Leather Gauge in Ounces?

[MtlBiker]

I've been using a typical caliper to measure the thickness of leather and it reads in inches or mm.  Is there a pocket gauge that reads in ounces?  I've been searching on Amazon and it seem all measure in mm or inches.  Surely there's an accurate gauge that reads in ounces?

Thanks

 

[TomE]

Bottom scale is ounces.  https://www.springfieldleather.com/SLC-Plastic-Leather-Gauge

[chuck123wapati]

19 minutes ago, MtlBiker said:

I've been using a typical caliper to measure the thickness of leather and it reads in inches or mm.  Is there a pocket gauge that reads in ounces?  I've been searching on Amazon and it seem all measure in mm or inches.  Surely there's an accurate gauge that reads in ounces?

Thanks

 

i use a caliper also i just put a piece of masking tape on the back with the conversions. 

[MtlBiker]

7 minutes ago, chuck123wapati said:

i use a caliper also i just put a piece of masking tape on the back with the conversions. 

Only problem I have with using a caliper is that it doesn't fit in my pocket!    But that certainly does work.

 

[Dwight]

1 hour ago, MtlBiker said:

Only problem I have with using a caliper is that it doesn't fit in my pocket!    But that certainly does work.

 

One like this will . . . 

May God bless,

Dwight

[MtlBiker]

4 hours ago, TomE said:

Bottom scale is ounces.  https://www.springfieldleather.com/SLC-Plastic-Leather-Gauge

Thanks, but I was hoping to find a gauge like this but with a reading in ounces:

What I have now looks like this, and obviously it doesn't fit in a pocket too well...

[Dwight]

Well . . . if you really want one . . . you could just make a new face for the thing on a computer . . . very gently get the cover off. . . pry off the hand . . . put on a new face.

It would be an evening's work . . .  but the other choice would be to paste a printout on the back . . . 4 oz = 1.58 mm / 8 oz = 3.17 mm  etc.  

Actually . . . I'd love to have that little MM dude . . .  preferably in inches . . .  but that would be OK that way.  

Too much leather is sold as "this" thickness . . . and it is often times just on the verge of a lower one or higher one . . .  or meanders around in thickness all over the hide.  I take my mechanical 6 inch caliper with me when I go to buy leather.  

May God bless,

Dwight

[TomE]

https://www.weaverleathersupply.com/catalog/item-detail/65-3041/leather-thickness-gauge/pr_8768

[kgg]

4 hours ago, MtlBiker said:

Thanks, but I was hoping to find a gauge like this but with a reading in ounces:

You can get one like you have shown from the buckle guy for $96.05 US ( https://www.buckleguy.com/tg-25p-leather-thickness-gauge/ ) there is also a video of their gauges on youtube of them gauge having both measurements:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjJVqhBJW2E

kgg

[ketch]

this one is reasonably priced and works good https://tandyleather.com/products/pocket-leather-gauge?_pos=1&_sid=16c28d9af&_ss=r

[kgg]

16 hours ago, MtlBiker said:

Is there a pocket gauge that reads in ounces?

13 minutes ago, ketch said:

this one is reasonably priced and works good

I missed that one and with the OP being in Canada they are $53.99 CA at Tandy. Much more reasonably price then the buckle guy price of $96.05 or $122.59 CA.

https://tandyleather.ca/products/pocket-leather-gauge?pr_prod_strat=description&pr_rec_pid=4527302475907&pr_ref_pid=4527285600387&pr_seq=uniform

kgg

[MtlBiker]

10 hours ago, TomE said:

https://www.weaverleathersupply.com/catalog/item-detail/65-3041/leather-thickness-gauge/pr_8768

Thanks Tom, but geez, US$180???  That means by the time shipping is added and the dollar exchange to Canadian, it's over $275 cad!!!!!  For that price, I'll stick to carrying my vernier caliper.

 

[MtlBiker]

8 hours ago, kgg said:

You can get one like you have shown from the buckle guy for $96.05 US ( https://www.buckleguy.com/tg-25p-leather-thickness-gauge/ ) there is also a video of their gauges on youtube of them gauge having both measurements:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjJVqhBJW2E

kgg

Thank you.  I found that myself early this morning and even though it's a lot cheaper than the one from Weaver Leather, it's still outrageously (imho) expensive.  With shipping and exchange, it's still $100 more expensive than the Tandy one you mentioned.  And that one too is a lot more than the gauges online (like Amazon, etc) that only read in mm and inches.  I wonder if this is a case of you get what you pay for?  I mean is it possible that the Tandy one is as good/accurate as the Buckleguy one?  Hard to believe it could be as good for that difference.

From the lack of recommendations here I wonder what you guys actually use.  Just go by experience and feel?  Surely you need to measure when/if you are skiving leather.

I guess I'll take a chance on the Tandy one.

