Understanding the Different Types of Leather 

That makes more sense now. I was picturing one hell of a THICCCC (with 27 C's) leather!

I was wondering about that. I did the math and wow that would've been thick leather.

Thank you for this video. 😊it was very helpful. I'm one of those with no local lether retailers so online ordering it is. But this video needs a chart for all the various letters. I may need to re watch this a few times and write one out. 😅 great information 👍

I was just coming to correct what you said there, so I'm glad I found this. I use 3 to 4 ounce chrome tan usually when I make purses and wallets and such. For anyone wanting to get in to leather working this guide would be very helpful.

Thanks for the correction lol ..I was like wait a minute...

This is a good one to bring up. I have actually been looking for a source for half-tan leather; I have seen it recommended for making the soles of moccasins and turn-shoes but I have not found an outlet that sells it.

So Jelly cause yall also have fabric thrift stores like Remainders.

Ask her to help you make them. It'll make the items a little more special in the end and it's a fun activity to do together

@@imdonewithyall I have her help with the designs. That girl is not coordinated and has broken multiple needles from my sewing machines and from hand sewing. She can help with the looks but just tell me how she wants it. Some of my things aren’t cheap. Lol

The goat skin ones is more of a straight price thing where a single book cover is, normally, the right size for a single skin of leather there

@AzraelThanatos I'm not 100% certain what you said, but I, and binders I've seen on RU-vid have always gotten a whole hide and cut out the pieces they need

Oh dang how cool that you get free material and are recycling!

@SnowFox102 that's the thing, I was like, tossing out leather that I could turn into midevil garb for us!!! Right! Rich people do it like every 2 years. Got to scout the new huge home communities on bulk garbage day. Which is once a month here with Waste Management.

Can’t recommend it enough! If you want to see it in use, we used it for our Staff of the Traveler seat. 😁

There is! He touched on it but you kinda have to see for yourself how they vary. It's not just thickness, but also texture and how flexible it is. Pig leather is soft and is usually chrome tanned to make it even softer, for example. But don't get confused by the names, it's very common for cow leather to be treated in a way to make it look and feel like leather from another animal: "Mustang" is still cow, for example. There are even leathers imitating rhino! It can be difficult to determine what animal a leather came from, they're not always clearly labeled. The ray skins and crocodile backstraps in the video are from those animals, but most of the other stuff is cow.

Mostly in what's called the temper or flexibility/softness....horse being very stiff, and goat being very flexible...

Deer is my favorite, thin but very strong and abrasion resistant; at the same time the grain comes off readily if you want to for brain tanning. Deer is the best for this sort of true buckskin because it has dense fibers in the dermis and a somewhat weakley attached epidermis so 1) wet scraping is possible while 2) you don't rip it to sherds while wet scraping! Sheep and goat are very thin, and sheep swade is often used as an imitation buckskin, but its much weaker. Horse is its own category. It has supper dense fibers; which in the butt patches with will form a light reflective surface (called shell cordovan) if you shave it down to the basement membrane, wax and buff it (this is what patent leather was patented to imitate in a cheaper form.) Deer have the supper hard butt patches to; but to a lesser degree and even on a skin from a gigantic buck the thick patch is at most 3" across...so no shell cordovan from deer! Cow is not the strongest leather relative to thickness, but it the strongest leather on the market because it is so stupid thick! Ug it is a monster to try and scrape a full cow hide! Several have kicked my butt! But, if you take that thick harness leather and shave it down to the same thickness as a deer skin the deer will win the strength test...and then in turn get beaten by kangaroo. Pig is very nice, thin and soft, when finished but is a big mess to tan because of all the oils in it. It is also pretty easily ripped...relative to leather, that is. Don't use hog skins for armor, chaps, mocs, ect. Use it for something thin and flexible that won't be in direct contact with rocks and thorns; then use deer or cow for the rough and tumble stuff.

​@@oldwaysrisingfarm personally, I like pig skin suede for liners because it's so soft. I've got a few projects in mind that I'm going to use pig skin as a liner for.

@@randelldawson666 yep! I have 4 pig skins tanning in bark liquor at the moment that I want to use for backpacks and belt bags.

FYI I misspoke! Every oz of leather is .4mm, not 4mm, lol. So, 1oz = .4mm, 2oz = .8mm, 3oz = 1.2mm, and so on!

I'm not sure why but I understood that the first time 😅

You know, I've never heard of that one! I'll have to look it up

@@SkillTree it is designed to provide both flexibility of chrome tan with the body and strength of veg tan but like chrome it cannot be tooled but can be hot stamped. Originally designed for whips is what I found when I first heard about it.

Depends on who makes the Latigo some of its straight veg tan.

@@warofwrath well I do know from investigation that Latigo is always tanned twice once in chromium and then in Veg. It is interesting hearing the different versions from place to place

@@SkillTree True latigo that is fully re-tanned is just a little softer than veg tan but has its full strength; but won't take dyes as well because of all the oils most tanneries put in it.

My comment section has trained me well! Pin cushion, bean bag, diorama making, putting them in resin for decor, boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew!!

​@@SkillTree I'll remember that last tip if I ever get stuck on a Sierra Nevada mountain pass in the middle of winter on my way to California.

So wool is flame resistance, good insulation, depending on type water resistant, and as you learned tightly packed as felting. It has a lot of properties that could be useful depending on application. A nice thick wool coat can protect from a tumble well, so I imagine there's possibilities with armor

Wool actually was part of medieval armor. That's what the padding was in gambesons, which went underneath your mail or plate armor for exactly that reason

Almost beat you, but I think you win by a few seconds😂

Can be either oil or veg depending it falls under his finish category...most pullup leather is just a darker dye with a lighter dye on top and oil in-between.

I have been leather crafting for several years and so far I have never come across an alternative that is nearly as durable or versatile as leather, although I have looked. That said, it is worth noting that cows are not generally being killed for the sake of their hides. The vast majority of cow leather is a byproduct of the beef industry. Obviously it's a personal choice whether that makes you feel ok about it or not, but if you want to work with leather you are not causing the deaths of more cows by doing so. I would bet that McDonalds alone produces more cow hides than us leathercrafters can possibly use each year.

Like and maybe comment

I definitely got first view. Love the channel❤

Contrary to popular belief, animals are not killed just to make wallets and shoes. Leather is a byproduct of animals that are raised or hunted for food.

I am very aware of this, but I don‘t like the fact, that we kill milions of animals, (wich were raised under horrible conditions,) to eat them aswell.

@@TheMothPrincess Well, most of those millions of animals are pretty tasty, so I'm okay with it.