Buying my first piece of leather in UK - advice please

[Allotment17]

First of all, thank you for a friendly welcome to the forum and for some great advice and thank you to Fredk for all your help.

I've spent hours and hours and hours reading and watching and trying to familiarise myself with leather, leather tools and leatherwork and I'm ready to buy my first piece of leather. I've visited Le Prevo, AA Crack and Abbey England websites and have to say that I am feeling overwhelmed by the choices out there. I'm very nervous about purchasing without seeing (visiting to look is not on the cards at the moment) and I don't want to waste money on something I cannot/don't want to use. 

My aim for the leather is something to use for practice mainly. I learn by 'what happens if I do that'. I'm hoping that my practicing can be used to produce something myself and family can use. So far I've made a very basic pouch and several various key fobs. So I think I need plain veg tanned leather which I can practice cutting, edging, punching, stamping and sewing with.

I've looked at Le Prevo but I don't know enough to choose from them. AA Crack is bewildering to me. I felt a bit more comfortable at Abbey's website and, if left to my own devices I would order the following, however, as I know nothing (comparatively), I would appreciate some advice as to whether I am on the right track (or not). I was thinking of the 1.8 to 2 mm or 2 to 2.5 mm.

https://www.abbeyengland.com/tooling-shoulder-9727.html

Many thanks. 

Clare

Edited June 23, 2019 by Allotment17
typos

[Allotment17]

Looking at the Le Provo site in their natural veg-tan section, would this also be the right sort of thing? (a bit cheaper!).

Edited June 23, 2019 by Allotment17

[fredk]

First reckoning is what you want to make with it.

Shoulder is fairly stiff but not as stiff as back bone part of a butt, a shoulder is not very wide, not wide enough nor thick enough for a man's belt but you can usually get a woman sized belt out of its width

This chart done by Tandy is handy. It is a guide only, you don't need to stick to it absolutely

For a first leather I would, and did, select a 2 to 2.5mm leather. Its a good all rounder and you can thin it if necessary. So that would be the 026

I've dealt with Le Prevo for about 20 years. I've not dealt with any others mainly as none would send to me in N.I.

Email or phone Jan or Stu at Le Prevo. Tell them what you want to make ask for their advice & suggestion. They will help you choose

** be aware that Le Prevo prices need 20% VAT added plus a delivery charge & 20% VAT on that too

PS. Look in Le Prevo's Clearance Offers. There might be some cheap-ish leather there.

 

[mikesc]

If it is only for practice sewing, cutting etc ....unless you are looking to try practising carving / tooling ? ..I'd buy splits..waaay cheaper..

Maybe add in a piece of the better stuff from their scraps / clearance  bin so that you'll be able to put into practice what you learned on the splits..

Edited June 23, 2019 by mikesc

[Tpc]

Hi Clare, I have not been into leatherwork very long myself. What I done was bought some 1.2 mm and 3.2 mm veg shoulder from Metropolitan Leather at Thrapston near Kettering. I then made belts ,coffee coasters and guitar straps from the 3.2, and Watch straps, pouches and minimalist wallets with the1.2. All these avail themselves to be stamped, stitched , cut and wet moulded. And because they are smallish , you get plenty of practice. I hope this helps. T

[Zulidog]

I have bought leather & tools from The Identity Store in Matlock, Derbyshire, and I'm happy enough with that. They are pleasant and helpful if you phone them up for advice. Recently they have changed their name to

https://www.identityleathercraft.com

I haven't bought anything from this supplier, but I've heard good reports

https://www.buyleatheronline.com

Edited June 23, 2019 by Zulidog

[chrisash]

There are tons of leather offcuts available on ebay, both chrome and veg tan where you can practice at low cost also companies like JWood supply ecconomy veg tan which is very low cost and good for practice items but not tooling https://www.jwoodleathers.co.uk/natural-veg-tan-leathers/

[robs456]

For trying out making stuff etc buy smaller quantities, try Tandy or 

https://leather4craft.co.uk/

Edited June 23, 2019 by robs456

[zuludog]

19 minutes ago, robs456 said:

For trying out making stuff etc buy smaller quantities, try Tandy or 

https://leather4craft.co.uk/

A couple of comments -

Tandy have recently undergone quite a change. They have now closed all their shops in Europe apart from one in Spain. If you order anything from their website it will be supplied from USA

Thanks for the link to leather4craft, it looks interesting. I might buy some of their linen thread

[robs456]

4 hours ago, zuludog said:

Tandy have recently undergone quite a change. They have now closed all their shops in Europe apart from one in Spain. If you order anything from their website it will be supplied from USA

Thanks for the heads-up. Didn't buy anything from them for a couple of years now, good to know.
 

 

4 hours ago, zuludog said:

Thanks for the link to leather4craft, it looks interesting. I might buy some of their linen thread

Their stuff looks nice, but I've only bought some foil in small quantities from them. They're nice to deal with though.