Leather Help

[J. Hoffman]

A friend of mine told me he was cleaning out a room in his house, and he had some leather from when he and his dad worked on shoes, handbags and other leather work. I thought he was going to have a couple pieces of leather for me. I went over there this morning, and this is what he gave me. There are 4 big garbage bags full of leather rolls, and a couple of boxes of leather rolls. A box of nothing but snake skin and lizard skin (real stuff). He also gave me two rolls of what appears to be brain tanned dear hide and a bunch of tools. He has an old Singer sewing machine that he wants $200 for, I'm still considering that.

My question is how do I tell the difference between Veg tanned(which I've always used) and the other types of tanning. Is there a type of tanning that won't work for sheaths? I believe someone told me chrome tanned will damage knives. A lot of this stuff is very thin, and will be good for accent pieces on a sheath instead of the body, but other stuff will be good for sheaths. I'm trying to figure out how I tell the difference between veg tanned an other leathers. I would also appreciate any tips or ideas of what to do with all this.

Thanks
Jess Hoffman

 

[NC Biker]

You want to stick to veg tanned leather for sheaths. I don't know how to tell the difference, but I'm sure if you post in the "Sheaths and Such" forum, some of those guys will have an answer for you. Nice score BTW!

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I will move this to the sheaths forum for you.

 

[Hengelo_77]

chrome tanned is soft and flexible, like leather jackets.
It doesn't hold shape when you wet form it like vegitable tanned. What you have looks like chrome tanned.
It is good stuff thouh, I use it as a layer over vegetable tanned leather.
You can use leather glue. But rough up the vegetable lanned before glueing. Glue doesn't hold on the smooth side, rough it up well.
I prefer to glue twice before attaching
Here's an example:
vegetable tanned sheath, to hold the knife, chrome tanned on top for the looks

 

[J. Hoffman]

Will the chrome tanned have any negative affect on the knife? I'm thinking some of the leather can be used for making welts and other non-essential parts.

 

[A.McPherson]

Dang! An old singer leather sewing machine? 200? I'll buy it if you don't!!! If it's in working order that's a pretty awesome deal!

 

[Horsewright]

1)Buy the machine if it works.

2) Looks like most of that is chrome tan. That would be expected form its uses as boot/shoe/handbag deal. Fkexible leathers are needed for that and that is what chrome tan provides. Looks like you might have a roll of veg tan in that first pic next to the metal canister. Very light (2 oz) veg tan is often used in highend custom boots as a liner and just judging form the pic you might have some of that there. Also used on wallets etc but not so good for sheaths, too light.

3) I feel the dangers of chrome tan against metal have been vastly over stated. I have revolvers in chrome tanned lined holsters that I made, that have lived in those holsters for 10-15 years with no ill effect. They are in the holsters in the safe right now. These are guns that are used on the ranch and they need to be ready to go literally at a moments notice. If you get your leather wet allow it to dry without the gun/knife in it. This is where some of the bad rap comes from I believe. Course that applies to veg tan too.

4) That beeing said I've tried dissimilar leathers for welts and it has not worked out for me. I think your practical uses for most of that lies in either inlays or overlays as Hengelo mentioned. Or as linining leather maybe depending on your sheath style.

Excellent score and would love to see pics of the machine!