The grading of leather is based on holes, grain scratches and other defects such as staining or shape. In principle, we look at the undamaged part of a skin and try to assess how useable it is. A first grade skin should yield a large rectangle, centred on the spine and extending most of the way to the edges. There may be one or more small damages near the edges but these should not detract from the overall efficiency of cutting. A second grade skin should be suitable for smaller full bindings or for large half- and quarter-bindings. Where offered, such as in our calf range of products, lower grades are likely to have more defects spread across the skins and are most suitable for repair and rebacking work where relatively small pieces are required. If you need to order leather for a specific project, the safest option is to let us have details of the number and dimensions of panels you require. We can then choose the most appropriate skin or skins and provide a quotation for your consideration.
In our Types of Leather factsheet, we provide detailed information on the leathers we manufacture and sell. These files may be downloaded below. These downloads are in .pdf file formats, so you will require an appropriate reader, such as Adobe Acrobat to open them.
English Version - Click here (29kb)
Deutsche Version - Click here (30kb)
Versión Española - Click here (35kb)
All our leather is now sold in square metres, where 1 square metre = 10.76 square feet. e.g a 9 square foot Bookcalf = 0.84 square metres. The chart below shows a few of the conversion figures.
0.37 square metres = 4 square feet
0.46 square metres = 5 square feet
0.56 square metres = 6 square feet
0.65 square metres = 7 square feet
0.74 square metres = 8 square feet
0.84 square metres = 9 square feet
0.93 square metres = 10 square feet
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