Bring my own... what? ....skins? Uh.... okay....

Forums: Furniture, Leather, Nubuck, Upholstery, Hunting
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I'm looking to have some custom, leather, chair cushions made and several of the upholsterers I've spoken with have asked me if I will be providing my own skins. It seems that there are many advantages to providing your own skins.

Soooooooo...... with apologize to lovely littlek and anyone else I might offend with this question.....

Where does one look to buy skins?

I want nubuck which is the kind of brushed leather that they make shoes out of. My goggleabilities lead to either porn sites or shoe sites and I'm not interested in porn, shoes, or shoe porn.

How many yards do you get to the skin?

How do you judge the quality of the skin or are all skins created equal?

How much should one expect to pay for skins?

What else do I need to know about this endevor?

Is Oregon the only place where they ask you if you'll be bringing your own skins? Alaska, maybe....?

Where do I start?

Thanks!

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Type: Question • Score: 7 • Views: 3,395 • Replies: 19

[+3] - 2PacksAday - 11/10/2008Yeah, upholstery leather is usually made from what they call "top grain"....besides removing the hair, not much else....besides the actual tanning process has been done to it. The better...

@boomerang,

I used to buy leather remnants from an upscale fabric store all the time -- I'm not sure how big their skins were since I only got the remnants. That may be a way to go though.

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@sozobe,

Googling "leather by the yard" worked pretty well -- I have Google safesearch on, may help eliminate the less savory results...

For example
http://www.discountfabricsusacorp.com/leatherhides1.html

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@boomerang,

Almost any fabric shops have leather skins too
or look here http://www.4hides.com/choice.htm

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Thanks! I'll check out those links!

Calico Corners didn't ask if I was providing my own skins. I've seen their custom furniture.... maybe I should play it safe and go through them even though their labor was higher than some of the others.

I was thinking that maybe I could find some good deals since it is deer/elk hunting season here (do they use elk skin to make leather?) and there are a couple of game processing shops withing walking distance to my house (so, okay, it's Oregon already).

I know we've got some dedicated hunters on A2K..... what do they do with the skins after their game has been processed? Maybe I need to add "hunting" to my tags.

1 Reply

@boomerang,

Here , a lot of the boot and shoe shops sell and work with animal skins.
Taxidermists/Boot shoe repair shops are every where. They share the same roof. Would have never thought about why myself.. but when I took my heels to be stretched, I talked to the guy there and he says that working with leather no matter if it is already a shoe, or a fresh kill is the same principle . And for him at least it made sense to have the two businesses together.
In a way, he made sense to me too.

If it were me, I would call and ask a shoe shop, or just look in the local listings for a taxidermist, shoe boot repair...

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@boomerang,

Maybe it has to do with where I live, but there always seem to be giant cowhides for sale on Craigslist.

mmmm and tomorrow I'm going to the Royal Winter Fair here, there will be a lot of enormous cowhides and smaller deerskins for sale there as well.

I've always wondered if upholstery leather was prepared differently than those hides/skins. Like, is it called upholstery-grade leather?

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

Yeah, upholstery leather is usually made from what they call "top grain"....besides removing the hair, not much else....besides the actual tanning process has been done to it. The better the leather, the rougher it tends to look....by rough, I mean the animal appears to have been clumsy....one of my favorite long coats has very visible barb wire scaring.

Deerskin is a top of the line hide, very durable, as well as very expensive.

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@2PacksAday,

So I went to the Royal Winter Fair on Tuesday and they had ... cowhide, upholstery leather, deerskins, elk skin ... took pix but haven't uploaded them.

It would cost about $200 Cdn to get enough upholstery leather for one chair (of course, it was a bit of a premium source). Definitely worth it, I'd say.

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@boomerang,

Why am I visualizing Boomerang, with a bunch of traps, looking hopefully at a likely looking beaver stream? I think I would go with professionally killed and prepared naugahyde.

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@boomerang,

err so what I'd do is Yelp this question

which would give me

http://www.yelp.com/c/portland/leather

and then I'd check these guys out

http://www.yelp.com/biz/oregon-leather-co-portland

and then to their website

http://www.oregonleatherco.com/

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

What is "yelp"?

I've received several estimates back and all of them are in about the same price range for labor and cushion interior.

The one place that could provide nubuck gave me a price of $42.50 per yard which is considerably less than I expected it to be.

I've tried and tried to find other prices for nubuck by the yard. I want to make sure this price is realistic for a good quality nubuck upholstery. Can anyone help?

1 Reply

@boomerang,

Yelp is a online rating/advice community. It's my base for planning trips to NYC, assessing restos etc. It has dramatically increased the U.S. cities on the list in the last two years.

I've discovered some great resources through Yelpers.

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@2PacksAday,

http://images.ladypb298.multiply.com/image/2:plantspetspeople/photos/105/600x600/16/16-upholstery-hides.jpg?et=LNe%2Bx%2BnRX9A6mspF9pRXtg&nmid=151055067

http://images.ladypb298.multiply.com/image/2:plantspetspeople/photos/105/600x600/18/18-deerhide.jpg?et=tQmcvgPEJa0E%2Bi3b%2Byf%2Cnw&nmid=151055067

http://images.ladypb298.multiply.com/image/2:plantspetspeople/photos/105/600x600/17/17-hide.jpg?et=%2CUZYl3Rw2Pu2XjyFVZ75Xw&nmid=151055067

how are those chairs going?

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@boomerang,

This pic is for Mo .... blue carrots at The Royal ...

I thought of him when I saw this part of the champion veggie display

http://images.ladypb298.multiply.com/image/3:plantspetspeople/photos/105/600x600/6/6-2nd-prize-carrots.jpg?et=u1QpvqgjblbEUzHr7WHNKw&nmid=151055067

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@boomerang,

No offense here!

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Awww..... just look at those purple carrots! Aren't they beautiful?

And those skins! Lovely. I would love to be able to shop like that.

Our chairs are on hold, as are all other cosmetic projects until both the streets and the economy unfreezes.

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@boomerang,

I purchased some furniture items recently online and they are good. I got free pillows and cushion covers with them and wife is really happy with such great offers.

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@boomerang,

boomerang wrote:

shoe porn.

You may have to turn in your WO-man card.

Edit: Damnit! Old thread.

How did the upholstery go?

1 Reply

@DrewDad,

good thing someone posted here - I'd forgotten about that Multiply account and the photos I've got stashed there

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Bring my own... what? ....skins? Uh.... okay....

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