Re: H & M Leather Questions
My pleasure, Chad! Thank you for the order.
You're into some of the more exotic hides in that group:
Bozeman Harness: This is American Bison, yep - buffalo hide. Its full Top Grain, has a spongy feel to it and is coarse. A thick hide, its purchased by H&M in a mostly raw state and is burnished in-house after the piece is completed. Its an unprotected leather with 3 Serviceability. Price Grade 5
Bison: The hide of a Water Buffalo, from Thailand. Its a rugged leather that is finished with waxes and oils. Has a 'pull-up' effect to it, and is distressed looking. Classified as an unprotected leather with 3 Serviceability. Price Grade 2.
Old English: An 'old school' full top grain aniline leather that has a slight pull-up effect. I like this leather a lot, but it has considerable color variance from the swatches from piece to piece, especially in the reds. Unprotected. 3 Serviceability, Price Grade 3.
Plaza is full top grain, with some vegetable tannage to give it the feel of 'saddle leather'. Its a thick crust hide and has a heavy weight to it, and is finished at the H&M plant once the piece is made. Will have lots of natural markings (healed scars, insect bites, scratches) Unprotected. 3 Serviceability. Price Grade 3.
Continental is the finest hide in the H&M line. Expensive at Price Grade 5. This is a German leather that is vacuum-dried to give the leather some 'lift', then run through a specialty machine that applies heat and pressure to the leather to develop a natural gloss to the leather (some of this is lost through production of the furniture from handling). There have been many other tanneries that have tried to duplicate this hide, but none have been successful. Shows natural markings, scars, bug bites, etc under the silky, luxury finish. Unprotected, Serviceability 3.
There is quite a spread on these leathers. The Bozeman and Bison are best defined as crude, manly leathers (think Tim Allen in "Home Improvement"...ARgggh!! ArRgggh!) that would look great in a Lake Tahoe mountain cabin or a ranch in Wyoming. Olde English is a classic old world high-end leather....same thing they used to do forty years ago. Plaza has the 'hot' and very stylish look of hand burnished leather, which is quite artistic and for those more adventuresome in their choices. Continental is as good as it gets - top of the pile for luxury leathers that are totally elegant.
All the leathers above will have moderate resistance to spills and stains, but watch out for acid or oil-based spills, they will likely soak in.
Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
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