You simply can't tool, carve, or stamp Latigo or oil softened leather like you tried to use. You need to start with Vegetable Tanned Tooling Leather. It's almost white, and almost hard when you buy it.
The waxes and oils infused in this latigo leather give it exceptional temper and feel that make it a good choice for so much more than horse cinches. Imagine using this leather for everything from pet collars and leashes to gun belts.
With real leather, the two main groupings of leather (less imperfection, lots of imperfection), can be further divided into the commonly referred to five grades: full grain leather, top grain leather, corrected grain leather, split leather, and reconstituted leather (also referred to as bonded leather).
Test 1: Put a small narrow strip of leather in boiling water. If the leather instantly curls up, it is vegetable-tanned. A chrome-tanned leather will just float around in water. Test 2: Burn a piece of leather with a lighter.
Latigo leather is created by a combination tanning method, beginning with chrome tanning. The leather is drum dyed, and then is vegetable tanned. To ensure the color will show all the way through the hide, various steps are taken to increase the amount of oil and wax the hide will hold.
English Bridle Leather is USA cowhide/steer hide vegetable tanned Full Grain leather. Initially the leather will be stiff, though with usage over time will become soft and supple with very good strength.
They are 100% vegetable tanned with no harsh chemicals and have a smooth matte finish. The Natural Kip will take oils, and dyes well. The Black Kip has a slight sheen finish. Ideal for Accessories, bookbinding, footwear & lining.
Latigo leather (Spanish látigo = the whip) is a firm, durable and porous smooth cow leather, which is particularly common in horse riding. It is used for saddle seats and straps. It can be vegetable or chromium-tanned and is characterized by the fact that it is oiled or waxed after tanning and dyeing.
Harness leather is steer hide which is dyed in drums and stuffed with oils and tallows. Because of its noticeable strength and firmness, harness keeps its shape well when split down thin. This type of leather is greatly influenced by its environment and will initially change colour when exposed to sunlight.
Bridle Leather refers to the way that a piece of leather (cow hide) is finished at the tannery. Bridle leather has both the Flesh and Grain side of the leather stuffed with greases and finished with wax. This is generally a labour intensive process, thus expensive!
Oil-tanning is a process of tanning leather using natural oils after the initial vegetable tan. The longest part of the process in shoe making comes from waiting for the stretched leather to dry to take a three dimensional form. Oil-tanned leather makes this process easier. Second, it's highly water resistant!
chiefly Western US. : a long strap on a saddletree of a western saddle to adjust the cinch.
English Bridle leather is an authentic vegetable tanned cowhide/steerhide that is made from the highest quality English animals and products. It is dyed in drums in order to develop deep, consistent colors with waxes and tallows.
Latigo lace is a relatively soft lace that still manages to maintain a tough durability. Latigo leather is unique in that it is both veg tan and chrome tan, or a “re-tan” as some call it. Available in seven different colors at a 1/8″ width. Comes on a spool of 50 feet.
And most saddles have a latigo (the long leather or nylon strap) on the on-side and an off billet (a shorter strap with holes in it) on the off-side. The rear dees generally have billets on both sides.
Horween Leather Company offers an array of tannages using primarily cowhide and horsehide, and also using smaller quantities of calf and bison hides.
Horween is an awesome leather and has developed a bit of cult following for a good reason. It is soft and supple, and barely needs any break in. It also has a unique aroma from their tanning process, and it smells fantastic. Their different leathers have different tanning processes, and so have different smells.
Horween use a carefully guarded blend of bark extracts for the retanning stage and the result is a soft but tough leather that's returned to its natural color. Once it's been retanned and dried it's hot-stuffed to make sure it stays supple and waterproof, by impregnating the leather with natural oils and waxes.
Originally used for military bomber jackets during WWI and major league baseballs for a long period, horsehide leather has always been a part of the Americana culture.
Dublin is a full grain, aniline dyed cowhide that is primarily vegetable tanned and then infused with a special recipe of oils and emollients that is the very same as has been used in Horween's premium Shell Cordovan for more than 100 years.
Earth-friendly vegan leathers can be made from mushrooms, kombucha tea, pineapples, fruit pulp, even coffee grounds and recycled plastics.” Horween, whose company creates the leather used for NFL footballs among other things, believes there is a danger that PETA's campaign can distort facts.
Chromexcel is available in a full range of weights – including 2 – 3 oz (0.8 – 1.2 mm) horsefronts and side (cowhide) leather from 3.5 – 4 oz (1.4 – 1.6 mm) up to 9 – 10 oz (3.6 – 4.0 mm). There are many variations of Chromexcel, including versions that are cementable and waterproof.
Chromexcel, or CXL as it's written in the building, is a combination tanned leather that undergoes at least 89 separate processes taking 28 working days and utilizing all 5 floors of our facility.
Essex is a full grain leather tanned with Horween's time-tested Shell Cordovan veg tanning liquors. The hides are nourished with a blend of grease, fats & oils to give the leather a soft, yet durable, well rounded feel. This milling/tumbling process softens the leather while also enhancing the full grain of the hides.
