light weight saddle skirting

cowboy316 · February 02, 2010, 09:40:38 PM

tandy has light weight saddle skirting 10/12 oz on sale this month for 89.99
would it be worth it for holsters or should i go 9/10 oz

Cowboy316

Freedom · February 02, 2010, 10:31:49 PM

The sad thing is that it is the same leather that was on sale for $65 a side in November or December

With Tandy Oak skirting I usually have to buy 13-15oz and then run it through a power splitter to take all the soft tissue off of it just to get down to the good leather. If I glue two pieces together and then tear them apart it just pulls the flesh off and really reveals the huge layer of compressed flesh that it part of there so called oz. measurement.

To save the hassel I just spend the extra $ and ususally by the W&C 10/12oz and it is good stuff....but I like heavy leather

Springfield Slim · February 04, 2010, 03:16:16 PM

I hate leather like that, you just can't make anything decent out of it, the edges won't buff properly, it won't hold it's shape. I call it "string cheese leather" 'cause you can just keep pulling pieces off it.

Freedom · February 04, 2010, 04:41:48 PM

Quote from: Springfield Slim on February 04, 2010, 03:16:16 PM
I hate leather like that, you just can't make anything decent out of it, the edges won't buff properly, it won't hold it's shape. I call it "string cheese leather" 'cause you can just keep pulling pieces off it.

That's about the best discription I have read Springfield!!

"String Cheese"..

I have a friend that has a big power splitter and if I buy Tandy's 13/15oz and then run the holster pieces through his splitter I can get a pretty good piece of 10oz out of it.. this works pretty well... but the extra time it takes to finsh a piece makes the W&C Russet so much better in the end.

larrupin · February 04, 2010, 06:58:51 PM

CB316

All the belts and holsters in the pic below were made from that leather from Tandy and it has been great to learn on.

That being said I would say that the comments on "stringy" and hard to get a good edge are accurate but I have had pretty decent luck as far as carving it goes. (Of course anything is an improvement on the $1 horse butts that I made my first 4 holsters out of, those are a real chuckle, but I learned from those too!

)

I want to try some better leather one of these days but this has supplied me with some very serviceable holsters.

Vaya con Dios,

Larrupin

JD Alan · February 04, 2010, 07:21:44 PM

Funny you should bring this up. I just bought a side of 13 oz skirtting with a buddy who wanted three really heavy belt blanks, not quite 2 inches wide. We looked through 25 pieces to find what we felt was the one decent one.

So far this looks like a real nice piece, but time will tell. For 13 skirtting it has a really nice feel. We used the big table and steel bar at Tandy to cute a straight edge from which to cut the belt blanks. I sure hope it will fit in the strap cutter!

Reports will follow

I also just received a side from W&C of 8-10 russett. It looks really nice; my first side from them. Everywhere I can reach to gage it it's 8oz. I'm going to use this for making some holsters and a belt for myself, once I've really locked down a pattern I like.

Wiley Desperado · February 04, 2010, 08:18:56 PM

Interesting...you guys work with some heavy leather. My favorite weight is 7/8 oz. When I line it I'll use 3/4 oz.

Howdy Larrupin, beautiful leatherwork pard.
Wiley

JD Alan · February 04, 2010, 08:30:34 PM

I remember reading about Freedom using heavy leather to make his holsters, and how much his customers liked it. I like a heavy holster, and not having to line one sounds good to me. I'm in this pretty cheap for the amount of leather I got, so we'll see how it goes.

Gun Butcher · February 04, 2010, 10:05:36 PM

I fully agree with everything thats been said about Tandy leather but, that is what I use right now. Sure its tough to work with sometimes and it doesn't always finish evenly but it is teaching me things I don't think I would learn any other way.
I am promising myself a side of the really good stuff when I get to the point where I think I am good enough to deserve it.
Kind of my carrot to improve.

Freedom · February 04, 2010, 11:28:16 PM

I like heavy leather.. my holsters are all made from 10/12oz W&C.. I cut the top 8 to 10 inches from the backbone to make my belts and rifle slings, and then the middle of the side is for my holsters and few other heavy projects, the bellies are for smaller projects that will need to be moulded. I also buy a lot of the 8/10oz for my other projects like cartridge boxes, shell slides, etc. and for splitting into shell loops.

I don't mean to bash Tandy so bad.. It just needs to be worked different.. I can wipe or spray a piece of W&C with water, wait a few minutes until it starts to dry and tool it.. the tool impression is embossed and burnshed.. try this with tandy and the tool seems to cut the surface or the tool impression will iron out later when you put your gun in for forming.... But if you properly "Case" the Tandy in a plastic bag over night and then let it "surface dry" before you tool it it seems to take and keep the tooling just as well as the Herman or W&C. I have no Tandy store near me so I am at the mercy of what they send me.. sometimes it is really great stuff other times it's "Oh Great, what do I do with this??" $:-\$

One thing about the Tandy is that it cuts like butter compared to the W&C.. even if the W&C is wet. I dry my Tandy holsters by the fireplace and I get a nice hard holster that seems to hold up as long as I go easy on the oil..

Here is one I just finished using some lighter weight Tandy.. the loops are made from W&C.. This one moulded and firmed up very well. It's a little fuzzy on the inside but it still functions well.

JD Alan · February 05, 2010, 01:23:43 AM

Freedom, I finally got that Ken Griffin scrap book delivered from my purchase on Ebay. It took them 3 weeks to deliver it. I noticed on the bid afterwards that they said it would take that long; I have no idea why.

This is a great book, and I really appreciate you mentioning it's existance, and the fact that you spotted one on Ebay. I can see there is a lot to learn here, and some great ideas for designs, which is what I was looking for in the first place.

God bless, JD

cowboywc · February 05, 2010, 02:37:12 AM

Howdy JD
Have fun with it, it's a great book.
WC

Mogorilla · February 05, 2010, 07:05:27 AM

Well, I bought the saddle skirting when it was $65 at Tandy's. Like they say, you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince. You have to be willing to go through the entire stack to find what you want. Or, know your dealer well enough that they will help you pour through the pile. I know what freedom is saying with the stringy leather, and you really have to inspect your pieces.

JD Alan · February 05, 2010, 08:35:36 AM

Thanks WC, it looks to be very helpful for a new guy. You sure can see how styles of carving have evolved by looking at this book

About the skirtting, I cut a small piece off last night and burnished the edges. This piece is very firm, and the edges came out very nice, so I'm hopeful that things will turn out all right. We looked it over pretty good before buying it.

I would not have bought it without trying to help out a friend. He ended up paying less for his part than he would have to buy 3 belt blanks, and these are heavier, which is what he wanted.

If nothing else it will be a learning experience

Springfield Slim · February 06, 2010, 11:53:54 PM

I always go to Tandy in person when I buy their leather. I have bought a few other places, but haven't tried W&C yet, although I just received a sample from them that looked pretty good. Think I will try them next.

Farmer · February 08, 2010, 02:44:22 PM

Quote from: Freedom on February 02, 2010, 10:31:49 PM
The sad thing is that it is the same leather that was on sale for $65 a side in November or December

With Tandy Oak skirting I usually have to buy 13-15oz and then run it through a power splitter to take all the soft tissue off of it just to get down to the good leather. If I glue two pieces together and then tear them apart it just pulls the flesh off and really reveals the huge layer of compressed flesh that it part of there so called oz. measurement.

To save the hassel I just spend the extra $ and ususally by the W&C 10/12oz and it is good stuff....but I like heavy leather

AMEN to THAT! I bought a couple when it was on sale for 65$,..like you said,..total CRAP on the backside.