Well here we are, the big Labor day weekend! I’m flying up to Vermont to see my mom and take in the fall foliage. I’ll stay there about 2 months and work on my laptop. I may even get to meet a pretty babe, life is good! So anyway I wanted to set the record straight as far as if using leather is humane.

Now we know leather comes from animals, mainly cows, pigs, buffalo, goats, sheep and lambs. So there is no denying that wearing leather comes from a dead animal. But the question is, do any animals die because of the leather from their hides? That is, do any animals get killed to take their hide and turn it into leather? The answer is a big NO!

Now I am not talking about fur coats or other items made from fur. Yes, animals like mink, fox and several other types of animals do get raised and killed for the main purpose of using their fur and hide. But for leather items, the hide is a byproduct of the main reason the animal is used for, which is their meat. There is no way it is cost effective to raise an animal just for the hide of it, especially big animals like cows and pigs. (more…)

What’s going on everyone? Today I’m going to talk about the sticky part of just how leather jackets are sold as far as the price goes. If you’ve every gone online and visited several different sites, you may have seen what seems to be the same leather jacket. What surprises you is everyone has a different price, and some are real cheap while others are real high. How can that be?

Well let me tell you just how leather jackets get bought and sold. If your dealing with a major manufacture of brand name items, you have to become a dealer of that brand. Once your approved you are told how much you can mark up an item for, or even flat out told “this sells for X amount, so sell it at that price.

But any item that is a non brand item, like most leather jackets and leather items, anyone can buy it from a wholesaler and then sell it for whatever they want to sell it for. A Harley Davidson leather jacket is a brand name, so you have to become a dealer and then you would be told what to sell that leather jacket for. But all these motorcycle sites and leather shops that sell leather jackets buy non brand name items. So then they can sell them for whatever they want. So how much DO they mark up? (more…)

Time for another post from Uncle Bill here! Just in case you were wondering, I have not been getting much of that storm from hurricane Fay here in Orlando. It really flooded parts of the coast and all, but Orlando is in the middle of the state. So we have a steady rain, but no real storm or flooding here.

So on with the post of today, which is, just where does all our leather come from? I don’t mean what animal, I mean who produces it, tans it and so on. What county or countries are the biggest suppliers of leather in the USA? If you think most come from right here, your wrong, and the top country that produces leather may surprise you.

Most of the leather jackets you see in any store was made outside of the USA. That pretty much is the way most everything is today. Even Harley-Davidson has their leather apparel made outside the USA. Now that does not mean it’s not quality. Leather made outside the USA can be the finest quality. In fact most quality leather in the USA is imported, simply because most leather is imported. (more…)

Hi everybody. I thought I’d make a quick post today about leather thickness after Curt asked about his buffalo leather jacket vs his cowhide one. Now as I’ve said many times, a leather hide is split into two or more layers when they process it. The top layer that had the hair on it is called the top grain layer. The other layers below it are the split grain layers.

So just how thick do they make the splits? How do they know how thick to make them? Well after all these years of making leather, the leather industry has come up with some standards for leather hide thicknesses. There basically are three main thickness levels, with some differences in each one.

The three levels are:
1.0 mm (or less) used for fashion leathers, purses and so on.
1.3 mm (1.3 to 1.5 average) This is the most common for motorcycle jackets and riding leather.
2.0 mm only used in Naked Leather.
So lets review those levels a bit more, shall we? (more…)

But you can put them on dusters, pants, chaps, hats, motorcycle seats, anything at all made of leather. There are two different types of studs. The ones that most use and are simple to put on have two prongs on the bottom. All you do is make two small holes for the prongs to go through, then bend them over with some pliers.

The other type has a screw on back. You make a hole in the leather, push the stud through, then screw the bottom part in. Sort of like putting a nut on a bolt. The above youtube video shows how to put the prong type on your leather item. The guys a bit of a punk head, but he does a good job showing how to do it. (more…)

Hello everyone, nice day here in Florida. As much as I like it here in Florida, the humidity is not the best for leather. So today I’ll tell you how to get rid of mildew on leather jackets, or anything leather for that matter. Of course the best thing is to prevent it from forming in the first place. So lets see just why mildew forms on leather in the first place.

Ironically, most of the reason why mildew forms on leather has nothing to do with the leather itself, but the oils you put on it to keep it soft and in good shape. The worst thing you can do is put too much oil, or rather leather conditioner, on your leather jacket or item. Leather needs oils to lubricate the leather fibers to stop them drying out and cracking.

But if you put too much on, or use heavy junk, then the leather can’t breath. Soon moisture forms in the leather and oil, and mildew forms. You may notice that mildew often forms around seams, studs, snaps and places like that. That’s because when you put leather conditioner on it’s easy to let too much build up in those cracks and corners.

So you end up with a pool of oil in those areas, stopping the leather from breathing and forming mildew. When you put leather conditioner on it’s important to make sure you don’t let it build up in those areas. Leather braids are another problem area for that. Just remember a little oil goes a long way with leather. (more…)

Hi everyone. Before too long it will be cooler weather. Bikers up north will have to put away their Harleys for another year. But the lucky ones down south, like where I am, get to ride all year. In fact the fall and winter months are some of the best times to ride here. The weather is perfect, not too hot, not too cold.

Anyway I wanted to let you know that soon I will be opening up a leather store right here inside this site. I can make lots of pages with lots of items. I’ve sold leather jackets and other leather items before. So I know what is good brands and bad brands. When I just started out I sold leather that everyone else did.

That was really cheap leather, and it smelled, came apart and had all kinds of problems with it. So that’s what made me study up on leather, find out what the really good leather is, how to spot it, and who the hell sells it! So now when I open up my leather store I know just where to go, who to buy my wholesale leather from. So just what will I sell?
(more…)

HI everyone, hope you all are doing fine. Is buffalo hide or leather stronger than cowhide leather jackets? Is buffalo hide thicker than cowhide? Is buffalo hide stiffer than cowhide leather jackets? A few weeks ago I made a post about pigskin vs cowhide leather jackets, as I saw a lot of people type that in when they found my site here.

About the same number of people also type in some version of buffalo hide vs cowhide leather jackets. So, I thought I would clear that up here as well. Now, most people think of buffalo as a strong animal, stronger than a cow, which is true. So they assume that buffalo hide is much stronger than a cowhide. That is not really true, at least as far as the leather that is made from each one goes.

In it’s natural state, a raw buffalo leather hide is thicker than a cowhide. Not by much, but a little. However when they make a leather jacket or any other leather item from the hide, they split it. A full hide is way too thick to be used for a leather jacket or most other leather apparel. They do use a full hide on items like saddles, some boots and stuff like that, but not leather jackets and apparel. (more…)