Lambskin Question

Mr. Das · Post by **Mr. Das** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 8:54 am

So cows are larger animals than goats, which are slightly larger than lambs, right?

So when making a jacket, does Wested or Flightsuits ever run into a problem where they don't have enough material to make the jacket. Meaning that the lambskin leather needs to be a bit larger to fit the patterns of a size 50+ jacket otherwise there will be a need to have extra stitching in areas that smaller jackets don't have.

It kinda hit me reading the Minority Report hybrid jacket post as well as recalling Indiana James as he requested Wested to make his jacket have the seam at the lower third of the jacket like the movie. They didn't, but what if they didn't because the leather wasn't big enough?

Another am I crazy post?

binkmeisterRick · Post by **binkmeisterRick** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 9:10 am

I remember reading on Wested's site that some goat and/or lamb sizes are difficult to attain (one piece backs) because a larger hide is needed, and sometimes you have to wait to find a big enough hide.

ob1al · Post by **ob1al** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 9:13 am

I recall Swindy had to wait a while until Wested got some big enough skins his tmake his goatskin jacket.

It depends how big you need it, I guess....and whether the animal in question subscribed to the 'Atkins diet' or not...

Post by **Michaelson** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 9:48 am

I remember FS was sweating bullets when redfour won the jacket drawing at the first QM summit. redfour is big old boy, and Dave was laughing, saying he sure hoped they found a goat big enough to make HIM a jacket.

Regards. Michaelson

Swindiana · Post by **Swindiana** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 9:49 am

I recall Swindy had to wait a while until Wested got some big enough skins his tmake his goatskin jacket.

You have good memory, Al.

It turned out I did get the first jacket in time though. I was recommended to get the cowhide jacket if I wanted it in time of the 21 day period but evidentally there was no problem with my decision to stick with goat. The first jacket was tagged with a size 42 and standard ToD length, not too large a size I think. They had to recut the leather on the second jacket since I wanted it longer when they fixed the faulthy back panel and that one got delivered in good time too. They do seem to be able to make jackets in any size for any leather that is listed, but sometimes you might have to wait a bit longer for good hides to show up at the factory. It is a good thing that Peter will tell you if there is a chance you might have to wait for it, but that the jacket will be made if you are patient to wait it out. I did, and I'm happy that I did especially since I got lucky enough to have no delay on it.

Regards,
Swindiana

IndianaJames · Post by **IndianaJames** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 11:51 am

You bring up an interesting question, the back panel on these jackets has to be pretty big. I wonder how many hides it takes to make one jacket?

Cheers
I J

FLATHEAD · Post by **FLATHEAD** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 12:23 pm

You bring up an interesting question, the back panel on these jackets has to be pretty big. I wonder how many hides it takes to make one jacket?

This may be the reason U.S.Wings makes some of their VIP jackets
with a seam vertically down the center of their back panel.

An A-2 back panel is even larger than we have here on our Indy jackets,
so just imagine how hard it is to make that in a size 50!!

If you look at most upscale leather jacket makers sites, their sizes
usually stop at size 50. I think over that, and its very rare to find a
goat or lamb big enough to make a jacket out of.

As long as the animal doesn't have alot of scaring around its middle,
the diameter of the body of either a goat or lamb would be large enough to make
a bigger jacket out of. But alot of these animals get cut and scared up
from rubbing on barbed wire and what not. So you can't get blemish free
hides from them, and they have to be cut to remove the blemishes, and
you then have smaller hides to work with. Unless you like a jacket with
all the blemishes and marks on it. Then I guess you would be good-to-go.

Flathead

Bufflehead Jones · Post by **Bufflehead Jones** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 1:01 pm

I have often wondered this about a 10 or 12 foot whip. I don't know anything about whip construction, so it may not be a problem. If any of the strips of leather have to run the whole length of the whip, exactly how long is a kangaroo?

Post by **Michaelson** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 1:07 pm

You need to ask that in the whip section, old buddy!

Regards. Michaelson

Bufflehead Jones · Post by **Bufflehead Jones** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 1:37 pm

Yeah, I know, Michaelson. I never really thought that I would post the question, but since the subject of the lengths of hides came up, I couldn't resist.

zohar · Post by **zohar** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 2:07 pm

I would guess that whip laces don't have to be cut exactly straight as the hide. You can zig zag (if that makes any sense). Here is an extremely crude picture I did in MS Paint to explain how whip laces can possibly be cut. However, I am not a whipmaker, and therefore am not sure about it. This is only how I surmise it would be done.

Bufflehead Jones · Post by **Bufflehead Jones** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 2:15 pm

Oh boy, Michaelson, here we go off on a whip tangent. I think if you zig zag, since the hide is flat the strips would want to curl up and not lay right. Any pctures that I have seen of them cutting out leather for whips, showed them cutting strips in a straight line.

*should one of the mods move this part of the thread to the whip section?*

Post by **Michaelson** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 2:17 pm

Not yet. There's still more posts about the lambskin question than whip stuff, so if you'd repost your question and Zohar's answer, I can delete these here and the discussions can go on. Your call. I can't just move posts, I'd have to move the entire string. Regards. Michaelson

Mulceber · Post by **Mulceber** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 2:59 pm

Checkout DM's catalogue, and look at the Kangaroo lace that he sells for whip braiding. It is FAR from straight, and I definitely think Zohar is on the money with his guess. :junior: -IJ

ob1al · Post by **ob1al** » Sat Jun 19, 2004 12:34 pm

Here is a diagram of some typical hide dimensions:

<img src=http://www.ukhide.co.uk/images/hidediagram.gif>

Obviously, large sized jackets wouldn't be a problem here, but the smaller the animal the smaller the hide thus the limitations.

BTW, I'd guess Zohar is right about the whip thing, I can't think of another way 'round it?