back vs 230 a back plus shipping. 

[alpha2]

If you've got a number of people in the same area to go in on a joint deal, that's great, but if you add in addl. shipping to the various individuals, it goes back up again. From what I've seen on the forum, we are a "geographically diverse" group.

[JLSleather]

21 hours ago, alpha2 said:

joint deal, that's great, but if you add in addl. shipping to the various individuals, it goes back up again.

I'm gonna go on and comment here, in spite of the almost assured fact that at least one person will pop in and say or suggest that I'm trying to talk anybody into anything.  I'm not, and that's all I'll say about that.

Back to the point, ...

Today, I am low on one weight, so I called a supplier and ordered ONE piece of "B" grade H.O.  for which I was charged about $14 per foot after shipping.  After shipping was $170 for about 12 feet.

My last HO order (same weight) was $1850 for 10 backs, around 200 feet with no belly leather.  So $9.25 per foot after shipping.  And it was 8 "A" grade and 2 "B" grade hides (very nice leather).  $185 for about 20 feet.

So, I'm just trying to offer something helpful here.  I'm not bitchin' about the price I paid this morning, since I chose to pay it (and it wasn't nearly as pricey as the shark I ordered later).  Point is -- if you got a few boys within an hour of each other, one guy could buy a "10-pack" and the other two could DRIVE OVER and pick it up, get nearly twice as much leather, and STILL save $50

In my "signature" under the posts, I have included HO's 2017 price list, for anybody who gets interested.  I'm fine up here, just thought somebody might want to know.