Thickest leather

[fluffchucker]

Hi there.

Just saw some old tawses on Ebay.

One was the equivalent of 5 one pound pieces thick which would make it about 15mm.

Another is about 10mm.

Is there such leather out there or must they have been bonded?

Cheers me dears.

FC

[mdawson]

Hi FC,

I've seen a sample of leather that thick in a tannery, it was quite an old piece, sorry I can't remember what it was from.

Mark

[Matt S]

It exists, but isn't common. After tanning a hide is various thicknesses at different locations, some cows as much as 10mm. These days the whole hide is leveled with a big shaving machine before currying, but before these were in common use I believe that this was left to the craftsman to do with a spokeshave. Thus different parts were up to 10mm thick -- and probably plenty big enough for a tawse.

[Sheilajeanne]

Had to look this up - I had no idea what a tawse was! Turns out it's the equivalent of what we called the strap in the North American school system! 

[fluffchucker]

In Britain more traditional in Scotland.

England tended to use the cane more.

Thanks for the replies.

Cheers FC

 

[alpha2]

All very educational! I don't even want to know what a fluffchucker is!

I spent a delightful evening with some friends, one from Argentina. Our host advised that when we went home, we avoided the dam road, as there had been an accident and it was holding up traffic. I overheard her ask her (Massachusetts) fiancee what a "dam" was. I asked if she knew the difference between a lake and a reservoir. She did, so I explained that a reservoir was bordered on most sides to keep in the water, and at one or more ends had a landfilled or concrete structure to hold the water in that end. That was a "dam".  She got it immediately!

Just one of the things I love about this forum. The whole world is on here, and happy to share peculiarities of our languages. 

Edited January 21, 2018 by alpha2

[fluffchucker]

Fluffchucker is a term used for a fly fisherman.

Flies are made from fur and feather. Hence fluff

 

[Mjolnir]

2 hours ago, fluffchucker said:

Fluffchucker is a term used for a fly fisherman.

Flies are made from fur and feather. Hence fluff

 

That is a language peculiarity.

 

21 hours ago, Sheilajeanne said:

Had to look this up - I had no idea what a tawse was! Turns out it's the equivalent of what we called the strap in the North American school system! 

I had to look it up to. I love words. In the US this one would be adult entertainment, or child abuse.

[Jake907]

On the original topic, I've seen a peice of leather that a friend has from a water buffalo, it's roughly an inch thick (25 mm for you fluff). He got it in a bag of scraps from eBay. 

I'll try to get a picture next time I see him

[alpha2]

My new CB4500 that's ordered only goes to 7/8", looks like I need to cancel the order and go back to hand-sewing!

[480volt]

1 hour ago, Jake907 said:

 

Had to look this up - I had no idea what a tawse was! Turns out it's the equivalent of what we called the strap in the North American school system! 

 

No school system I would send my kids to.

[fredk]

An old saying;

"A wife, a dog, a walnut tree

the more you whip them

the better they be"

Never worked on my walnut trees

[Sheilajeanne]

20 minutes ago, 480volt said:

No school system I would send my kids to.

Notice my use of the past tense. Us old farts remember it well, though. 

[Mjolnir]

I

1 minute ago, Sheilajeanne said:

Notice my use of the past tense. Us old farts remember it well, though. 

I held on to that desk! LOL!

[Sheilajeanne]

My dad was a public school principal. He kept one strap in his desk at school for official use, and one in his desk at home. I never got strapped at school, but I got to feel the one he kept at home more that a few times! He never hit you very hard, though!

[KittenThrasher]

I have some water buffalo hide which is half an inch thick, totally useless except that it's apparently what they make snooker cue tips out of.

learn a new thing every day.

[Matt S]

1 hour ago, 480volt said:

No school system I would send my kids to.

It's from a Scotland of the past -- when the men were men and the sheep ran scared.

[fredk]

23 minutes ago, Matt S said:

It's from a Scotland of the past -- when the men were men and the sheep ran scared.

Not too long ago I was walking in the Highlands. I heard a farmer shouting. I think he was a Rolling Stones fan but he couldn't get the lyrics of a song quite right. He was shouting; "Hey, M' Cloud, get off my you"

[Matt S]

4 minutes ago, fredk said:

Not too long ago I was walking in the Highlands. I heard a farmer shouting. I think he was a Rolling Stones fan but he couldn't get the lyrics of a song quite right. He was shouting; "Hey, M' Cloud, get off my you"

Was that one his wife?

[kiwican]

Ha,  I once got the strap and the cane on the same day, strap across the hand and the cane across the back of the legs

[garypl]

3 hours ago, Sheilajeanne said:

My dad was a public school principal. He kept one strap in his desk at school for official use, and one in his desk at home. I never got strapped at school, but I got to feel the one he kept at home more that a few times! He never hit you very hard, though!

Back in the 1950’s my dad kept a razor strop on a nail in the back of a door.  It was two pieces - a piece of leather that was probably 11-12 oz sandwiched with a piece of heavy canvas. As I recall, it was @3” x 16” and had a swivel snap on the end.  I only remember being swatted with it once - after that, if I was crossing the line too far, all he had to do was get the strap off the hook and at the sound of that swivel hardware rattling as it came off the nail, I immediately would stop misbehaving!  I would not use this today, but it taught me to respect authority, something many kids today could use some lessons on.

[Jake907]

@nstarleather @KittenThrasher hey I finally got a picture of that leather with a thickness gauge on it, its not as thick as I remember it being, but still some thick ass leather. If I'm reading the instrument correctly its around 36oz, and he said he got it in a bag of scraps on ebay, and claims its water buffalo. sorry for the poor quality of the picture.

[olfart]

On 1/21/2018 at 2:46 PM, Sheilajeanne said:

Notice my use of the past tense. Us old farts remember it well, though. 

Hey!  I resemble that remark!  Our gym teacher in junior high school used his size 12 tennis shoe to motivate us up the rope.  If we didn't touch the knot at the top, he'd send us back up with a swat from that shoe.  At home, though, my dad wore out most of a hackberry tree on me over the years.

[olfart]

On 1/21/2018 at 4:49 PM, fredk said:

Not too long ago I was walking in the Highlands. I heard a farmer shouting. I think he was a Rolling Stones fan but he couldn't get the lyrics of a song quite right. He was shouting; "Hey, M' Cloud, get off my you"

Hmmm... I think he probably said "ewe". 

[alpha2]

You sure that wasn't Wyoming? "Honest to God! I was just helping that sheep out of the fence!"

 

(Sorry, Colorado joke)