Of Perfect Bible Leathers and Corners

Well, things have changed again in the leather department.

Unfortunately, the beautiful colors of top-grain cowhide will now not be available, as the distributor has decided to discontinue them. We have only the in-stock colors of sky blue and mocha, until they run out. No one saw this coming, and these hides made great Bibles, but we must move on to other hunting grounds.

Leather supply for Bible rebinding is a moving target sometimes. There are very few places that supply leather for Bible binding anyway, and finding leather suitable for rebinding is an endless search. It has to do with having different needs than other industries, such as Bible publishing or upholstery, and a comparatively smaller market.

Most large Bible publishing houses with corner crimping machines need thin, flexible top grain leather or bonded leather in rolls, because that will fit in their machines and reduce waste. And bookbinders who mostly rebind hardcover books also like the thinner leathers; they fold easier.

But leather for Bible rebinding shouldn't be too thin. Our customers are already frustrated with bonded leather and the way it dissolves with use. And they mistakenly thought the genuine leather on their Bibles would last forever, only to find out it was the thin version (weight: 1 oz.) that would develop worn spots or even tears along the edges in just a few months. Some of our customers also have had problems with Bibles that were constructed with the edges of the corner crimping showing over the lining material. The sharp edges of the corners catch the pages of the Bible and tear them up. Here's a familiar picture of a factory-produced, crimped corner:

At Leonard's, we don't need to use the very thin top-grain pigskin because we don't use corner crimping machines. We also don't skive (pare) the leather down on a Bible so it can be folded. Instead, our corners are skillfully constructed so that they fold down gracefully over the corners without adding too much bulk. This keeps the corners durable but smooth, with nothing to catch on.

The furniture upholstery industry, by contrast, needs leather that is sturdy, but flexibility doesn't seem all that important. In fact, we see some thinner leathers made especially for the upholstery industry that have been backed with another material to add durability.

This is unacceptable to us -- the last thing we need is for extra added stiffness in a leather, just so it will last longer. Our customers want to be able to open their Bibles -- and to have them stay open.

So, our "perfect leather" would be in the range of 1.75 - 2.5 oz., but also good and flexible. Some of our leathers are somewhat less flexible but those make great covers for the very heavy study Bibles that need support for the weight. Perfect leather is not easy to find, but we will continue to seek it out. Our customers deserve it.

We still have plenty of really great burgundy sculptured Italian cowhide. The texture is primo! And for soft and flexible in a traditional black, we still love the glazed black pebble grain deerskin.

Blessings,
Eric

Leonard's Book Restoration Station
www.LeonardsBooks.com
Skilled bookbinding, restoration and repair services
P.O. Box 52***Burrows, IN 46916**U.S.A.
Phone: (574) 652-2151

What Do You Have in Burgundy?

From time to time, we're asked what we have in a certain color -- like ... Burgundy! :-)

Other times, a customer just says, "I want my Bible rebound in burgundy leather," but has no idea what the different leathers look like, and didn't know that we'd have more than one choice. (Kind of like asking for tomato sauce at one of those big super stores!)

Well, I understand! Being around Carroll County Indiana 4-H a lot has given me more than a passing familiarity with goats, sheep, hogs, cows, ... and even llamas, actually ... but until I began working with Eric in this business, I didn't know what their skins looked like under all that hair. (I still don't know what llama leather looks like.)

The fact is, we've now collected quite a few different options in burgundy, and I can tell you what they're like, but seeing the leathers and the grains may help a lot more. So let's do some comparisons. I'll show you some of these choices and you can decide for yourself what would be best for you.

First off, let me tell you we've just gotten in a shipment of very nice burgundy pigskin. Remember, "genuine leather" = pigskin on modern Bibles. So, if one or more of the following applies to you:

• If you want a good budget choice in genuine leather.
• If you just really don't want black or brown.
• If you believe burgundy is the new black in the realm of Bible covers
• If your original cover was a mission grain burgundy and you want it to look just like that
  

... then you'll like this leather. It has a semi-glossy mission grain texture and it's about the best we've seen. Yes, the linear texture is embossed into the leather, which hides irregularities and those visible pores unique to pigskin, that not everyone likes.

Here's a before picture of a burgundy Bible. It's nasty cardboard with an impressed grain.

Voilà! Here's an after picture of the same Bible, now covered in our nice burgundy pigskin. (It's a little hard to see the grain, but you can see how nice it looks.)

This leather is just the right size -- thicker than the "genuine leather" on many factory made Bibles, so it will last longer, but it's thinner than other pigskins and flexible so it won't be too stiff on your Bible. It's good for Bibles of all sizes.

Now, here's a pic so you can compare the grain on 4 burgundy hides. From the top left, clockwise, we have smooth grained lambskin, deep burgundy calfskin, mission grain pigskin, and sculptured Italian cowhide.

Here's another pic. These are three different colors of goatskin, none of them called "burgundy." From left to right, we have maroon and crimson Harmatan wild-grain goatskin, and deep red premium soft tanned goatskin.


