Veg Tanned Leather Top Grain Color

[logem]

I have only purchased about 4 sizable pieces of vegetable tanned leather in the past 7 year history of my leather working. The leather is mostly used for knife sheaths, but has also been used for other tooling projects, and a couple of personal projects.

Therefore with my fairly limited buying experiences, I'm not sure if (or how) the color of the tanned leather is any indication of tanning quality or of leather quality.

I've hand picked a single bend from Tandy which was very blond in color and completely free of surface blemishes. I see this as desirable. I've also ordered full and half bend pieces online and have received pieces from "almost blond" to "bordering on russet". The full bend that I am about to break into (ordered over a year ago) is almost russet in color but is almost free of surface blemishes, so I'm currently content that it is a good piece.

Considering equal surface condition and evenly split thicknesses, do you feel that the finished tanned color is a measure of quality? And then, why is there such a variation in surface colors with Veg Tanned leather?

I typically dye my leather to a light brown with a stain, dark brown with stain, or black so the tanned leather color difference is probably not of much issue to me, as long as the leather surface looks good.

Still, my inquiring mind would like to know.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Omega Leather Works]

I've wondered if there even were different shades, so I guess you answered that question.

Both pieces of Hermann Oak that I've received, the low-ish quality belt blank from Tandy that I have, and a so-bad-it's-funny piece of veg tanned have nearly identical skin side colors.

The only thing I'm basing my expert ( ) opinion on is the quality of the flesh side. I don't see many surface imperfections on any of these examples. The flesh side shows a big difference in quality.

Curious to hear more about quality and how it's determined.