Sporran Leather Weight Questions?

[artificer]

One thing you could try is to wet the leather and let it dry. Usually when I wet-mold the leather to shape, after it dries it is as hard as a brick. I then have to oil it profusely to get it somewhat soft again. But if you wet it and let it dry, then simply dye it and finish it, it will likely remain a little more stiff than it otherwise would.

I'm not familiar with waxing the leather as a finish, so I don't know if that's contributing to your issue. But you could try just dyeing it and then finish it with something like Neat-Lac, which won't soften the leather and will actually help stiffen it just a wee bit.

After casing the leather for trim, beveling and slicking, it does stiffen up. After I dye (water based) it does toughen up a bit. I like wax finishes, as they are natural, water repellent, burnish up to a nice antique luster, and easy for others to maintain. Once I apply a good dye and then wax, it just seems like the leather is too supple. Perhaps I'm just comparing apples (good quality leather) to oranges (crap-board POS sporran that I bought as a guide).

I guess the real question is, then;

Is it okay for a classic leather 'day' sporran to have a body that is somewhat 'bendy', for lack of a better term. I just don't want it to deform and look like an LP left out too long in the summer sun.

However, if people are used to a sporran having the qualities of a nice pannier bag (slight bend in the facings) with a nice hand and good finish, I think we're well on the mark with the 5oz.

I put it down to my inexperience with fine quality Scottish wear (my family is almost 100% German - our leather tends to end up as shorts )