And here are some more Bible pics:

Burgundy lamb. The picture's a little too bright, but this is good leather for a smaller, thinner Bible.



Deep burgundy calf. Better for average to large sized Bibles.



Itallian sculptured cowhide. (Also a little too bright, but you can see a good representation of the color on the previous pic.) This is better on medium to large Bibles -- soft, thick, and flexible.

Here's a crimson Harmatan goatskin Bible. The maroon is much darker. Harmatan goat is good for larger Bibles.

And here's the deep red soft-tanned premium goatskin. It's good for all sizes of Bibles and is very soft and flexible. (See our recent posts for information on this goatskin.)


Here's another choice in red (not technically burgundy, but close):

Red calfskin. See how flexible it is?


We also have an imitation leather (cloth with a leatherlike finish) in an antique burgundy. (Sorry, I don't have a pic of that.)

And one more idea -- hand-dyed leather. Here's a hand-dyed, antiqued deerskin Bible. Blind-stamping and tooling is a favorite technique on this kind of leather.



We can also hand-dye natural grain pigskin; rustic goatskin (as on our Poor Man's Geneva Bible style), rustic calfskin (American West style), or kangaroo (Outback style). This is what it burgundy looks like on calfskin:

And here it is on kangaroo:


There you have it! We can encase your Bible in burgundy in many different ways. What looks good to you? If you have any questions, I'd be glad to help you with your selection. Click here for a free price quote,

Or go straight here for detailed ordering information.

Grace and Peace,

Margie L. Haley, Administrative Assistant
Leonard's Book Restoration Station
(574) 652-2151
http://www.leonardsbooks.com/

Goatskin Colors

Here they are, pics of our unembossed, natural grain soft-tanned premium goatskin, made up into Bibles.

• Yes, they are soft.
  
• Yes, they are ultra-flexible.
  
• Yes, they feel great -- nice texture.
  
• Yes, they are durable.
  
• Yes, they are a great price. :-)

That makes black, medium brown, and deep red. Anybody out there think we should add dark brown to the mix? Let me know.

~Margie

Leonard's Book Restoration Station
www.LeonardsBooks.com
Skilled bookbinding, restoration and repair services
P.O. Box 52***Burrows, IN 46916**U.S.A.
Phone: (574) 652-2151

Highland Goatskin -- What Is It, Really?

We've been wondering for awhile now about Highland Goatskin. In our minds, we imagined sweet little kids rolling on the grass on Scottish hillsides. Considering the post we did earlier about French Morocco and leather lingo, we should have known, oui?

We heard that these critters were softer than most. We saw pictures that showed remarkable flexibility. And we read that this is the only kind of goatskin that is so soft because it's 100% natural -- not embossed or impressed.

So we finally decided it was important to get the skinny on the skin. We asked our supplier, who in turn asked a tanner. This is what the supplier said:

I asked the question of the tannery about highland goat. He says it's generally just from some region in Africa, but more of a selling tool than meaning anything. It is leather that is not embossed.

They were right! We read on another website that the famed Highland Goatskin was not, in fact, made in Scotland -- it was imported from Nigeria. (So much for our over-active imaginations!)

Then she confirmed what we knew in our hearts. The leather we were buying from her was also all natural, not embossed. Same thing. The larger hides were from Africa, and the smaller ones were from the U.S. Only we didn't give it a fancy name. We're calling it "Premium soft-tanned goatskin."

If you want the same kind of soft, flexible, but durable goatskin that's called "Highland Goatskin" by others, you've come to the right place. Here are a couple of pics of two Bibles we just shipped out yesterday, in black premium soft-tanned goatskin. Look familiar?

This is the difference: Leonard's isn't a publisher. We do rebinding. That means, you can choose your own "insides." If you want the text block of your Bible to be your grandmother's Bible from the 1920's, or your own heavily-used Zondervan Study Bible with a glued spine, or a brand-spankin' new smythe-sewn Thompson Chain Reference, or a Gideon's pocket Bible, you can do it. We can put that premium goatskin on any of your Bibles. What's more, we'll soon be expanding your options to include more colors. Stay tuned and we'll introduce you to the color line.

~Margie L. Haley, Partner
Leonard's Book Restoration Station
(574) 652-2151
http://www.leonardsbooks.com/

Valentine's Day

With Christmas and New Year's Day behind us, it's not too early to be thinking about Valentine's Day!

Having your spouse or fiance's Bible rebound makes a very special Valentine's Day gift. Turnaround here at the shop has been running 4 weeks or less from the date of receipt for Bibles. This gives you a window of opportunity to snatch a well-worn Bible and pack it off to us to clothe it in a magnificent new skin before that special day arrives.

If your husband has had this sad-looking bonded leather Bible since high school, think how surprised he'll be with a Lone Star specialty binding on the familiar pages. Does your girlfriend just love purple? We have purple calf that will look great on her Bible.

Think fast!

--Margie L. Haley
Administrative Assistant

www.LeonardsBooks.com
Skilled bookbinding, restoration and repair services
P.O. Box 52***Burrows, IN 46916**U.S.A.
Phone: (574) 652-2151