Garment Leather And Upholstery Hides For Furniture Or Automotive Interiors Posted By : Jerry Carmakin

By: Jerry Carmakin
Post Date: 2010-08-12 Quality leather upholstery hides are typically easy to care for and extremely durable. Overtime, leather can soften and improve. In addition, leather can last up to 40 years because it biodegrades very slowly.
Full-grain leather upholstery hides often are used to for furniture and shoes. They absorb less moisture from prolonged body contact and can maintain a breathable texture. Full-grain leather can come in semi-aniline or an aniline finish. As time passes, this kind of leather may produce a patina instead of wearing out.
Here are other less common kinds of leather:
- Vachetta leather is used to make the trimmings put on handbags and luggage. It is vulnerable to water stains and color fading from sunlight because it is left untreated.
- Deerskin can make a tough garment leather and is used for wallets, personal accessories, overcoats, jackets, expensive pants and dress outfits and martial arts tools like kendos.
- Nappa leather is typically used to produce personal leather items like wallets and toiletry bags. The interiors of luxury cars often come with Nappa leather seating since it has a supple texture.
- Lambskin is a soft leather and is frequently used in high-priced apparel, gloves and other personal accessories.
- Nubuck leather is top-grain type of cattle hide often used in making wallets and personal accessories. It is sanded on the outside to make a subtle nap of small fibers of protein that produce a velvety surface.
- Ostrich leather is used in a wide spectrum of products including automotive products, upholstery, footwear, accessories and clothing. A lot of major fashion houses use ostrich leather such as Gucci, Prada, Hermes and Louis Vuitton.
Many trucks and cars offer standard or optional leather seating. Depending on the cost of the vehicle, the type of leather used can range from inexpensive vinyl fake leather to a genuine Nappa leather to cover the interior seating and dashboard of a high-end car such as a BMW, Audi or a Mercedes-Benz. Since leather can take 25 to 40 years to decompose it may outlast the vehicle's exterior and engine.
It is common for garment leather to be worn in tough, outdoor jobs and lifestyles because of its high resistance to wind and abrasion. The former cowboy image that wore leather chaps for leg protection, transformed into a leather-helmeted pilot dressed in a leather jacket. When motorcycles became popular, riders began to wear leather pants or leather chaps to shield their lower body. Today, motorcycle riders often wear leather jackets to protect themselves from wind and road rash. In addition, a lot of heavy metal rock bands wear full leather outfits with leather gloves and boots as part of their normal attire for their performances.
How Leather Is Made
To produce quality leather that maintains a specific appearance or color, top-grain animal hides are tanned, processed and dyed. The tanning procedure involves salts being used to cure it and give the hide a stabilized form.
The dyeing process injects the hide with various colors of dyes. An alternative method of dyeing is called aniline dyeing. This is a high quality process that provides a color without masking the natural characteristics of the animal hide.

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Learn more about garment leather and quality leather upholstery hides for furniture or automotive interiors, as well as information about leather supplies, scraps, and tools.

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FREE Tools for Leather Crafting - design of three-dimensionality

Leather crafting has been around for tens and thousands of years and, therefore, leather craft tools are no different. There are tools for every style of crafting, whether it is simply sewing two pieces together (with a large and durable tapestry needle), stamping for decoration, or punching. As with any leather craft, it takes time, effort, and careful precision. However, with the right tools, leather crafting cannot only be a fun and rewarding, but can turn a piece of leather into a beautifully crafted product.

One leather craft is the art of leather carving, or creating a design of three-dimensionality on a leather surface. There are a couple of tools needed for this craft including mallets, stamps, bevellers, and swivel knives. This process, though long, is often rewarding. First the leather must be soaked in water for a designated amount of time before it is cased. When the professional keeps the swivel knife fully vertical, it cuts into the leather halfway. Then he uses a beveller, a tool used to create indentation on one side of the leather. It creates a vertical edge on portions of the image. The beveller is used while a mallet strikes it lightly. The final touches are dress cuts, which are made with a swivel knife.

Use of all of these tools varies depending on the desired effect. A beveller, for instance, can have faces ranging from a rounded tip, smoothed, or even something more ornate such as striped and checked. Stamps have various shapes, sizes and designs. Depending on the leather, different mallets may be used; though almost all are wood as a composite or metal might be too heavy for the leather.

Another leather craft tool is a leather punch. Leather punches are tools true to their name; much like a hole punch, this tool punches holes in the leather, as opposed to paper. This tool is highly valued because holes are found in many leather-clothing products such as buckles, belts, and shoes as well as sport equipment such as bridles.

Leather punches should be handled with care while working the leather. As with any leather craft, punching holes in leather fabric is permanent and must be done with precision and care. Both mini and maxi hole punches are available in sets as well as tools like the pro rotary punch (heavy duty) and hole punches for different types of leather fabric including deerskin. These leather craft tools not only allow a craftsmen or hobbyist to punch holes in leather, but allows a variation in hole size for more versatility.

For leather carving, several tools are used to manipulate the leather to perfection. A leather punch may seem like a simpler tool and craft, but it takes a lot of skill and precision to create a hole in the perfect place. Either craft has its rewards, whether it's for the professional leather craftsman or the leather-crafting hobbyist. Regardless, leather crafting takes a lot of technique, but more than that it takes the right tools.

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