Oh so sad

Slowhand Bob · April 04, 2010, 01:09:11 PM

I hate to pile on but. I plan to offer a small selection of products for sale later on this season so stopped by Tandy yesterday to pick up a few pieces of leather to replace my depleted stockpiles. Just a few years ago I could hand pick some really nice dbl shoulders from their Live Oak series but that was not the case yesterday. They actually had a fair number of their #1 dbl shoulders in stock but not one of them was better than what used to be graded as their lowest Craftsman Oak series. If you will look back at past posts I think you will find that I was usually the one who took up for Tandys leather quality but this was really bad and has me wondering if it is a problem amongst other suppliers? I will be in the market for a few good quality 4/5oz and 6/7oz dbl shoulders for reduced waste, any suggestion?.

outrider · April 04, 2010, 01:34:30 PM

Slowhand,

Unfortunately, Tandy like many others are importing their stuff from either China or in the case of leather MEXICO...the quality is very poor...I think they are striving to cater to the weekend craft people who do small projects and not to folks like us.

I am getting ready to switch over to Wickett & Craig

DUKE DEADEYE NUKEM · April 04, 2010, 02:09:09 PM

Here's the huge pics of the leather I just got from Wicket and Craig. The one with the black spots was a boo boo on there part but they promptly said they would send out a replacement.

KidTerico · April 04, 2010, 03:11:45 PM

Wouldnt use anything but Wickett and Craig Standard grade. KT

Ten Wolves Fiveshooter · April 04, 2010, 03:20:40 PM

I've Always got my leather from CowboyWC, or Wicket &Graig, I was never too impressed with Tandy leather, too many imperfections, some are OK, but it always looked to me like it seemed to be the norm, with WC and W&G, I'm never disappointed.

tEN wOLVES

GunClick Rick · April 04, 2010, 04:21:15 PM

You da man KT...Get Wickett and Craig ,stain it ,cut it,beat it, make it look like old second grade leather

amin ledbetter · April 04, 2010, 06:46:12 PM

So far I have had good luck with the Cincinnati Tandy Leather shop where I buy some of mine from. I'm even mail ordering it. I just bought a 9-10 oz hide. I asked the manager to send me a nice one so I could get several belts out of it and Man it was perfect! Found only 4 bad spots on the whole hide. And they were small. I have bought three 7-8 oz hides recently from a local shop not far from me named Estelle's. They purchase hides through Weaver. Those hides were super nice. Had one out of the three that had a bad spot, and the shop sold it to me at a discount because of it. I haven't bought any from Wickett and Craig yet. But I am sure I will in the future. I will keep buying from Tandy and Estelle's for now.

Bob have you bought any hides from Weaver before? The ones I got were pretty nice pard.

KidTerico · April 04, 2010, 07:08:15 PM

Amin I,ve gotten Weaver but W@C is better.

cowboywc · April 04, 2010, 07:40:48 PM

Howdy All
I buy most of my tooling leather from the Hide & Leather House in San Dimas, Ca. They also have a store in Napa, Ca.
WC

Slowhand Bob · April 05, 2010, 09:01:09 AM

Since I literally will need a few items made within the next few weeks I purchased four of the best dbl shoulders they had but am far from satisfied with them. I opened them back up and compared them to a few remaining pieces that I had from a few years back and the difference is remarkable. I have a couple of old shoulders that were purchased from Weaver around the same time and the old hand picked Tandys looked slightly better,,,, but not the new ones. I now wonder if the Weaver shoulders have gone down hill also, I think Mexican hides were what I was using from both outfits. I did look at some of the AS brand tools while in Tandy Saturday and thought they were very attractive to the eye, but remembered you guys saying no to their quality so held back. I have had no complaints with the few tools that I have gotten from Weaver or The Horse Shoe Brand and they actually look strikingly similar to each other??.

Oh so sad

DUKE DEADEYE NUKEM