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About Leather

If you have a little patience, read this before you buy anything. We want to make sure that you know exactly what you’re buying, and why it is so different to what you will find in most shops or other outlets. The more you know, the better chance you have of finding what you want.

When you are looking to buy any leather item, there are all types of labels and/or printing on the item itself, to assure you that you are getting a leather item of high quality. Words like...real leather...100% leather...pure leather...split leather...quality leather etc.etc.....The one you need to see, and you don’t see it very often, is FULL Grain Leather or FULL Grain Cowhide. You may even see TOP Grain Leather but this too is inferior to FULL Grain Leather.

To explain quickly without going too deeply into it. Somewhen between the skin being taken from the animal and it ending up in our workshop ready to go, it will have gone through a splitter. As the name suggests, it splits 1 sheet or hide of leather into, lets say, 3 sheets or hides of leather. Only the top layer, the layer that used to have hair on it, is full grain leather. This top layer is just like your skin, it’s supple, wrinkles when you bend it but doesn’t break when you bend it, it’s incredibly strong, very hard to break or tear, but cuts easily. It has one face that is smooth, absorbs coloured dyes and like quality wood, has character. Although its back edge is rough, this is always hidden inside the leather item or, in the case of a belt, against your clothing... What a wonderful material.

So what happens to the lower layers? These splits have two rough faces. A percentage of these will go through a machine that brushes up the fibres and trims them. The result is suede. To me this is fine, you can see what you’re getting.

However a very large percentage of these lower layers, which remember have two rough faces, then have one face sprayed with paint or plastic to make them look like the top layer. They have such good techniques that sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference. The trouble with this is, although it is still technically leather the lower layers tend to have looser fibres and therefore are nowhere near as strong. Also the paint and plastic finishes look tatty really quickly. Although all the different layers are technically and correctly called leather, We think the leather industry should have a rethink on it’s labelling.

There is worse to come...a strip of cardboard or rubber with a wafer thin strip of leather glued on either side and called a belt....what can we say? it might last a week.

Now that we’ve scared you half to death about buying leather goods that aren’t what they seem to be, let us tell you, there are plenty of places to buy top quality leather goods, but don’t be tricked by misleading labels.

Back to Full Grain Leather. After the tanning and finishing are complete,the hides are sorted into two grades, the higher grade having less cuts, scuffs and blemishes. We hand pick our hides from this higher grade. When you buy from us you really are getting the highest quality possible.

A close up of the back of a black leather belt showing a cheap rivet for fixing the buckle.

A close up of the back of a black leather belt, showing an expensive rivet.

More details to lookout for when you’re buying leather goods. The Fixings. The photo on the left above shows a typical cheap finish. The fold over on the belt has one rivet holding the buckle and the keeper in place .It is a cheap, one part rivet that can easily pull through. The keepers are held together with a staple meant for paper.

The photo on the right is one of our belts. The buckle is held in place with two rivets, and the keeper held in place with one more. The keepers themselves are riveted together not stapled. We use two part rivets which have wider heads and bases and don’t pull through.

The difference between machined patterned leather, and hand patterned leather.

Machine patterning, unless done on a very expensive press, always gives a weak and shallow impression. The first photo below, No.1, shows how weak this can be. Also note how the pattern just runs off the end of the belt, leaving an unfinished look to the whole thing. This is because a rolling drum is used.

The second photo,No.2, shows hand patterning. Sharp, deep impressions that are tooled neatly into the tip of the belt. Individual small punches are positioned onto dampened leather and then struck with a hammer, a time consuming but, beautiful addition for an extra special item.

No.1

No.2

A close up of a black leather belt showing inferior machine patterning.

Probably the best way to show a little more about leather, and how it’s worked, is to show the different stages that go into making a belt.

The first step in making a belt is cutting a strap of leather using a strap cutter. A really simple tool, three bits of wood, a couple of adjustment screws and a very sharp blade. It will cut thick and thin leathers up to a width of 10cms. This strap is being cut 4cms wide,from a 3mm thick hide. Most people are surprised at how light the colour of the leather is at this stage.

The next job is to cut a tip on the belt. We cut a pointed tip as standard, but will cut a square or round one if you prefer.All you have to do is send an email at the time of ordering.

At this point the belt is given a light wetting and a lining tool is used to run a coach line round the belt. Without wetting, the line will fade. Any marks made on the leather at this point are there for good, so you’ll notice we keep our nails short. Lining and patterning can only be done on Full Grain Leather.

Wetting for the coach line and any patterning is just done with a sponge and water, nothing technical. Full Grain Leather will absorb water in its natural state, but as soon as it’s been dyed and dried, it’s practically sealed.

If the belt is to be patterned, it has a second wetting.

We use small individual stamping tools that are positioned by eye and then struck with a mallet, this results in a deep, sharp impression in the leather. It also means we can run the pattern into the tip of the belt. Machine patterning runs off the end of the belt and looks awful (see higher up the page).

We use spirit based penetrating dyes on all of our leather work. There are other types of dyes and paints available, and every leather worker has their preference. We find that spirit dyes tend to give good strong colour, without covering the leather’s natural characteristics.

Leather cowhide being cut with a strap cutter, which is two parallel pieces of wood holding a razor sharp blade,mounted in a wooden handle.

A close up of a leather belt having a tip cut by hand. One hand holding the belt, the other hand with a sharp knife.

A leather belt having a coachline embossed on with a lining tool that is basically two metal bars held in a wooden handle. The first bar sits against the edge of the belt and the second bar sits on the leather and marks it.

A close up of a hand holding a wet sponge wetting a leather belt.

A wet leather belt with an embossing tool which is like a punch positioned to show pattern embossing.

A hand in a latex glove holding a piece of sheepskin saturated in brown dye, being rubbed on a leather belt to colour it.

Two hands holding a brown patterned belt with a tool being pushed along one edge showing a ribbon of leather being peeled off to give a bevel on the edge of the belt.

A brown patterned leather belt held in one hand and a dauber which looks like a big cotton bud held in the other hand applying dye to the fiberous edge of the belt.

One hand holding a brown leather belt. In the other hand is a wooden circle with a groove running around the circumference being rubbed against the belt edge to burnish it.

Once the leather has been dyed to the depth of colour we want, we rub it up with a soft cloth until it has a soft sheen. Then the edge of the belt is bevelled with an edging tool to give a smooth rounded finish to the side of the belt.

Only one face of a piece of leather is smooth, the two sides or edges and the back are rough. The back is no problem as it’s against your clothing, but left like this the edges would become ragged and untidy. We dye these with a mixture of black dye and wax. This sticks the edge fibres down.

Using a wooden circle with a groove round it’s edge, we burnish the edges, then apply neatsfoot oil to the back and dubbin to the front of the belt. Once these have been rubbed well in, it is supple and almost fully waterproof. I say almost...don’t put it in water,or leave it in the rain. It will dry out and you’ll be able to use it,but it may water stain.

This is just a quick look at how a hand painted shoulder bag is made. Just photos and captions.If you would like to know more, or you have a special request, please click Contact Us and we’ll do every thing possible to help.