Wickett & Craig . . . does it normally take this long?

[Chakotay]

Trying to buy leather from someone other than Tandy for the first time. 

Called up Wickett & Craig direct sales to order a single side of 10oz tooling/carving leather to try out. The salesman gave me the ballpark price, and told me that when my order comes up and is ready they'd send me an invoice with final price.

That was almost two weeks ago. Emailed asking for a status on the order/invoice and was told it's still not ready yet.

Are W&C's lead-times usually this long? I have custom order requests on hold as I'm out of leather. About to just go buy some double-shoulders from Tandy.

[thunter9]

https://montanaleather.com/product-category/leather/saddlery-leather/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[YinTx]

They have some 8-10 oz in the overstock section on sale, usually have some branding or scars or whatever, but good price, and ships out pretty quick.  They do have an annual shutdown, don't remember when that happens, but try not to order in that window.  Sometimes end of the year can be difficult to get leather from what I hear.

YinTx

[Matt S]

2 hours ago, nstarleather said:

If they don't have it on the shelf it can be a while between runs.  I order 2000 feet at a time from Horween and the wait is usually 2-3 months.

Could be worse, I know of one tannery where it's 14 months...

[garypl]

You can sign up for their monthly email flyer and they always have a good selection of sides and bellies at what I think are fair prices - usually between $145-$160 per side and they will split skirting and carving leather for free.  Go to their website and register to receive the flyer.  I normally receive my orders with 1-2 weeks except for Summer shutdown that starts later in June or into early July.  

I have been very pleased with the utility hides I have ordered from the flyer.  There are more defects, but I work around them.

Gary

[Matt S]

14 minutes ago, nstarleather said:

Yikes!

Pit tanning (agitated by water wheel), hides manipulated by hand, and almost entirely hand finishing. They keep a good stock of crust so even if what you want isn't "off the peg" they can finish a hide for you pretty quickly. But if you want something special that doesn't match their part-finished hides they start your order by putting a wet blue in the liming pit, and it takes as long as it takes. They also brew/ferment their own tanliquor from oak bark. Most of the tanners have forearms bigger than my thighs.

And that's just for equestrian/SLG type leather. Soling is about 24 months.

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

9 hours ago, Matt S said:

Pit tanning (agitated by water wheel), hides manipulated by hand, and almost entirely hand finishing. They keep a good stock of crust so even if what you want isn't "off the peg" they can finish a hide for you pretty quickly. But if you want something special that doesn't match their part-finished hides they start your order by putting a wet blue in the liming pit, and it takes as long as it takes. They also brew/ferment their own tanliquor from oak bark. Most of the tanners have forearms bigger than my thighs.

And that's just for equestrian/SLG type leather. Soling is about 24 months.

I bet it's worth the wait though!

[chrisash]

No excuse though of not giving you a estimated delivery time when you first enquired, it's something called service

[Matt S]

10 hours ago, Big Sioux Saddlery said:

I bet it's worth the wait though!

I reckon so, as do enough people to keep them at full production capacity.

[JerseyFirefighter]

2 weeks from W&C doesnt seem to bad. I recall that I waited that long if not longer for the few times I have ordered from them. My supplier is hit or miss when it comes to my materials that are in stock. I've learned to order at least a month ahead of time. If you want that tannery/distributors leather.. it takes what it takes. That said, asking what the turnaround time was during ordering would have saved a lot of headache. 

[Firewalker]

I use WC primarily and have ordered it from them directly a few times. It did take 2-3 weeks to get it.  I originally got the lower quality hides from them because I was making smaller items.   It was worth it to me for the next time to buy the higher quality hides the next time around.  The cost was somewhat higher but the quality made it worth it to me. 

I don’t know how much you need or what weight, etc but I highly recommend Maker's Leather.  The price is fair and it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to ship.  I ordered a hide of 4/5 on Monday and it arrived yesterday.  Good people and pricing, great quality and excellent customer service.  

You can order what you want with a few clicks.  Easy as pie.  Check ‘me out if you haven’t.  

 

Scott