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Buying Our Leather Hides
All
our hides are sold by the full piece. We do not cut off pieces for
people. However we do sell belt blanks and some kits.
When
you add the leather to the shopping cart, you will will have to choose
the quantity of full pieces you want. The price shown on the
shopping cart is the approximate price per full piece of leather which is based on the average
square foot size of the piece multiplied by the price per square
foot. Each piece of leather is a different size and is measured by the tannery to the exact square footage.
If the actual leather to be shipped is a smaller or larger
square footage than the average size, we will adjust your credit card
charge appropriately so you will only be charged for the actual square
footage that is shipped. If it varies more than a three square
feet per piece, we will contact you before it is shipped. Your final charge to your credit card for the leather will be based on the actual square footage of the leather multiplied by the price per square foot as opposed to the approximate
price shown in the shopping cart.
All
our hides are sold by the full piece although priced by the square foot
(sq. ft.). The hide sold in different types of full pieces such as
the belly, bend, shoulder or side. The bend is the piece of
leather that is of highest quality because it has the least stretch,
least amount of waste and is most rectangular. Highest quality
belts are made from the bend although belts can also be made from the
shoulder which has a little more stretch. The sides are best for
large project pieces and when long lengths are required such as oversize
belts or leashes. Bellies are best for small projects because
there is more waste due to the irregular shape of the the leather and
because it is the most stretchy. Because the belly is more
stretchy than the other parts of the hide, it is great when wet
stretching leather around wooden molds. It is also the least
expensive part of the hide making smaller projects more affordable to
produce.
We do not cut off pieces for
people. However we do sell belt blanks and some kits.
A square foot is 12 inches by 12 inches. Because leather does not come in nice rectangles but has irregular shaped sides, you should buy more than what you require for your project.
The best use of the hide happens when small projects are combined with large projects. It is harder to utilize as much of the hide when large rectangles have to be cut from the hide for such things as
briefcases due to the shape of the hides. However smaller projects can use the smaller pieces that are left over after the bigger pieces are cut.
The leather thickness is gauged by a very old
measurement called ounces (oz). The leather thickness can vary 1/2
oz above or below the specified thickness. For thicker hides,
sometimes two thicknesses are given to show the two points that the
leather thickness is between. Following is a leather conversion
chart:
1 oz thickness = 1/64 inch thick = 0.4 mm
thick
2 oz thickness = 1/32 inch thick = 0.8 mm thick
3 oz thickness = 3/64 inch thick = 1.2 mm thick
4 oz thickness = 1/16 inch thick = 1.6 mm thick
5 oz thickness = 5/64 inch thick = 2.0 mm thick
6 oz thickness = 3/32 inch thick = 2.4 mm thick
7 oz thickness = 7/64 inch thick = 2.8 mm thick
8 oz thickness = 1/8 inch thick = 3.2 mm thick
9 oz thickness = 9/64 inch thick = 3.6 mm thick
Because leather
is a natural material, all leather hides have some blemishes such as
range marks or cuts. However hides are graded and the higher
quality hides have fewer blemishes and therefore are worth more.
We stock the higher quality hides so you will get the maximum use out of
the leather. If we receive some hides that are not of the highest
quality, we will list it as economy leather in the list below and sell
it cheaper. The leather color shade can vary slightly from
shipment to shipment when we get new lots of leather even though they
come from the same tannery.
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