A full side of vegetable-tanned leather unrolled to show the butt, shoulder and belly.
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Which Cut of the Hide to Order

ByPeter Joeseph 'Briefcase Maker' Kalafatis

You pay for every square foot. The cut decides how many of them end up in the work.

The cut of the hide you order, side, back, bend, shoulder or belly, decides more about a project than the color or the tannery does, because it sets how firm the leather is, how long the longest piece can run and how much of what you paid for ends up on the floor. I build briefcases from bends, and I have inspected two white natural vegetable-tanned sides on camera. Those are two different purchases for two different kinds of work, and the order form does not tell you which one you need.

Video: Inspecting 2 white natural vegetable tanned leather sides, from Marcellino NY Briefcase Maker on YouTube.

The names on the order form

Every cut is a piece of the same animal, sliced along the spine or across it.

Hands inspecting the grain of a bridle leather bend for flaws before cutting.

Start with the whole thing and cut down. Weaver Leather Supply’s guide to cuts of leather puts a whole hide at roughly 45 to 50 square feet and says it is usually chrome tanned, for garments and upholstery. A side, or half hide, is the hide split down the backbone. The rest are pieces of a side, or of both sides still joined.

CutWhat it isWhere it earns its keep
SideHalf the hide, split along the spineThe most square feet in one piece, every quality in it
BackSide with the belly removed, bend and neck togetherLong straps: reins, stirrup leathers, leashes
BendThe firm butt section, belly and part of the shoulder offBelts, panels, anything that must not stretch
ShoulderThe front end, single or doubleBelts and mid-sized parts, with more wrinkle
BellyThe loose edge trimmed off a sideCheap practice, soft linings, small pieces

That table borrows from two Weaver pages, the cuts guide and its guide to a leather side. Weaver’s sizes give you a feel for scale. A single back runs about 18 to 20 square feet, 28 to 30 inches wide and 85 to 110 inches long. A single bend runs about 30 by 60 inches. A double shoulder runs about 14 square feet.

Read the names twice when you order. A double bend is two bends still joined at the spine, and a double shoulder carries both shoulder blades in one piece. Get the word wrong and you get the wrong animal, more or less.

Backs for anything long

When the longest part on the pattern is a strap, buy the length first.

Length is the one thing you cannot fix later. A strap can be split, skived, dyed and burnished, but it cannot be stretched to the size the pattern wants without wrecking it, and a joint in a load-bearing strap is a weak spot you built in yourself.

Weaver’s side guide describes the back as the bend and neck together and calls it very good quality, suited to reins, stirrup leathers and leashes, things that need length and durability with little waste. In a 2022 leatherworker.net thread on shoulders versus sides, a member named toxo makes the same point from the bench: the top of a side is usually the thickest and longest part, which suits belts, and “It’s also the most scar free part of a hide.” In a 2009 thread on buying double shoulders, ChuckBurrows calls backs “the very best for belts” because of how they stretch.

So the buying rule writes itself. Measure the longest strap on the pattern, add a margin, and check that the cut you are ordering is longer. A belt maker orders backs. A man making a long shoulder strap for a case orders a back or a side and cuts the strap first, along the spine.

Bends for panels that must stay flat

The firmest, densest leather on the animal, with a warning attached.

Close view of dense bend leather fibers beside looser belly leather fibers.

The bend is where I live. I cut my main parts from the bend, because that is where the fiber is tightest. A briefcase panel has to hold its shape for years with a load of files leaning on it, and loose leather sags. I have hung bridle bends out in the front workshop before a build, and cut two single-gusset briefcases from a bend and a shoulder.

Weaver’s side guide calls the bend the thickest and firmest part of the hide, roughly 2 to 4 ounces heavier than the rest of the side. That has a consequence on the order form. When a seller says a side weighs 8 ounces, ask where it was measured. Weaver’s listing for a Hermann Oak bridle side says the leather is gauged “in butt,” which tells you where the stated weight is true. The shoulder and belly of that same side will not match it.

The bend has its own bill. Weaver warns that its fibers are thicker and more prone to cracking, and says to temper it in warm water before bending it. Firm cuts both ways. A panel that never sags is a panel that will fight you at every fold.

Shoulders, necks and bellies

Cheaper, softer and more marked, and not useless.

