Greetings folks,  Am I the only one who's having great difficulty is
finding suitable pouch leather these days?

I have recently received two kangaroo skins (from different sources)
which are _way_ too thick for pouches in any stack valves I'm likely
to encounter on this planet. Both skins are from well-known suppliers
to the trade.

In the first case, the order involved a rather long telephone call to
the supplier detailing that I really needed pouch leather as thin as
possible and certainly under .010 inch for the job at hand. The order
taker seemed to understand my need completely, yet when the skin
arrived, I found that the _thinnest_ area on it measured .0156, and
that was a very small area.  Most of the skin is significantly thicker.

In the second case, (a different source entirely) there was an e-mail
exchange with the vendor during which it was suggested that a kangaroo
skin which had at least a significant portion of .007 was available and
would be on the way.  Sounded great!  When _that_ skin arrived, the
thinnest area (about 7 sq. in.) measured at .0134.  This is probably
an improvement over the first skin, but still not at all suitable for
the purpose.

This is, in all fairness, very nice leather, and can certainly be used
as valve leather in some applications (primaries come to mind), although
I wonder if I'll live long enough to need that many square feet of
primary valve facings...

Is it just me?  Is it my deodorant?  Am I holding my mouth wrong
when I attempt to order leather?

What are you other restorers doing to get pouch leather in usable
thicknesses?  I have one particular action to do which requires about
two square feet (because of its configuration) of especially thin
leather and I'm wondering how many skins I'm going to have to buy
to eventually get lucky.

Help!  Helfen Sie mir!  Aidez-moi!  Ayudeme!

Dean Randall

 [ Like the pre-printed 'AVO' form says: Avoid Verbal Orders!
 [ Write a follow-up letter to the vendor with your specification,
 [ so that the clerk can correct what he wrote down!  -- Robbie