Choosing the Correct Leather for Your Project (Made Easy)

Buying leather can feel overwhelming! The purpose of this video is to define some basic leather terminology so you can feel more confident when buying leather for your next project.

We'll cover the "big three" terms you'll encounter as you hunt for your hide: "weight," "temper," and "tannage." We will discuss these categories in easy-to-understand terms so that even if this is your first time shopping for leather, you will have a much better idea what you're looking for.

As always, THANK YOU for watching, and please let me know in the comments if you have questions about anything in this video OR if you have ideas for future videos!

Have Fun!
Tanner

A couple places I shop for really nice leather (affiliate partners):

0:00 Intro

0:52 "Weight" of Leather (How thick is it?)
2:20 "Temper" of Leather (Firm, soft, or somewhere in the middle?)
3:10 "Tannage" of Leather (Chrome tanned, vegetable tanned, etc.)
5:09 Unique qualities of veg tan tooling leather
5:43 "Other" characteristics of leather... (color, finish, "feel"...)
6:21 Closing gratitude

[jeffreyjoseph]

Just my two cents as many newbies don't know this, while when we talk about weight "ounces" of leather referring to thickness, how is the weight determined? the weight or thickness is determined by "One Square Foot of Leather" so if you have leather that's labeled at 4/5-oz, one square foot of that leather should weigh 4/5-oz.

[jeffwilliamson]

I learned more about how to buy leather in this 6 minute video than I thought possible. I wish I had seen this a lot sooner. A well organized presentation explaining the foundational concepts necessary to understanding what to look for when buying leather for a specific purpose. Well done.

[Handles-R-Lame]

Great video brotha.
If I may add, the reason leather uses ounces is because the weight is represented by a single square foot.
So 1sqft of 2oz leather would literally weigh 2 ounces roughly, and 1sqft of 10oz leather would roughly weigh 10 ounces and so on.

[Cole-Baker]

This should be the top video for how to buy leather search

[chicagotypewriter]

Man, you literally have the PERFECT name for the job (Tanner lol)

[tomtrahan]

This is rapidly becoming my favorite leatherworking channel on YouTube. I wish I had seen this video sooner in my leather career! I recently bought some (beautiful) leather to make wallets only to find its temper is too soft - I will use it now to make moccasins. Your videos are informative and friendly-sounding. THANK YOU!

[M-nl]

Great 👍 job you answer a lot of the basic questions that a first timer needs and wants.

[Juh]

Thank you! Just starting out and have zero clue what I’m doing. I don’t have a store close so I would need to shop online so this was very helpful.

[MochaboyRC]

Thank you! shopping now! :D making a sheath for my wife's pruning shears :)

[AnchoredLeatherworks]

Great video. Very thorough. I learned the hard way - by spending money on leather until I figured it out. This is way more helpful.

[billchapman]

hi, In the last yr or so I have mysterily aquired lots of cool tools and stuff, I was given a brand new sculpfun S9 lazer engraver/cutter. I havent been able to use it yet, still in box due to health reasons. I belong to a group on face book that is what people do with their varius sculpfun lazers. ive seen that it works on alot and I will be using the light burn program with mine. thanks for the great video! Bill

[johnhull]

it is super hard to pick leather when you know nothing about it i would love a shop like slc that i could walk into but you dont get that here in ireland its all on line and you dont know what they will send you .ye are so lucky in usa plenty of places to chose from but thank you tanner for the insight.

[pmelchman]

again a great video Tanner. Something that I wanted to bring to the attention to everyone is the 5 types, grades, qualities ( slippery slope) full grain, top grain, split, genuine and bonded leather. We answer this question a lot. It is my belief that the general public is more familiar with the 'genuine leather' term rather than the full or top grain leather. a great video I had in mind was to purchase some 'genuine leather ' belts and cross cut them along with my personal daily wear belt to show the difference between full grain belt and genuine leather department store belt. MOre times than not the genuine leather item is an import.

[adamdport]

I just found this channel while doing some research to rewrap a steering wheel. I really liked your style and presentation! Looks like maybe you're done with Youtube though? If you're still reading comments, I'd love to hear recommendations for how to buy long leather strips like I'll need for my steering wheel, as well as tips on how much it's going to stretch when I'm wrapping it. 5%? Thanks!

[zedsyzygy]

I've been doing a ton of Leather Crafting for a few years, so this was mostly review. That said, I watched the whole thing to make sure what I had picked up gibed with his info. Excellent Video and I wish I had seen this years ago.

[synkh]

This is brilliant, thank you. This video is very helpful for someone who is just starting out. I had made the rookie mistake of buying soft chrome leather for a wallet. I had no idea soft means floppy 🙁. I wished i had watched this video first!

[JR-bjuf]

Thanks for the basic info on leather types. It was very helpful.

[utkf]

Really useful especially for us guys just starting out, well presented too.

[MjCecil]

Thanks for all the info, I'm just getting into leather work and all information you provide really helps. Thanks!

[meleathercrafts]

Thanks I wanted this info for along time about the soft and stiffness