The shoulder is the cut people buy when they want a big piece at a lower price. Weaver’s cuts guide lists the double shoulder for belt making and the single shoulder as affordable for a wide range of projects. Its side guide is kinder to the neck than its reputation suggests: tensile strength that matches the bend and sometimes beats it, but more barbed-wire scratches and, depending on the animal’s age, fat wrinkles that may stay visible. Weaver’s Hermann Oak listing makes a point of fewer wrinkles in the shoulder area. A listing only says that when wrinkles are what buyers worry about.

On a briefcase, the shoulder still has a place. I use it for smaller parts, and my gussets run thinner than my panels so the case bends at the sides without creasing across the face. A part that is meant to flex can come from leather that flexes.

The belly is the hard sell. Weaver’s side guide admits it is often called the “waste” section, softer and looser than the rest, then argues that sewn to the back of a bend it adds comfort and takes on the strength of the firmer piece. In the 2022 thread, a member named Hags says he uses the belly for leashes and narrow straps. ChuckBurrows warns that even a shoulder still carries some belly at the outer edges. On my briefcases, the belly goes in the trash. That is a rule for a briefcase, not a law of leather, and it brings me to the turn.

Where my bends-only rule costs you

For a beginner, a side teaches more than a bend, and wastes less.

A bridle leather briefcase panel and strap beside small goods cut from shoulder and belly leather.

Here is where my own habit stops being good advice. I buy bends because every main part of a briefcase wants bend leather, and I have no use for the soft edges. A beginner does not make briefcases. He makes a belt, a card case, a key fob, a sheath, a strap, and every one of those wants a different part of the hide.

Hags says it plainly in the 2022 thread: he buys sides because “I also feel I get the most sq feet for my $.” He cuts the back for belts, the bend for holsters, the belly for leashes. A side gives him every grade of leather in one delivery, and he has a use for each one. My trash pile is his inventory.

Weaver’s cuts guide lands in the same place from the other direction. It says budget and workspace size should drive the choice of cut, as long as the leather is good, and it notes that a half hide costs more per square foot than a whole one but is easier to handle in a small shop. Small rooms buy small cuts. That is not a moral failing. It is the size of the room.

So the honest version: if all you make is one kind of firm, flat thing, buy the cut that thing comes from and stop paying for leather you will throw out. If you are still learning what you like to make, buy a side, lay it on the floor, and let the hide show you where each project lives. The projects section is full of small work that will use up the shoulder and the belly. My bends-only rule is earned. It is also expensive, and it was never meant for the first year.

Ordering it right

Name the job, the longest part, the weight and where it was measured.

A good order is short. Tell the seller what you are making, the longest piece on the pattern, the weight you need and where you want that weight measured. Ask the grade. Weaver’s Hermann Oak side is graded “Tannery Run,” which is a term worth asking about before you assume it means the top of the pile. In the 2022 thread, TomE says he buys Hermann Oak tooling leather for its “consistent substance,” and consistency is what you are buying when you pay for a better grade.

Know the tannery too. Wickett & Craig, founded in 1867, says pit tanning, drum dyeing and genuine hot stuffing remain the standard for its premium leathers, which tells you how the leather was made before you ever ask how it was cut. English bridle from the UK and American bridle both come off steer hides, and I use both depending on what is available. The cut you order from one is not always the cut on offer from the other, so ask before assuming.

Then inspect it the day it lands. I inspect every hide on arrival for defects and buy the top grade, and in a video on inspecting a black English bridle hide I show that every build starts there. Leather that is not right goes back. A flaw found after the first cut, though, belongs to you and nobody else. The buying guides section has more on the rest of the order.

The hide arrives rolled. Unroll it slowly, and keep the knife on the bench until you have looked at all of it.

12 x 12 Inch Full Grain Vegetable Tanned Leather, 8-9 oz: A 12-inch square of 8 to 9 oz vegetable-tanned leather for practice or small parts. See it on Amazon (affiliate link).

Realeather Veg Tan Double Shoulder Tooling Leather, 7-8 oz: A vegetable-tanned double shoulder for larger projects. See it on Amazon (affiliate link).

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. A commission may be earned if you buy through this link, at no extra cost to you.

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