Photo essay on Britain's last oak bark tannery

[arced]

definitely interested, but would you ship worldwide?

 

[Trompe le Monde]

i would have liked to see the photos in color. tanning looks like real tough work

 

[james_timothy]



If theres a bit of interest here I'll work out prices and how many we'd need to sell for it to be viable but we'd want to do a small run of something like 16-32 belts ish so each belt would be one of a very small number and would be certified as such.

This sounds good to me. I'd be interested.

If you aren't fully subscribed it wouldn't hurt to take it to SW&D side. There's a lot of interest (and knowledge) in this kind of leather over there.

 

[UberDyologzz]

I'm in as well for those oak-tanned belts.

 

[james_timothy]

Turns out Baker's was mentioned in the thread I was reading over in SW&D. The topic was the Kicking Mule Workshop belts that are beautiful and analogous to what Charlie is proposing, and a long conversation started between Jay_D and Mikecch, both of who are pretty knowledgeable for people not in the trade. The link is here. The conversation over there had to do with Japanese vs American leathers, and reached back to English leathers.

Mikecch gave a link to a video of the Baker tannery that I enjoyed: Baker Tannery

I loved the "left behind" comment in the Baker slideshow that ManOfKent linked to. Lucky for us some companies got left behind in the technological arms race and still managed to make a go of it.

 

[wmb]



Thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you.

+1

 

[rabiesinfrance]

I'd certainly be interested if not too pricey.

 

[Holdfast]

Enjoyed the video; would also potentially be interested in a casual belt from it for use with jeans, etc, depending on the shade of colour and the price.

 

[andreyb2]

MoK, thank you for sharing this.

Andrey

 

[Equus Leather]

Great to see people being interested! Its really nice to see there are still enclaves of people interested in what goes into making something properly and the old fashioned way.

I'll try to come up with some specifics tomorrow but, subject to numbers we could do

1 limited run of Australian Nut and if there was any demand 1 of London Tan, a maximum of 16 belts per colour, depending on the widths people want. I think either our solid Brass or solid Nickel West End with stainless tounges would be the best buckles for them, but we could use any that we stock really. Widths could be 1 1/8, 1 1/4 or 1 1/2". Each belt would have a certificate from us to certify the origin, leather and the signature of the craftsman who made it plus a brass fob with it's number in the run.

I think we'd have to charge about £50/belt, probably with small changes for the width. I suspect my Bakers price list is out of date, so that might change a little but not a lot. We'd have to sell 5 per colour to make it viable really. Shipping anywhere in the world is no problem, we charge £4 shipping for the UK, £9.75 for the EU and £12.75.

I really want to make this a SF only deal so it won't be on our website or anywhere else, but I'll post in sw&d as well.

Hope people are keen!

Charlie

 

[rabiesinfrance]

I haven't bought a belt for a very long time. If I ordered a 36", what size range would that cover? Could I adjust down to a 34", or up to a 38"? I don't want to cut it down if, say, I dropped a size. A quality belt for life!

 

[Equus Leather]



I haven't bought a belt for a very long time. If I ordered a 36", what size range would that cover? Could I adjust down to a 34", or up to a 38"? I don't want to cut it down if, say, I dropped a size. A quality belt for life!

All our belts by default come with 7 holes1" apart and are sold as the size to the middle hole. If you ordered a 36" the belt would adjust from 33" to 39". The idea is exactly as you say- a belt for life. That said every belt is made individually for it's owner so hole placement and numbers is entirely up to the person who orders it, we have made belts with 5, 3,1 and 0 holes before. Sizes are generally by the 1" but 1/2" is fine too.

HTH

Charlie

 

[PipersSon]

Great video.

I'd be interested in the belts as well.

Thanks.

 

[Rich0116]



1 limited run of Australian Nut and if there was any demand 1 of London Tan, a maximum of 16 belts per colour, depending on the widths people want. I think either our solid Brass or solid Nickel West End with stainless tounges would be the best buckles for them, but we could use any that we stock really. Widths could be 1 1/8, 1 1/4 or 1 1/2". Each belt would have a certificate from us to certify the origin, leather and the signature of the craftsman who made it plus a brass fob with it's number in the run.

I think we'd have to charge about £50/belt, probably with small changes for the width. I suspect my Bakers price list is out of date, so that might change a little but not a lot. We'd have to sell 5 per colour to make it viable really. Shipping anywhere in the world is no problem, we charge £4 shipping for the UK, £9.75 for the EU and £12.75.

£50/belt?

I'd possibly buy two.

 

[Nick V.]

Great thread. Thanks MOK and other contributors.
Here's a different twist:

Let's keep this going.