Horsewright
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2011
- Messages
- 13,483
So last week my buddy Carlos calls us up. Invites us to come chill with him a few days. A mini vacation. Carlos also makes his living with leather (mostly leggings for the cowboy world). He said we'd go to The Hide House as he had a very large order and needed leather. We've been wanting to go for many years but the timing was never right. This time it worked out.
Located in Napa Ca, The Hide House is a large wholesaler of leather, supplies, tools etc. They also sell retail and while we were there there were many people coming and going, looking through the leather, finding just that right piece and buying it. I have bought leather from The Hide House for over 10 years but I had never been there. Carlos was the one that got me hooked up with them back then. This is a long standing business, (Roger our sales rep has been there over 30 years), but in a bad earthtquake a little over a year ago they suffered severe damage. All the racks were pulled away from the walls and the second story came down on the first. This earthquake almost closed the business but they have come back and are thriving.
So its a five hour drive from our place to Carlos' s ranch. We spent the night there and next morning hit the road for Napa, an hours drive from Carlos's place. We'd debated on taking Nichole's sleek black speedster "Foxy" but ended up taking Carlos's truck. This was a good idea. Combined we bought more than would of fit in Foxy. The pics aren't super great, just a cheap pocket camera. But they will give you the idea. I've been to several Tandy stores around about but this place was awe inspiring. I've never seen so many cows on the hoof let alone processed leather. Still, a week later, mind numbing.
The building is a large L shaped warehouse. Interestingly it sits in the middle of an older residential neighborhood surrounded by Victorian and Craftsman houses. So we went inside and contacted Roger. He gave us a quick tour of the place and explained aobut the different types of leathers they had, new lines, new colors etc. Wasn't smart enough to take pics at the beginning. They start about half way through the tour.
This is the latigo aisle. Different weight, types, colors and tanneries, floor to ceiling.
Nichole wandering down the Herman Oak aisle. Veg tan, bridle leather, harness leather in all the different weights. Thats Roger in the background talking to Carlos.
Wickett and Craig anyone? There's that English Bridle leather like I used for Florian's belt bottom right.
After the tour Roger turned us loose to shop. We spent 3 hours pouring through different sections of the place looking for what we wanted.
Nichole digging through the discount aisle. Everything here was heavily discounted and I mean huge. Course you checked each piece you were looking at, for instance I bought two sides that were center branded and the brand had actually gone through. But for what I wanted them for I could cut around. We ended up getting two burgundy hides of a soft buffalo to upholster the dining room chairs. That was one of the main things we were looking for.
Some excess stacks of premium double shoulders.
Roger even rolled out a table on wheels for us to stack our stuff on and move it around as we shopped. This is Carlos looking at what he's got so far. We are both getting ready for a big show in Oct and so we were looking for leather for leggings and items for that show.
Carlos in the tool and supply aisle. He was looking for chap zippers. He got several and Nichole picked up a few too for her purses.
Nichole was looking for a specific turqoise for her purses. She found two sides of cowhide that worked for her and deer hide in a darker glazed turqouise.
Belt blanks, keepers and lacing.
Part of the shipping dept. They ship out so much a day that UPS just leaves a truck there that they load themselves
My new favorite leather. A shrunken glazed buffalo. Florian's next belt is gonna be out of this!
Located in Napa Ca, The Hide House is a large wholesaler of leather, supplies, tools etc. They also sell retail and while we were there there were many people coming and going, looking through the leather, finding just that right piece and buying it. I have bought leather from The Hide House for over 10 years but I had never been there. Carlos was the one that got me hooked up with them back then. This is a long standing business, (Roger our sales rep has been there over 30 years), but in a bad earthtquake a little over a year ago they suffered severe damage. All the racks were pulled away from the walls and the second story came down on the first. This earthquake almost closed the business but they have come back and are thriving.
So its a five hour drive from our place to Carlos' s ranch. We spent the night there and next morning hit the road for Napa, an hours drive from Carlos's place. We'd debated on taking Nichole's sleek black speedster "Foxy" but ended up taking Carlos's truck. This was a good idea. Combined we bought more than would of fit in Foxy. The pics aren't super great, just a cheap pocket camera. But they will give you the idea. I've been to several Tandy stores around about but this place was awe inspiring. I've never seen so many cows on the hoof let alone processed leather. Still, a week later, mind numbing.
The building is a large L shaped warehouse. Interestingly it sits in the middle of an older residential neighborhood surrounded by Victorian and Craftsman houses. So we went inside and contacted Roger. He gave us a quick tour of the place and explained aobut the different types of leathers they had, new lines, new colors etc. Wasn't smart enough to take pics at the beginning. They start about half way through the tour.
This is the latigo aisle. Different weight, types, colors and tanneries, floor to ceiling.
Nichole wandering down the Herman Oak aisle. Veg tan, bridle leather, harness leather in all the different weights. Thats Roger in the background talking to Carlos.
Wickett and Craig anyone? There's that English Bridle leather like I used for Florian's belt bottom right.
After the tour Roger turned us loose to shop. We spent 3 hours pouring through different sections of the place looking for what we wanted.
Nichole digging through the discount aisle. Everything here was heavily discounted and I mean huge. Course you checked each piece you were looking at, for instance I bought two sides that were center branded and the brand had actually gone through. But for what I wanted them for I could cut around. We ended up getting two burgundy hides of a soft buffalo to upholster the dining room chairs. That was one of the main things we were looking for.
Some excess stacks of premium double shoulders.
Roger even rolled out a table on wheels for us to stack our stuff on and move it around as we shopped. This is Carlos looking at what he's got so far. We are both getting ready for a big show in Oct and so we were looking for leather for leggings and items for that show.
Carlos in the tool and supply aisle. He was looking for chap zippers. He got several and Nichole picked up a few too for her purses.
Nichole was looking for a specific turqoise for her purses. She found two sides of cowhide that worked for her and deer hide in a darker glazed turqouise.
Belt blanks, keepers and lacing.
Part of the shipping dept. They ship out so much a day that UPS just leaves a truck there that they load themselves
My new favorite leather. A shrunken glazed buffalo. Florian's next belt is gonna be out of this!
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