I hate to sound "nitpicky", but. While all your calculations are obviously all correct, the resulting number of ".737 sq. ft" of leather usage is functionally incorrect and cannot be attained. Your video actually does a great job of showing that! You had the correct answer available to you, but your methodology didn't use it. There were 24 untouched cubic inches when project pieces were laid out in a best case scenario on your 144 cubic inch map. You should have just counted THOSE as the basis for your formula. All covered and/or even "touched" cubic inches when laid out on your grid represent leather project AND waste use. While the functional result is only off a bit, I know that you intended to instruct and help beginners on how to find and calculate their costs, accurately and efficiently. This method below is much simpler, more functionally accurate and requires much less math calculations. 144 total available inches per square foot minus 24 unused and untouched square inches = 120 "used" square inches for the project 120/144 = .833 square feet used (absolute best and lowest possible use) In this way, you get a much more accurate "best and lowest possible case" usage calculation. Hope this helps.
Great advice! Thank you! I am getting so much feedback about this topic that I will mention your method (and others) on my December 2023 Update video that should drop next week. Thank you for taking the time to comment and share your insight!
It looks like there is additional layers on those coasters. Is it cork or more leather. If it's more leather then you probably need to multiply the measurement by how many layers you put into it.
Good eye! It is cork on the bottom. Since the video was about pricing leather specifically, I did not address the cork, but if the video was about pricing products, I would have mentioned them. Thank you for your comment and for watching the video!
About halfway though, and a few points, maybe you should be pondering. 1 When looking at "average" size of a hide you are buying, always calculate the SMALLEST size you may get. You know why? Because you MIGHT get a hide that small. 2 When calculating the project, what little leather may have been salvageable, isn't worth trying to Nickle and dime yourself over. You are going to have waste on every hide. Stretcher marks, scars, brands, whatever. If anything, you should have calculated a square foot plus 20% on that project. I talked to a USA tannery a few weeks ago. A grade "A" hide is only figured at 70% useable. Lesser grades, less useable leather. If you try to get "exact" with what square inches your project used, then in the end, you will be REALLY short on that hide when you have used it all up. Think of this as "shrink" like a store would figure. Even if you buy a top tier Herman Oak 24 SQ Ft side, you are not getting 24 square foot of usable leather. You may lose 6 square foot of leather on that hide. I assume you are new-ish to this. If you want to stay in business, you need to make sure you are covering your costs. Under figuring leather is going to cost you a bunch of money. Just as bad as not figuring your labor right. Hope it helps.
Thank you so much for the advice! I'll look more closely at my leather costs for my future costs, and if I change how I calculate leather costs, I'll definitely re-upload or re-edit the video. Thank you again for taking the time to comment. I really appreciate it!
@@justanazareneleatherco Glad to be of help. I definitely could see you were not calculating it right in respect to the hide. No hide is 100% usable and many times the little scrap pieces in an area you cut from, are not really usable. Yeah, we can find things to do with them, but usually those extra pieces from scrap were not worth making, unless the scrap was paid for with other projects. You are better off to over figure your leather usage and have scrap left over that is paid for. If not, it turns into a cost that bleeds the money out of your business and leads to going belly up. If I use most of a square foot of leather, I figure cost wise, I used 1.25 square foot. That way when the hide is used up, I account for the whole hide in costs. Otherwise I have not accounted for 25-30% of the hide. That may sound odd on the surface, but I've never had a hide you can use 90+% of it and make nice things to sell with it
I charge by the square foot, even if I us just one square inch. I also price it on the lowest square foot listed not the average, not all hides are averaged size. You need to charge the same way you buy it. Buy by the square foot, charge by the square foot. Buy by the yard, charge by the yard.
Thank you for watching and for your feedback. In addition to leatherworking, I am doing all my own videos and editing and haven't gotten everything down to an exact science yet. I'll try to tone down the music in the future.
@@justanazareneleatherco you are doing an amazing job! You're up there right next to Ryan at Little King Goods on my playlist! Keep up the great work -- no need for background music -- your content more than makes up for it!
That is high praise indeed! Thank you! Just so you know I already have another video scheduled to drop later today about wholesale pricing, and it has music because it was already filmed, edited, and uploaded before I read your comment about the music. I hope that it is not too loud. Again, I appreciate your feedback, and I will consider not including music in the future for videos when I am doing a lot of talking.
I work in metric, but leather here in the UK is still sold by the square foot, so I’m constantly doing maths. After watching the video I ordered myself a 12” x 12” cutting mat with inch markings, it’s going to make things so much easier! Thank you!
I am so glad this video helped...had no idea that leather was sold by the sqft in the UK. I suppose it is similar to soft drinks being sold by the liter here in the US, whereas, most liquids are sold as quarts or gallons. I hope you are pleased with your new cutting mat and that you have great success in your leatherwork! Thank you for continuing to watch our videos!
