Herman Oak Bridle

[BeefSupreme]

I thought Herman Oak only offered one style of English Bridle, but it looks like Weaver and SLC are selling two very different sides of HO English Bridle. Can anyone shed some light on quality differences between these two? In the pictures, Weaver has a finished flesh side, while the SLC flesh side looks undyed or less treated. Weaver also has a Herman Oak style number stamped on it. At a glance it looks like Weaver has the nicer leather, but wanted to hear from anyone that has used these before.

$250 /side from SLC: https://www.springfieldleather.com/Hermann-Oak-Bridle-London-Tan?quantity=11&leather-thickness=15

$330 /side from Weaver: https://www.weaverleathersupply.com/catalog/item-detail/02-180s-10-12/hermann-oak-english-bridle/pr_26819

 

[Gulrok]

On 8/15/2021 at 1:31 PM, BeefSupreme said:

I thought Herman Oak only offered one style of English Bridle, but it looks like Weaver and SLC are selling two very different sides of HO English Bridle. Can anyone shed some light on quality differences between these two? In the pictures, Weaver has a finished flesh side, while the SLC flesh side looks undyed or less treated. Weaver also has a Herman Oak style number stamped on it. At a glance it looks like Weaver has the nicer leather, but wanted to hear from anyone that has used these before.

$250 /side from SLC: https://www.springfieldleather.com/Hermann-Oak-Bridle-London-Tan?quantity=11&leather-thickness=15

$330 /side from Weaver: https://www.weaverleathersupply.com/catalog/item-detail/02-180s-10-12/hermann-oak-english-bridle/pr_26819

 

I use to buy a ton of Hermann Oak English Bridle from Weaver - mind you I have a wholesale account so I generally pay cheaper pricing. Although, I believe if you order more than $500 of leather at a time you can get the same wholesale pricing.

Weaver's Hermann Oak is $10.41/sqr foot for 10/12 oz. Backside is pasted and clean. I usually end up spending like $250 / side on average.

I cannot comment on SLC's Hermann oak. I've bought their other leathers, but never HO. 

[TomE]

I have purchased 3 sides of HO bridle leather from SLC this year.  All have a smooth, dyed finish on the flesh side.  SLC had a HO bridle side in Havana (dark red-brown), a color I hadn't seen before and really like.  I like working with the HO bridle leather but notice that the cut edges tend to require more burnishing effort than their regular veg tanned leather.  Sanding tends to raise the fibers of bridle leather in my experience.  I did compare HO to Chahin bridle leather while visiting the SLC store, and thought the HO side had more substance/tighter fiber structure than Chahin.  I've had another tack maker tell me he prefers Chahin over HO bridle leather.

[Cumberland Highpower]

Yeah Weaver actually does 2 different kinds of Bridle by Herman Oak.  The English Bridle is absolutely great. Waxy top coat, deep dye penetration (In black struck through nowadays) and stuffed just right.   The standard Herman Oak "Bridle" they sell is terrible.  it's basically just a cardboard hard strap and tooling leather they spray on a real thin black finish (Weaver employee's words).   I once got a batch of it in by mistake.  (I guess they pulled standard HO bridle rather than the English Bridle).   I thought it was some kind of Chahin or Saedesa imported leather it was so bad.  That stuff cracks easily, and when you stitch it it shows just how thin the finish is....

I threw it in the trash it was so bad......

The SLC leather looks like the same HO English Bridle Weaver sells, but split down and not dyed or pasted on the flesh side.  HO is a tannery, they'll make anything you want to you specs 10 sides or more.  Maybe SLC is buying it this way and getting a better price?  Maybe, just the piece in the photo is split down? 

Another possibility is that SLC has a splitter and just buys heavyweight and splits down in shop for lighter weight orders.  Call them and ask.

 

TOM-E  I buy both and the HO is overall a better leather than Chahin.  It's got a great tight grain and much less stretch than about anything else.  Sews, burnishes and stitches great.   There are lots of good leather but I'd say it's about tops.  The HO is usually really consistent in weight unlike imports...I once bought some leather from Thoroughbred Leather (? who made it) and after making a batch of goods, the leather shrank and all the riveted on hardware was loose...That was an education I guess...

Edited September 10, 2021 by Cumberland Highpower

[TomE]

20 hours ago, Cumberland Highpower said:

TOM-E  I buy both and the HO is overall a better leather than Chahin.  It's got a great tight grain and much less stretch than about anything else.  Sews, burnishes and stitches great.   There are lots of good leather but I'd say it's about tops.  The HO is usually really consistent in weight unlike imports...I once bought some leather from Thoroughbred Leather (? who made it) and after making a batch of goods, the leather shrank and all the riveted on hardware was loose...That was an education I guess...

Good to know about the 2 types of HO bridle leather.  I visit the SLC store to select sides so I will find out more on my next trip.  In June a SLC staffer mentioned that HO orders were backlogged because one of the tannery's splitting machines was broken for several months.  HO is the home town tannery for me - I'm 40 mi west of St Louis.