pathetic. again.

[JLSleather]

 

Whatcha think?  Does SLC NOT KNOW what Hermann Oak "B" looks like, or do they THINK I DONT" know?   I've called and complained enough times that I just wont do it again... it's pointless and only wastes more of my time.  The entire shoulder area looks like road kill, and at SLC prices that's about $60-70 of landfill material.  Oh, well - -the guy buying those shoulders I had for sale can have this... decide if he wants to use it (which I doubt) or maybe use it as a door mat for people to wipe their feet when they come in.

This is a closer-up.  Click to zoom, and i'll let the pics speak.

Fortunately, I needed a bit of this to line a holster, and the area to the right of that big crease across the whole piece will let me get that project done.  Course, couple hunnert $ for a piece to complete a $100 order doesn't seem to work out so good in the long run   

This isn't the first time, by far.  Only posting this so that others, particularly the 'new guy', can see what leather is SUPPOSED TO look like.  I have some other pics of materials I've ordered if you want to swap horror stories, but meanwhile let me show you what HERMANN OAK calls "B" grade leather.

 

 

 THIS is what you should be seeing when somebody tells you "Hermann Oak B".

[nrk]

damm

they don't learn from lessons and keep pushing junk to ppl

[67flh]

Can it be returned if one is not satisfied with the product?

[JLSleather]

30 minutes ago, 67flh said:

Can it be returned if one is not satisfied with the product?

Yeah, they've taken hides back before.  At some point, ya hafta wonder, .. WHY go through that?  If I order from somebody, they send it, I don't like it, I send it back... so basically I just wasted a week er 10 days.

If it happens ONCE, could be a mistake.  Maybe the new kid in shipping was confused.  If it happens 3 times in 10, that's a trend.  And when it happens 7 in 10, that's a POLICY.

I'll say that I HAVE received some usable leather from SLC, which is why I have given 'em so many opportunities to fly straight.  But never got a piece from there that looked like the leather I get from Hermann Oak.  Which is pretty sad considering this lower grade stuff is sold at 50% ABOVE the cost of the good stuff.

My fault - I knew and jumped in anyway.  I blame.. ME.  So, just offering information.  The money I lose is well spent, actually, to get the project out the door to the customer when I said I would.  Integrity worth more than a few bucks.  Sadly, few see it that way these days.

Edited February 5, 2020 by JLSleather

[Stetson912]

Bummer, I also stopped ordering from them.. well leather anyway. I got some caiman and its junk. Still rawhide in the middle and damn near impossible to cut. I get what I need elsewhere. 

[YinTx]

Someone botched that for sure.  The economy grade I got from them was decidedly better than the photo you are showing.  Sad thing, because there is a lot of potential (read - customers spending the $$) going to waste there at SLC with this kind of action going on.

YinTx

[Tugadude]

Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the tannery grade the leather?  So if they call it B, then it is their mistake.  Surely SLC or any other distributor places orders with the tannery and specify what they want.  They don't ship the hides and leave it to the customer to decide what it is.

And I don't understand the comment about this being 50% higher than the cost of the good stuff.  Why not just buy the good stuff then?  Confused.

[chrstn53]

53 minutes ago, Tugadude said:

Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the tannery grade the leather?  So if they call it B, then it is their mistake.  Surely SLC or any other distributor places orders with the tannery and specify what they want.  They don't ship the hides and leave it to the customer to decide what it is.

And I don't understand the comment about this being 50% higher than the cost of the good stuff.  Why not just buy the good stuff then?  Confused.

Because the minimal order for the good stuff directly from Herman oak is 20 sides/backs last time I checked. Distributors like SLC let you buy small quantities, so its going to cost a lot more which is understandable. Herman Oak has been around a long time and they would never send out what was pictured and call it B grade, but there are plenty of companies out there that would buy the cheapest stuff they can in bulk and try to pass it off as higher grade leather.

[JLSleather]

6 hours ago, Tugadude said:

And I don't understand the comment about this being 50% higher than the cost of the good stuff.  Why not just buy the good stuff then?  Confused.

Generally what I do.  You're in St. Louis?  Man, just walk across the street to Hermann Oak .  "A" grade leather at right around $8 per foot.   Drive up the path a bit and pick up dyes, finish, lining leathers... all from S-T Leather where you can walk in and pic it!  I need to rearrange a bit to allow for doing that myself.  There are only a couple of people I would trust to do that in my stead, and they're generally busy too.  Haven't flown for a while, but I'm guessing a ticket isn't much more than the cost of ONE crap side of leather.