Thank you all.

 

[MtlBiker]

1 hour ago, kgg said:

I missed that one and with the OP being in Canada they are $53.99 CA at Tandy. Much more reasonably price then the buckle guy price of $96.05 or $122.59 CA.

https://tandyleather.ca/products/pocket-leather-gauge?pr_prod_strat=description&pr_rec_pid=4527302475907&pr_ref_pid=4527285600387&pr_seq=uniform

kgg

You forgot to add the crazy high shipping charge of US$26 (the cheapest Buckleguy offers) which is via USPS.  Rates go right up to $80!!!  Anyway, at current exchange rates, it would come to $160, plus (most probably) some duty as it's surely not made in the USA.  About $100 more than that Tandy Canada one.

 

[chuck123wapati]

14 minutes ago, MtlBiker said:

Thank you.  I found that myself early this morning and even though it's a lot cheaper than the one from Weaver Leather, it's still outrageously (imho) expensive.  With shipping and exchange, it's still $100 more expensive than the Tandy one you mentioned.  And that one too is a lot more than the gauges online (like Amazon, etc) that only read in mm and inches.  I wonder if this is a case of you get what you pay for?  I mean is it possible that the Tandy one is as good/accurate as the Buckleguy one?  Hard to believe it could be as good for that difference.

From the lack of recommendations here I wonder what you guys actually use.  Just go by experience and feel?  Surely you need to measure when/if you are skiving leather.

I guess I'll take a chance on the Tandy one.

Thank you all.

 

i pretty much gauge my leather by eye and skive as much as i feel is right. If you really want one you can make one for pennies probably, cut a vee notch in something like plastic, wood  or heavy paper then use you mic and put marks along it coinciding with oz's. It doesn't get much simpler than that. Even an old credit card would work.

if you spend more than ten bucks on anything to do that job your crazy. lol 

Edited January 30, 2022 by chuck123wapati

[Klara]

Personally, I only care about the number when ordering leather (which I find very difficult,  I much prefer to buy in person). When using it, I just look and feel whether the leather seems thick or thin enough, and otherwise suitable for what I want to make. For the number of oz or mm is not the whole story, leather can also be stiff or supple...

When skiving edges, I mostly take off as much as I dare (and one of JH's standard instructions for strap ends is "skive down to nothing").

So far, I haven't missed a leather gauge... (if I needed one I'd use my electric sliding calipers as shown by @MtlBiker  )

 

[kgg]

1 hour ago, MtlBiker said:

From the lack of recommendations here I wonder what you guys actually use.

I made a simple gauge using my 3 D printer which actually works, surprised the hell out of me. I tested it against some veg tan leather that was factory tagged with the size and weight of the leather before I bought it. This probably is not an option for most but I think any of the hobbyists gauges really are only for edge measurements so even your inexpensive slide type like Tandy's Leather Thickness Gauge ( https://tandyleather.ca/products/leather-thickness-gauge ) at $4.09 CA would probably work just fine. The only drawback with calipers is you have to figure out how thick an ounce of leather is when measured in mm and divide your measurement by 0.4 as I think an ounce of leather is about 0.4mm.

kgg

Edited January 30, 2022 by kgg
spelling

[MtlBiker]

1 hour ago, chuck123wapati said:

i pretty much gauge my leather by eye and skive as much as i feel is right. If you really want one you can make one for pennies probably, cut a vee notch in something like plastic, wood  or heavy paper then use you mic and put marks along it coinciding with oz's. It doesn't get much simpler than that. Even an old credit card would work.

if you spend more than ten bucks on anything to do that job your crazy. lol 

It wouldn't be the first time that folks call me crazy!    But remember, that ten bucks you mention really is about $100 Canadian, with exchange and shipping. 

You have a lot more experience with leather than I do, and it would really be handy to accurately measure leather when I'm skiving or rummaging through the remnants pile at a supplier.  And I like the idea of a proper gauge rather than a piece of plastic with a "v" cut into it.  Yup, crazy for sure.

 

[MtlBiker]

57 minutes ago, Klara said:

Personally, I only care about the number when ordering leather (which I find very difficult,  I much prefer to buy in person). When using it, I just look and feel whether the leather seems thick or thin enough, and otherwise suitable for what I want to make. For the number of oz or mm is not the whole story, leather can also be stiff or supple...

When skiving edges, I mostly take off as much as I dare (and one of JH's standard instructions for strap ends is "skive down to nothing").

So far, I haven't missed a leather gauge... (if I needed one I'd use my electric sliding calipers as shown by @MtlBiker  )

 

I'm sure that if I had the experience that you and others here have, it would be easier to judge the leather without a proper gauge.  Of course feel, stiffness etc. is something that a gauge wouldn't tell you.  I've ordered leather online and have been very disappointed as from what I could tell, it wasn't the thickness I ordered.  But I'm lucky now in that I did find a relatively local supplier with an incredible assortment of leathers and at good prices too.  My vernier caliper is fine for when I'm in my workshop but it's really not convenient to carry around.

