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05-01-2019, 10:11 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Now live in Las Cruces NM.
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Tandy Leather dropped their tiered pricing.
Just thought I'd let everyone know who lives near a Tandy leather store that they finally decided to dump their tiered pricing levels and be like everyone else. There will now be one price for an item instead of the old Elite and Gold levels. I know I did not buy a lot of stuff from them until I got my military discount. They often have very good leather for sale and indeed I bought an Oak Leaf 9-10 oz double shoulder for belts and sheaths on Xmas sale for $104 and it is an excellent piece of leather, but then I did pick it out by hand.
I have bought leather from online companies and the results have been, well mixed. I bought a Hermann Oak 8-9 oz double shoulder that looked like it must have been the worst one they had. So it's nice if you can hand pick your piece of leather. By the way it takes a certain amount of knowledge to even hand pick a piece of leather if you don't know what to look for.
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05-01-2019, 02:07 PM
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Master
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: So. Cal
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I've been fortunate to have a location close by. The sales people have been knowledgeable and I've asked them to help select some skins. They would explain why certain spots are ideal or not between the various grades at the time. If I were buying online unseen, that would be an unknown iffy variable.
I have some vegetable tanned stuff that was part of a batch lot that while looking good is inconsistent. There is one spot the person cut through.
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Mike
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05-01-2019, 05:46 PM
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I bought a nice double shoulder at Tandy and I missed the butcher cuts on the backside and couldn't use half of it for belts.
A butcher's cut is when the butcher slipped while skinning the cattle and is just one thing you look for on the flesh side.
Another thing to look for is when the flesh side isn't very tight. The cause of this is drum veg tan, it's rolled in drums and loosens the fiber's tightness and it causes problems like when you sand the edges it get hairier instead of smoother, not to mention hairy leather too. I avoid them and won't buy them. I've also received real good looking leather that was so dry I had to dampen it to cut it.
IN OTHER WORDS, CHEAP LEATHER USUALLY ISN'T WORTH THE TROUBLE.
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05-01-2019, 10:37 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Southeast Texas
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The closest Tandy moved a couple years ago and I finally got a chance to go visit recently. They went from a tiny, narrow store to a much better sized one, but I think they have the same amount of merchandise (or maybe less). It was a weird feeling to see things spread out. The 3 tiered pricing bit was completely out of control. I suspect they lost some business because of that.
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God bless Texas! Now let's secede!!
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05-02-2019, 01:16 AM
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Master
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Now and then I get lucky finding an upholstery shop that has some leather remnants left over from a couch/chair or similar upholstery job. Picked up a half shoulder in a distressed style. Along with deer skin that didn't make the cut for a jacket. The nice ones are $$$. The intent is to use them as an overlay or inset on a fancy sheath one day. (I need to practice.)
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Mike
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05-02-2019, 07:41 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2016
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Texas Jack your suspicion is right on.
Texas Jack, the manager of the El Paso, Texas Tandy Store said that she estimated that their business was only half of what it could have been as many customers only bought On Sale leather and other items. She knew that's what I did and one day she asked me if I had been it the military so I got the Elite club prices and she noticed I started buying a lot more stuff.
Here is a tip if buying hardware at Tandy or any leather store for that matter, bring a magnet or inquire if its plated steel. None of Tandy's line 20/24 snaps are solid brass, they're all plated steel and may eventually rust. Now they do have some line 20/24 snaps in stainless. They are a bit pricey at $5 for a pack of ten line 20 and $8 for ten line 24 snaps, but for stainless that's not bad. Many suppliers don't offer stainless snaps at all. I never send out a sheath with hardware that can rust. Learned that lesson a long time ago. Folks don't like buying a custom knife that comes with a rusty sheath.
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