I did some shopping - I think about every place ever mentioned on this site - so that when people ask where THEY should shop I can give an intelligent answer (FAR too much of this site is "shucks, I don't know BUT here's some words anyway....").  I want to know MYSELF, and it would be good to be able to actually KNOW when others ask.  I guess I'm the "odd man out" -- I tend to give an honest review.  If your work sucks, honest may not be what you're looking for. 

So this is an information about suppliers thread, eh?   I've ordered veg leather from most if not all of the 'retailers' mentioned around here.  Most of the time, that was clearly a bad idea.  I'd say something about it, somebody would recommend another place, and in the end I'd get pretty much the same thing.  So the question "why not just buy the good stuff then" is absolutely correct.  That IS the point here.

It's naive to say that these places are selling you what "the tannery graded".  There are a lot of people - here on this site and others - who have ONLY seen this type of leather, and therefore think that this is NORMAL.. that it's supposed to be that way.  It isn't.  

At the risk of being long-winded, a couple of the "stories"

One guy I called late last year (different source) and asked for ONE side of 4/5 Hermann Oak A grade.  One of the few places that offers  "A".  And from the start, it was like the guy was trying to talk me OUT of "A" grade. 

• I don't mind paying top price as long as I'm getting top shelf stuff. 
• What are you making with it?
• WHAT DOES it matter?  Do you sell HO "A" or not?  This side I want for lining tooled belts and inside of some holsters... SO WHAT? 
• Why dont you buy "economy", since nobody will see it anyway? 
• WELL I WILL SEE IT.  I WILL KNOW. 

Now, WHY would a salesman go out of the way to sell you LESS than what you asked for?  I could get it if they were OUT at the moment.  Maybe should have just hung up the phone right then.  But, they sent me ONE side.  It's not bad, but it's certainly NOT "A", and it was certainly marked up.  Call it relatively inexpensive lesson -- use what I can from that hide and don't go back.

So another guy asked me about getting decent leather, just buying a side or two (under HO minimum order).  SO I told him this ONLY piece I ever ordered from this place was "okay, but not A".  So he ordered a side -- and the piece he got was HORRENDOUS.  When he complained, the guy told him they "don't know how that happened".  TIP:  It happened because THAT is what you stock!

Another place, I had never shopped there but people here seemed to like them.  So to stick my toe in the water, I ordered two sides and two oblong punches.  The leather was NOT the HO "B" advertised and the punches didn't punch (and I whopped em pretty good).  Scratch off the list.. never been back.

And I could go on, but what point?  

8 hours ago, YinTx said:

Someone botched that for sure.  The economy grade I got from them was decidedly better than the photo you are showing.  Sad thing, because there is a lot of potential (read - customers spending the $$) going to waste there at SLC with this kind of action going on.

Yeah, I'm beyond the "could have been an honest mistake" thing.  Its routine there, and has been for years.  I don't think they're losing any money, though.  The markup is high, and as long as they have a steady stream of people willing to buy the basement grade with a significant profit, why stock the real stuff eh? (I don't know that's the mentality, but there is some support for that).

It should be very simple.  I have ONE grade of product.  If it isn't top shelf, it gets destroyed and replaced.  That SHOULD be the case everywhere, but I get that it isn't.  Some people WANT the Ford - fair enough.  WHY buy a Porsche to get groceries, right?  But when they call wanting and willing to pay for the Porsche, WHY would you send the Ford?  Maybe, because you have a line of people who think that Ford is some of the best available... and if you get one that knows better, just "make it right"... you're hardly out anything if you marked up the first 100 fords...

I'm neither learning anything or gaining anything by typing all this.  I could complain around here all day long, nobody would care.  But that wouldn't HELP OTHER folks at all.  

 

 

 

 

[JLSleather]

6 hours ago, chrstn53 said:

Because the minimal order for the good stuff directly from Herman oak is 20 sides/backs last time I checked.

10 I think, but that has to be a single weight.  20 to mix weights.

So expect to spend $1800 or more.  Course, it's better leather, it's $8 per foot, and it's all shipped together so you pay far less shpping than if you bought one or two at a time.

Wickett-Craig tells me "come on out!"... honestly I do not get AT ALL why people who LIVE IN PA order leather from somewhere else.