Leather coats?

[wetpowder]

The thrift shop had a couple leather coats for $20 each. One was a full leanth ladies swade and the other was a bomber type kind of shiney. Anyone ever take coats apart and make things?

 

[Robert Egler]

Yep. Had a fringed buckskin shirt made by my former girlfriend when I was a teen (and hence slighly smaller than at present :wink: ) that 1; didn't fit any more, 2; was never comfortable, either hot and sticky or cold. So I cut it apart and reused the leather over several years for other projects. Also picked up a heavy leather welder's coat for free which I did the same thing to.

 

[MikeChapin]

My wife works in a thrift store. Sometimes leather goods come in than cannot be sold due to damage or heavy soiling. She brings them home and I make all sorts of stuff out of them. Right now I have told her to hold off until my to do pile gets a little smaller.

 

[BrownBear]

Yeah, it's a great source of leather. I'm kind of a see-and-buy type when it comes to leather. It's hard for me to know what I want till I see it, no matter how many pics I look at in a catalog. Living in remote locations far from leather stores, that means coats (and sometimes vests, large handbags or tall boots) in thrift stores are my most reliable source.

One thing though- A lot of it is pretty thin, but don't give up. Back it with a liner or double it and you're in business. Rubber cement is your best friend.

 

[crockett]

Another "find" are leather belts. Tandy leather sells a tool called a skiver (sic?) that can be used to thin the leather- or- scrap off the outer area. These leather belts can be used for straps on powder horns, hunting pouches, etc.

 

[wetpowder]

I was thinking that rawhide could be used for lining a knife sheath to thicken up.

Thanks for the replies. :hatsoff:

 

[BrownBear]

I've used rawhide (from doggie chew bones) to line sheaths, but it's more to keep the blade from cutting through the leather than for stiffening. The thickening or stiffening I was talking about was for bags. The general recommendation for bags is somewhere in the neighborhood of 4-5 oz leather, while garment leather isn't often 2 or 3 oz. Thickening helps them keep their shape with a little load in them. May not sound like a big deal, but in my experience if a bag is too soft everything in it kinda ends up in a wad while the bag stretches out long.

 

[battman1]

I'm workin on one right now.Cut up my suede jacket I had since highschool.Got enough to make a shooting bag, a ball bag and I think enough left over for moccasins.

 

[wetpowder]

I hope you can post some pics. I would like to see how they come out :thumbsup:

 

[Muskeg Stomper]

I find leather from thrift store clothing for projects all the time. I particularly like those thick, wide leather weight lifting belts if they are in good shape. They make dandy throwing knife scales and shoe-pack soles.

 

[BrownBear]

I just finished a bag I cut out of suede about a year ago. Decided the suede was too soft, so I just let the pieces lay. After lining a bag cut from Tandy's Deertand leather (very soft) with pillow ticking, I really liked the results. Sooooo, long story short I dug out the suede pieces and tried it. Danged if I don't like the results a lot! I'm gluing the ticking right to the inside of the leather using rubber cement, so it adds just the right amount of thickness and stiffness. I can guarantee I'm not going to be passing up any more suede at the thrift store!

BTW-

I've always liked the looks of thicker, harder leather in bags, but have since discovered they have a real downside. When you sneak through brush for your deer, those leather bags really make a lot of scratching noise. Soft bags are silent. From now on all my hunting will be done with soft bags, and the cool looking bags are going to be range queens.