What English Bridle Leather Actually Is, and Why Briefcases Are Cut From It
English bridle leather is vegetable-tanned hide hand-filled with wax and fat. Here is how it is made, why it blooms, and why briefcases use it.
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Why Solid Brass Hardware Outlasts the Leather Around It
Solid brass hardware ages instead of failing. Here’s why the buckles, locks, and rivets on a bridle leather briefcase matter as much as the hide.
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Sedgwick, Hermann Oak and Wickett & Craig on One Bench
Sedgwick, Hermann Oak and Wickett & Craig all make bridle leather. A briefcase maker compares them by process, weight and finish, not by name or price.
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Beef Tallow on Dry Vegetable-Tanned Leather
Beef tallow is the oldest fat in the leather trade. Here is what it does to dry vegetable-tanned leather, and why museum conservators keep warning against it.
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Wax Bloom: Buff It Off or Leave It
A white haze on bridle leather after a dry winter is usually wax bloom, not damage. How to tell it from mould, and why the trade prizes what owners wipe away.
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A Hand-Stitched Writing Pad Portfolio, Start to Finish
A writing pad portfolio is a briefcase in miniature. Measure the pad, cut a true rectangle, and keep two stitch lines parallel from start to finish.
