Need help judging some skirting I’ve just received.
So I’ve been making belts out 15oz saddle skirting. Got my last two from Tandy for 150 bucks but wanted to get something nicer because the areas around the tip that require a good deal of deformation(bending) to be put through the buckle would have some aesthetic cracks in the grain. Well I called weaver and asked if they thought I should get Hermann oak for my purposes or would that be overkill and and if so maybe their weaver select. They only suggested the Hermann oak if I were tooling the belts which I’m not and they said their weaver select was beautiful. So I went with that. Well I was a bit underwhelmed when it got here. The Tandy skirting I had been working with was actually cleaner and I’m not sure if I even want to make belts out of this given the irregularities running down the hide. I’m looking for input here because I am not experienced enough to judge the leather. Are these irregularities standard for all skirting and I’ve just ordered the wrong thing for my purposes or is this worth talking to weaver about and returning?
Here’s the pics of the hide the belts.
Here’s the cracking I mentioned for the Tandy leather.
Thanks for the help.
Posted May 19, 2022, 5:44 PM UTC
In my experience with Weaver, their costumer service has been excellent. I’d contact them about a return and go with Hermann oak. I only work with the selects and grade B stuff currently trying to nail down my stitches and create patterns. When I actually go and make production pieces I’ll be going with Hermann oak or Horween Darby myself. You may have to pay the difference or get a smaller bit of the oak. Worse case, you work with some top quality leather and decide if the price is worth it to you. Might also increase prices on your final products. Which your clientele should be happy to pay, as the finished belts are significantly nicer.
Good luck friend!
Hey man thanks for taking the time. I think I will do exactly that. Just didnt want to complain from a place of ignorance. I hope weaver will accommodate because I can imaging shipping for a half a cow is not trivial.
No certainly shipping can’t be cheap. The online retailers are generally very accommodating given the hands off aspect of online shopping. A cut that looks that way in store would probably be relocated to a different table once they got their hands on it. As in: not the quality it’s marked as