Where can I find Cordovan?

[digicon]

I would like to find a piece of cardovan leather like is used to reinforce finger stalls on gloves.

I usually end up making my own gloves and would really like to find some of the almost "hard" cordovan leather that is used on some of my favorite gloves.

Can you buy a piece of this say 12" * 12"?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Mike

[tamure]

Try Brettun's Village leather. They will help you find a small piece. Check out their "scraps" page and their "I only need one piece of leather" page:

 http://www.brettunsvillage.com/leather/scrap/scraps.htm

[TaterHill Archer]

I just contacted Brettun's Village last week.  They are out of cordovan and don't know exactly when they will get more in.

[Dave Bulla]

Odds of finding a 12 X 12 inch piece are about nil.  It doesn't come that way.  It's from the flank of a horse and there is only about 3 to 6 inches of usable thickness in the pieces I've seen before it starts to taper down to thinner that you'd want in a glove or a tab.  On the thick edge, you can see the outline of the horses rump if you have a whole piece.  As it goes forward, it taperes down to tissue thin.  The thin stuff makes a nice skived handle wrap though.

There was a post on here a month or two ago and I believe there is only one tannery or supplier in the whole U.S. who carries it anymore.  I think they even said the foreign companies are not making it any more.  I think the company might have been in Wisconsin or Michigan if I recall correctly.  Do a search here and you should come up with something.

[Dave Bulla]

Just did the search for ya.

Here is the link.   http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=045912

Starts out somebody asking about some horse hide and gets into more detail about cordovan and the one company making it as it goes.

Turns out it's in Chicago so I missed on my guess above....

[mike g]

Warning....It's exspensive.

[tecum-tha]

Horween Tannery in Chicago makes it.
I get it from the european general importer here in Germany. I usually take 2nd choice, because an occassional scratch doesn`t hurt me for achery purposes.You can only buy complete shells. I get them for 50 percent of normal price and pay 40 Euros, about 55 bucks. It is not cheap, but worth it.

[WestTnMan]

You can get all you want at Tandy.

 http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/

[Jeff Strubberg]

Tandy has cordovan colored leather. I don't see any cordovan leather there.

[2fletch]

I've been told by a local manager that Tandy doesn't sell cordovan. Seigel in California usually has it, but it won't be cheap. It's made in Chicago by Horween, but you can forget that. I was told that their waiting list was almost a year, and that's for their current dealers.

I have some black cordovan that I could make available in small amounts. I'lm not anxious to sell, but I know how it is to need something.

Mike, if you still need some (and can use black)  let me know. Maybe we can do a trade.