Thickness of various leathers

[juliepooch]

Hi Duane,
I notice a great variation in the thickness/suppleness/thinness of various leathers regardless of grade. I believe you mentioned earlier about tailoring and detailing with the various thicknesses. (Perhaps you can direct me to that discussion.) It is difficult to gauge the softness in a small sample.

Can you give some idea of how comfortable the thickness of a leather, such as continental, would be in a bustle back or loose back cushion? Thanks.

[drcollie]

Correct! All leathers are split at the tannery. The upper section goes for your fine leather furniture, the lower part for industrial use or is turned into Suede, etc. Some are split thicker for the top hide than others. A couple that come to mind that are thick are Equestrian, Bari, Berkshire, Bozeman. Thin leathers would be Document, Capri, Kipling for example.

I don't notice a wear-ability issue over time on thick vs. thin, however the thin hides flex more and allow for a tighter "conforming" tailoring job on a piece.

All samples are made from waste, or sections that were deemed too flawed to use on a piece. Typically they will be not as nice as what you get on the finished product. A sample that might feel rough can very well be butter soft on the actual piece, because that sample was cut from the 'waste' part of a hide.

I find that thick or thin doesn't really make much difference in softness. Aniline leathers however - are ALWAYS much softer than their Finished or Pigmented counterparts (with the exception of Antelope, which is a protected leather).

Top H&M leathers for softness (excluding the exotics like Lambskin and Deerskin which are somewhat fragile,and the Sonoma and Nubuck suedes):

Class 5:

Continental (has a heavy waxed surface however)

Class 4's - the best on the handle:

Capri
Quintessence
Montana

In class 2 and 3 (a level down in luxury from the three above):

Kipling
Upton
Antelope