Do you skive by hand?

And back to the experience thing... at the leather suppliers I've so far encountered, when I have asked about the thickness of a particular leather they have always pulled out a gauge and measured the leather.  So even those in the business very often use a gauge rather than relying on feel.

Cheers!

 

 

[MtlBiker]

58 minutes ago, kgg said:

I made a simple gauge using my 3 D printer which actually works, surprised the hell out of me. I tested it against some veg tan leather that was factory tagged with the size and weight of the leather before I bought it. This probably is not an option for most but I think any of the hobbyists gauges really are only for edge measurements so even your inexpensive slide type like Tandy's Leather Thickness Gauge ( https://tandyleather.ca/products/leather-thickness-gauge ) at $4.09 CA would probably work just fine. The only drawback with calipers is you have to figure out how thick an ounce of leather is when measured in mm and divide your measurement by 0.4 as I think an ounce of leather is about 0.4mm.

kgg

Republic of NL??  Love it!

I'd found conversion charts online that I've saved to my favorites on my phone photo app.  It's pretty easy to bring that up and find the weight in ounces once I've measured the thickness in mm.  But again, I really don't want to carry my vernier caliper along with me when I browse the remnant bin at a supplier.  The dial gauge you showed from Tandy is a lot more convenient.  My last purchases of leather have been of sides, but there's another supplier who has a huge room with shelves of different leather remnants that you browse through on your own.  And the thicknesses aren't marked so if like me, with little experience, it's hard to tell one from another.  Sure you can tell this one is thicker than that one, but how thick is it really?  Yes, I'm probably crazy, but I think I'll be ordering that Tandy one for $50+ when I next order from them.

Cheers!

 

[Constabulary]

deleted - sorry

 

Edited January 30, 2022 by Constabulary

[TomE]

3 hours ago, MtlBiker said:

Thanks Tom, but geez, US$180???  That means by the time shipping is added and the dollar exchange to Canadian, it's over $275 cad!!!!!  For that price, I'll stick to carrying my vernier caliper.

 

Yes, you could get something useful for that price like a side of leather.  

[Klara]

4 hours ago, MtlBiker said:

I'm sure that if I had the experience that you and others here have, it would be easier to judge the leather without a proper gauge.  ...

Do you skive by hand?

... So even those in the business very often use a gauge rather than relying on feel.

I don't have a lot of experience with leather, just with crafts in general which has mostly taught me that there's nearly always more than one "right way" (and "wrong ways" also may lead to good results). So I don't sweat the small stuff  - leatherwork isn't precision engineering and generally it doesn't matter whether the leather for a project is the exact thickness of the one seen in the video/book. And if I don't nick my project idea from somewhere, I'm on my own anyway.

Yes, I skive by hand. The trick is to have a really sharp knife - what sort doesn't matter for edges and strap ends. I generally use one from my kitchen (handforged by a friend and possibly more expensive than the rest of my tools together - but I happen to have it). The only skiver I don't get along with is Ivan's safety skiver with disposable blades.

Of course "those in the business" will use a gauge if you ask them for the exact thickness. But would they use a gauge for choosing leather for a project? Or would they just think "oh, that looks suitable for a checkbook cover, I'll take that"?

By all means,  if you want a gauge, get one. But as I said before, I don't feel the need for one or even particularly want one.

[tsunkasapa]

1 hour ago, Klara said:

I don't feel the need for one or even particularly want one.

EXACTLY!! I have no idea what the weight of leather is for any given project, nor do I care. It's completely immaterial. I choose the leather to suit the project. It's easy to tell if this one or that one will be too thick (that can be split down) or too thin (glue in a layer of thin goat or sheep) or just right. For the record, 1oz = 1/64 of an inch. 8oz leather is 1/8". So  1oz+/-  doesn't really make any difference.

[Hardrada]

1 hour ago, tsunkasapa said:

For the record, 1oz = 1/64 of an inch

I was beaten to it!

That's what I use as mental reference. In metric: 1 oz = 0.4 mm.

I too measure with digital calipers because the plastic/wooden gauges are more like a ballpark reference than anything—no precision. And when you're skiving you don't want "more or less"—you want/need precision! Specially since some projects, such as watch bands, need to be pared down to exact thickness.

RML has Calati gauges: https://www.rmleathersupply.com/products/calati-25mm-premium-thickness-gauge-made-in-italy?_pos=1&_sid=6a602fece&_ss=r

Alas, they too report thickness in mm only, but since they're marked for tenths, it's a cinch to convert to ounces.

Edited January 31, 2022 by Hardrada