What to do with Scrap?

[mulefool]

I'd be interested in hearing how you guys deal with the scrap you generate. There's just so many slobberleathers, spur straps, bucking rolls, etc you can sell. So I still end up with alot more than I want. I have donated some to groups like the Boy Scouts. One I donated some to the prison. But I'd really like to sell it. How do you guys deal with yours?

[K-Man]

I use Hermann Oak exclusively. So I take mine to the local Tandy Leather Factory, and they purchase it at a per pound price.

[Cowboy Crafts Online]

I live about 30 miles away from a Boy Scout camp, so I give them most all my scraps. I have been keeping track of what I have given them this year and am going to write it off. One other thing I have done is back up my scraps and take them to local horse sales and have them auctioned off, but with the price of fuel it is easier to donate them to the boy scouts.

Ashley

[Go2Tex]

YES! Another burning question that I was about to ask. I have waaay too many boxes of real nice scrap that I'm paying a mover to haul it to Texas because I can't see tossing it out.

You could try selling some on Ebay, but that seems almost not worth the effort. There's already a lot on there and wasn't selling last time I looked.

I'll check with the local Tandy, though. I know he has bellies for sale. Haven't noticed any bins full of scrap. I just know somebody needs my scrap, though. I just know it........surely.... SOMEBODY?

[bruce johnson]

Coasters and key fobs!!

I bought my wife some coaster clicker dies. Anything that I don't use for conchos or carriers is used for that. The decent pieces are pressed with embossing plates with different rodeo silhouettes I have. Off grain or softer pieces are glued onto hair-on hide scraps and clicked. Sew around the edges, slick edges, and they are good to go. She bundles them in sets of 4 for $16 a set. I did the math once and by batching, she was making $25-30/hr.

She has made key fobs using a spur strap buckle end clicker die. To separate from the pack, she edge dyes a smaller leather concho, center punches through both, and adds a spare silver concho. She prices them according to the value of the concho.

Larger pieces I make into yokes for soft purses. I run the edges around the skiver, so they don't look clunky. I still have the meat in the middle to dig deep and lift up with my tooling. Since they are sewn down and normally a concho or two plus the handle hardware through them, they can be a little stretchier and get by. I use up chap scraps for the bodies this way too. I mostly do custom and awards orders, but it is kind of nice to take a day and make up some of this stuff to have "off-the-rack".

Bruce Johnson

[Cowboy Crafts Online]

One thing I just thought of was what do we define as scrap. I use up ever piece of the hide, I have very little left over, its just the junk that cannot be used. That is why I give it away I couldn't see anyone paying for it.

Ashley

[Go2Tex]

Well now there ya have it. But if all you have time for, ladies and gents, is building saddles, pretty darn soon you end up with a rather substantial pile of really good usable pieces of veg tan, which for lack of a better term, I'll just call "scrap", 'cause try as I may, I can't figure out how to stretch that 8"x3"x2"x.... odd shape into anything resembling a saddle part..... well, except for a latigo keeper and I only need so many of them on one saddle.

And yes, I have every intention of some rainy day, running all this nice, useable stuff through my hand crank, buying a clicker and some cookie cutters, (actually, I like your idea, Bruce, of the hydraulic press outfit), and cranking out some really nifty Christmas gifts.

On second thought.... actually, now that you mention it, my wife needs something to do besides gardening, house cleaning, waiting on me hand and foot, and er, other wifely duties. I should put her to work in the shop. It'll be good for her.... and the business. I could set her up with a table out on the county road and she could hawk her tomatoes, leather coasters and napkin rings!

Until then eh,...... where did I put that number for the Boy Scouts?

[Johanna]

Hey, carve practice pieces and make a ring for the shop so you have examples of a customers options. Or carve something pretty, put it in a frame and call it art. I double dog dare ya to put your wife to work without using extreme charm.

First thing I learned in a working shop- there is no such thing as scrap. You never know what you will need tomorrow or next week, if for nothing else than to slip behind something you need to pound a hole into. My new hubby ( a metal worker) threw away 3 large boxes of "scrap" that were in the basement because he thought all the odds and end leather pieces were junk. I nearly cried when I realized all my treasured "this and thats" were gone, even though I don't run a shop any more, I knew what 15 years had accumulated. I had already gotten rid of the utterly useless stuff...the three boxes were the keeper scrap, but there is no such thing as scrap. But, like we do, I started a new box, and it's collecting some here and there. Hair pieces, watch straps, wristbands, dog collars, key fobs, glasses cases, Christmas tree ornaments...there is, after all, no such thing as scrap- you are only limited by imagination.

Johanna

[mulefool]

While I kind of agree with the concept of "no such thing as scrap" and sure I can think of things to do with it, when I'm running behind on custom orders when is there the time to sit down and work on things I don't have an order for and am not sure will sell? "Sorry your custom saddle isn't done yet, I needed to make some coasters to get rid of all that darn scrap" LOL I guess I just generate it faster than I can keep up with it. I didn't know Tandy leather Factory would buy scrap. I've got Hermann Oak scrap so maybe I'll give them a call.

[Johanna]

If you can unplug children and grandchildren from their gadgets, they have fun working with "scrap". I discovered this by accident during an ice storm that left us without electricity for a few days a couple of years ago.

Johanna