Heavy-duty leather clothing

Bumping. Pretty sure the leather my jacket is made of is full grain leather, if that helps narrow the treatment process down any. It's some pretty stiff stuff, a centimeter or so thick. It once had a stool broken over it and I got shoved up against a concrete pillar. Didn't feel a fuckin thing. It's the best shit ever for punk shows.

>>1054942
>>1054955


If youve got sewing experince.. Great. But if not. I wouldn't... Id get sewing experince first. Also a sewing machine that has some balls for leather working cause fuck doing a whole jacket by hand...

If you want it to be an effective motorcycle jacket, and be even more comfy then shitty course grain cow leather.. You want to start saving up for kangaroo leather... Shits the best you can get! Stronger then cow, half as thick, for better strength and more breathable...

Now if you just want a leather jacket. Goat skin is super good because its super thin and pliable. And takes dyes and stains well.

>>1054963
I have some sewing experience, yes, but not a hell of a lot. I was actually planning on making embellishments out of cast aluminum for it. I have more or less of a design in mind, but I'm mostly just concerned with it being durable as fuck. It isn't really going to be meant for motorcycling, since I can use my existing jacket for that. I also don't have an issue with the leather being a bit on the rough side since that's what I'm both used to and prefer. The jacket itself is apparently quite heavy but I've gotten so used to it that I don't notice. It's likely that the design I'm planning will end up being more of a leather vest than a jacket.

>>1054963
Also goat skin is way too soft and lacks the stiffness that I'm comfortable with. I'm mostly just concerned with the treatment process and keeping that leather super tough.
The actual design I have in mind will be using primarily leather, but also some vinyl and metal accents. It's going to have some pockets inside for electronics devices(some useful, some just for looks) and the like.
If I can figure out the treatment process I know a few places to get some leather for cheap. After that it's just a matter of finding a pattern I can modify to suit my needs.

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pic related is kind of the basic idea of what I plan to go for, just without the pockets. Might make detachable sleeves. I'm planning to load it up with everything I need and embellish on the design to suit whatever my needs are.

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>>1054970
Its not the type of animal, its the thickness.
Leather is split to thinner pieces for different applications.
Try leathrworking.net (I thin that's the site).
They have forums and good stickys for dig.

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>>1054942
This is my Bates® Highwayman. From approximately 1978+/-
I got it from a good friend 20 years ago. Its had to have some minor repairs but is still 95% original.
Look into proper storage and get a good leather conditioner on it once every year or 2.

>>1055149
What you want is a heavy weight chrome tanned leather. You will not need to treat it with anything in particular, just the general upkeep you would put any other leather jacket through.

After checking ebay, I found this:

http://m.ebay.com/itm/Leather-Bison-Hide-Side-19sf-Charcoal-Black-7-8oz-Chrome-Tanned-8-/142091299099?nav=SEARCH

7-8oz chrome tanned buffalo leather. I have a side of 2.5oz chrome tanned cow leather that seems pretty durable and would make a great and comfortable jacket. However, you want yours to be heavier, stiffer and more rugged--I believe my link is exactly what you have in mind.
I make belts out of 8oz veg tanned leather (too stiff for your purposes), and that stuff is roughly 1/8th of an inch thick if I remember right. It would be assumable that 8oz chrome tanned leather would have a similar thickness.

You would be very hard pressed to find thicker leather to suit this purpose, and I expect your current jacket might even be a thinner material than you actually think.
Thicker varieties are usually veg tanned for tooling purposes, and as I said, veg tanned is probably too stiff for your purposes.

Not the other important materials you would need are some incredibly durable thread and a way to sew it. I do my shit by hand with synthetic sinew, but your likely to want a machine and some kevlar thread.
Search google for jacket/vest patterns. I vaguely remember searching for classic motorcycle jackets patterns back in the day. Anything can be found with a bit of effort.

>>1055283
Holy shit that thing looks ugly.

>>1054955
>Bumping.
Stop that. /diy/ is a slow board, you don't need to bump more than once a day.

>>1055439
Looking at a leather supply site, they seem to offer oil tanned leather as their prefered "motorcycle" variety.

http://www.waterhouseleather.com/chap_and_motorcycle_leather.htm

The thickest they offer is 5.5oz. I'm not finding anything above 6oz for sale anywhere (but I'm not looking that hard), so odds are good your current jacket is in that range.


Definitely practice sewing a bit more before you drop and money down on a side of leather. That shit is costly. Maybe buy a thick cotton based fabric from a fabric shop to practice on.
Also, a tip to save on wasted leather is to have your pattern cut out of paper peices you can trace onto the leather. Arrange the peices to consume as small an area as possible before tracing/cutting.
Be sure to account for the slightly larger peices you'll need if you did a vest in alternate practice fabric. The leather will likely be thicker and make the overall fit more snug.

>>1055442
Agreed, but a lot of collectible vintage leather jackets look like shit.
Motorcycle jackets especially don't age well for some reason. They always look like scuffed up trash bags *if* they were taken care of, and dried out shit if they weren't.

>>1055446
This leather will likely suit my purposes. I'll likely be modifying this design
http://dawnschons-com.3dcartstores.com/Falcon-Jacket-Pattern_p_12.html
to have patterning reminiscent of this
http://www.jpcycles.com/product/351-612?utm_source=shopping&utm_medium=cse&utm_term=351-616&zmam=95452747&zmac=4&zmas=1&zmap=351-616&siteid=CSE_ecn

>>1055482
Looks like a pretty easy project. If you're remotely /diy/ savvy, it should come out pretty well. However, it is still advised you do a practice run on a cheaper fabric first to get an idea of the project before jumping into leather.
And again, the leather will likely be thicker than what you use to practice, so keep that in mind and maybe add a half inch to the pattern. You can always make the vest smaller later, but you will have to get creative to make it roomier.

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>>1055693
I'm expecting that I'll likely make the project out of some soft fabric first with less detail than the finished product, since I do want a removable lining anyways, but since I like coats and vests to fit a little loose and there's electronics and stuff I want to put into it, and also I'm a chubby guy, I'm already expecting that I'll be making it a little large.
I think the most difficult feature will be a low profile, LED lit "spine" meant to resemble an electrical conduit.
Also all of the electronics will need to be accessed from the inside in case there's a need for repairs

>>1054955
>centimeter or so thick
t. burger who can't into metric
1cm is about 2/5 inch

>>1055809
Are you fucking kidding me? 1cm is 0.393701 inches.

>>1055938
2/5 is .4, which is awfully close to your given number

>>1056673
>awfully close

This is the exact reason why imperial is a bullshit method of measuring things.

Come to metric and be absolutely accurate in a unit of measurement that makes sense.

>>1056691

Not really. 99.99% don't need accuracy greater than 1/16" or MAYBE 99.9999 1/32" anyway or 1.5875/0.79375 mm for you eurotards.
People who do need greater accuracy use whatever system is most convenient and know how to convert units.

>>1056711
>you eurotards
>implying yuros are the only ones on metric
Imperial is pretty much an US only thing. Even the British are moving away from it.

>>1057000
which one put men on the moon?

>>1058155
Which system was nasa using when they did it? lol