Any interesting leathers to show - something you only use for special knives?

[paneraica]

I don't make sheaths, but I do make some leather items every so often. I check in on the forum to read about edge work and finishing.

This is my old hide of Metta Catharina leather. The Metta Catharina sunk in 1786 and found centuries later in 1973. The hides cleaned and restored.

Currently have another hide sitting untouched as I still have stock items from the previous ones.

A member on another forum has a pair of bespoke shoes made from the leather. Not sure what he paid, but G.J. Cleverley in the UK made a full pair for Prince Charles which cost about $4500 pounds or about $7500US. Other shoes are made with toes caps only or wings. for less.

Leather is known for the scored crosshatch pattern and oils used to restore the hides give it a nice aromatic scent.

DON

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Woah that's super cool. How do they go about restoring the leather? The only special leathers I have are just shark and snake. They certainly don't have a pedigree like yours though.

I saw a little piece of great white shark leather, but it was pretty small and cost a few hundred dollars. It's neat though because the piece had the transition line from gray to white.

Do you mind if I ask where you purchased your piece?

Thanks for sharing this. I hope others have examples of leather like yours.

 

[paneraica]

From what I understand and speaking with the restorer. Hides were preserved due to the oils and muck the hides were sitting in. Some damage to the ends, but main leather was fine. Went through various stages of water cleansing in tanks to remove the muck and impurities.

The restorer than recreated the birch oil conditioner to bring back the finish of the leathers.

They stopped bringing up hides in 2006 I think due to conditions of where it sank or they brought it all up.

I purchased from the original restorer back in 2006 and at the time. 16 sq. ft. was about $1150 with fed-ex. Second hide was about the same in 2009.

No idea on cost now. Supplies go down. Prices go up. He's not a retail outlet. He a leather worker and restorer and no US distributor.

I can ask him if your interested in a hide, but won't post his name here

DON

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Thanks for sharing all of that. I would love to have some of that, but it's not in the budget. Thanks for the offer to help though.

Are you going to use it for watch bands only? Seems like a good profit margin if you are comparable to the online listing's. About what weight would you say your hide is? Beautiful stuff.

 

[paneraica]

I used it only for watchstraps. Offcuts from the edges (due to thinness) from the current hide I cut into 4.5 x 7" sections and sold them for those that wanted to make their own. also sold off some larger pieces of the older material 7 x 12, 4 x 12, 4 x 13, 19 x 13 back in 2010. These pieces had scarring, thin dicing or uneven color patterns

Just discounted the current straps to sell them off as I have quite a number left that I had made in 2011. I didn't make these. Had a company do it for me to save time.

What I have left is about 4-5 oz. Here's a pic I showed on another forum

I roll it up in plastic wrap and seal it to keep it fresh

If you do a google search. You will see in the images numerous pictures (some marked with numbers and others with measurements) of the pieces I was selling/

DON