Softening Veg tanned leather

[Deryk]

I have mainly worked with softer 4-5 oz chrome tanned leathers, well I am looking at dropping the big bucks for a cb3200 and wanting to make messenger styled bags and I keep reading that vegtan is better to work with, will last longer, stronger then chrome tanned leather.  Well I want the bag to have some body to it, but how do I soften it up, especially if I am sewing it inside out and have to turn it right side out.  I know neet's foot oil conditions it, but will that work?

[bikermutt07]

3 minutes ago, Deryk said:

I have mainly worked with softer 4-5 oz chrome tanned leathers, well I am looking at dropping the big bucks for a cb3200 and wanting to make messenger styled bags and I keep reading that vegtan is better to work with, will last longer, stronger then chrome tanned leather.  Well I want the bag to have some body to it, but how do I soften it up, especially if I am sewing it inside out and have to turn it right side out.  I know neet's foot oil conditions it, but will that work?

You don't have to go full on tooling leather for your bags. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking veg tan means tooling leather (in the beginning). There are other veg tan leathers out there. Have a look at @nstarleather in our for sale section. He has some great horween leathers that he is passing down to us at great prices. These would be great for your duffles. He also has some sweet nubuck in olive that would make a great bag. It's about 5oz and has a medium temper. I think that one was only 2 bucks a foot if I remember right. And he mentioned just the other day about still having a lot left.

Good luck , buddy.

PS. This photo had the suede side of that leather showing around the body of the growler.

[Deryk]

Ahhh yeah when someone says veg tan i think tooling leather type leather  well lots to learn!

[bikermutt07]

No worries. And lots of people use tooling for messenger bags. But the usually aren't turned bags.

[Deryk]

yeah, I have a bag in my head that I need to get out lol!  I would like some body to it, but not be stiff like plywood, but not so soft that I would have to sew in stiffening to it.  Yeah I wasn't aware of other types of vegtan...I have seen it come vat dyed, and I know about grades of it and some better quality hides from italy and spain with different characteristics.  So now I need to start looking and seeing the tanning methods on some of the hide sites.  Thanks I appreciate the help

 

[bikermutt07]

Look on tannery Row's website. That is the horween retail site. It doesn't show prices, even if you join, but it will give you an idea of some different leathers and uses.

That olive nubuck I have is from SB Boot. So, it's obviously boot leather.  I would think anything used for boots would be good for bags.

[JD62]

There are also veg tan in goat, sheep, pig just to name a few. The sheep is fairly soft tempered with goat a little stiffer. The thickness will have a lot of influence too.You might contact one or two of the companies that advertise at the top of the forum pages and see about some sample swatches.

[Dun]

There is also milled veg tan for something more pliable. It is tumbled to the point of floppiness.

[Deryk]

Thanks!  I think the milled veg tan looks good... then I can dye it to the colour I want, then seal it with Obenauf's so it can handle getting rained on.

[Deryk]

Thanks Mike!  that is helpful!