Shop Talk.

TommyT said:

The brown oil tanned case belongs to me and I will attest to the durability of the construction. It's been all over hells half acre and it's still something I'm proud to carry.
Hey John...while your at it, take a look at where the local shoe repair guy attached the new lid. If you can straighten it out I'd be happier.:smile:

When I was looking for a case, even though I could afford any case in the world I bought a Barton.....and glad I did.

TommyT.....Barton Fan

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I saw that the lid was a little crooked and had already planned to fix it.

Rusty Melton said:

I will vouch that the woven cardboard when contact cemented to leather is as tough as nails. That stuff is so tough it's hard tear with your bare hands, then when you add the cement and stick it to the leather and it's a great product to use in leatherworking. The inside of pockets on the top part of the pocket is a great place to use it to help hold their shape over the years, if you don't use it they will be sagging in no time.

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Thanks Rusty. Some customers are simply ignorant of all that goes into a quality product and the planning it takes to keep it looking good after years of use.

But this thread will enlighten them.

Big-Tattoo said:

Hi John,
is that possible to Change the interrior from Palace Garden to the Ultra Pad Interrior? This is the Best Stuff in my Opinion.
Ralf

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Yes. If you send the case to me then I can change it to the newest interior. You just pay the shipping and I will do the work for free.

Notice the reinforced area at the bottom.

At the bottom of this picture is the back side of a handle. Notice that the rivets are backed with a metal plate for extra strength AND the handle is also sewn to the body.

This is an example of going the extra distance to insure that the stress points are really durable.

These are the things that customers don't normally see. I don't know who took apart this case, maybe a competitor since the picture came to me from Rigmaster, but I am glad that they did it because now they can see the quality that is built into the case which isn't apparent from the outside.

Someone paid more than $500 to find out how this case is built and if they are willing to follow our lead then that is $500 well spent.

Chuck Fields said:

Don't you love when people who don't know what they're talking about stick their foot in their mouth? :smile:
Chuck

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Kinda. Actually I like it best because of the opportunity to educate the consumers more on the things they can't normally see.

One of the things I have admired about Steve Jobs is the concept he says he inherited from his father of making sure the parts that no one sees are done right. He actually said done beautifully. We can't always do it beautifully but we can damn sure do it to a higher standard.

xplor said:

When John uses the word veg tan does he mean vegetable tanned leather ? That describes the tanning process but not the grade. Does he use Corrected-grain leather ? Corrected-grain leather is any leather that has had an artificial grain applied to its surface., usualy not the best leather.

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This is not entirely correct.

Vegetable tanned leather, often called saddle leather in layman's terms, does not vary in strength from full grain or corrected grain.

Full grain means that the grain side, where the hair was, has not been altered. This means that all the "character" of the skin as it came from the cow, since we are talking mostly about cowhide, is visible. This includes insect bites that developed scars, scratches from barbed wire, sometimes brands, etc... This is regarded as the highest grade of leather only because like wood the prettiest pieces are desirable and naturally unique.

The next grade is corrected grain which only means that the top layer has been sanded or buffed to the point that the natural markings are gone and the leather is perfectly smooth. This is desired when the goal is to have a smooth surface to work with. The leather is no less strong or good when this is done.

Although you will find much information on the net about leather here are two good places to start.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leather

https://www.siegelofca.com/glossary_alph.asp

As I mentioned above leather types and grades and styles are wide and varied. No person can absolutely say that one leather type is the BEST and the rest is inferior because the type of leather used depends on the item it is used for and the WAY it is worked.

In other words you can have a case made with full grain leather that is constructed like crap which will mean that it will likely break down quickly leaving you with a useless collection of full grain leather parts. Or you can have a case made of corrected grain that is well made that will last a lifetime.

Leather is one of the most misunderstood and abused products on Earth. The moniker "real leather" is often used to confer quality of the product when in fact the leather could be the crappiest or the best and the construction could be crappy or great. Just because a product is claimed to be made of leather doesn't really mean anything other than some kind of leather was used, and often in the really misleading cases, not all of the product is actually leather.

Some cue case factories have been discovered by me to make cases that they claim are real leather when actually only the handle covers and the little tag with "real leather" stamped on it are leather and the rest is vinyl which was worked in such a way as to hide the back side of the vinyl.

Anyway, corrected grain only means that the natural markings have been removed and the leather either left smooth or a texture embossed onto the surface. It does not mean lower quality.

This is much different than print leather which is generally a split that has had a surface treatment to add the desired appearance to it, such as crocodile, lizard or ostrich to name the most common ones. Splits come in many many quality levels from super cheap and crappy to fairly expensive depending on exactly how they were made.

We try to buy only the good material and test all of our leather before using it. Any that doesn't pass is returned when we can or thrown away or used for whatever we can find that it can be used for, such as bonding to stiffen exterior leather. We try to use everything that we can if it does not compromise the integrity of the case.

Here is a nice example of a full grain piece that I found with what appeared to be a crude brand on it. I chose this piece for Eric Crisp of Sugartree because he is known for choosing wood with exotic natural patterns for his cues. I figured that he would appreciate it most and he did.

Also this is a good read for anyone who really wants to understand the importance of leather to our civilization.

The Romance of Leather