Expensive Hobby

[Spyros]

4 hours ago, chrisash said:

When I started I nearly had a heart attack when told the price of veg tan, I contacted a local car upholstery company and they said come around we might be able to help. Visited them and they pay someone to take their scraps away. turned out I could take as much as I wanted, all chrome about 1.2-2mm most with chalk marks showing faults that i could not see, and bits 5 foot x 4 foot and less just for free in different colours

A great way to learn on the cheap. but it appears many never really consider Chrome leather but just veg tan, yet plenty of things can be made with chrome which is far cheaper

I think this forum has a lot of people who are into tooling and carving and you really need veg for that, maybe thats why.  

Chrome is great, as long as it suits the project.  I like my bags to be firm and stand upright, chrome is more for softer, floppier bags that I don't really make.  Upholstery leather is also great for aprons and other things, although there is huge price variation in upholstery leather.  For a shop apron I wouldn't bother with the expensive stuff, but if I'm spending a week making a nice English trunk I probably would.