CXL thickness

oskar · Jul 4, 2020

Hello,

I have a short question:
Is there a variation in the thickness of CXL leather? I heard that a lot of people think that there is, but in reality it just has to do with the stiffness of the particular hide. I just wanted to check with the experts

Regards,
Oskar

Monitor · Jul 4, 2020

There definitely is.
If I'm not mistaken and from what I understand, Aero will specifically select a hide of appropriate thickness for a certain style. For example, some jackets cannot be (easily) made in the heaviest CXL so a somewhat lighter leather will be used.

Harris HTM · Jul 4, 2020

oskar said:
Hello,

I have a short question:
Is there a variation in the thickness of CXL leather? I heard that a lot of people think that there is, but in reality it just has to do with the stiffness of the particular hide. I just wanted to check with the experts
Regards,
Oskar

Are we talking horse or steer? Used for jackets or shoes?
In general you can find different thicknesses, depending on what you need it for.
If you're talking especially jacket hide, and especially the stuff Aero uses, then I've understood from the guys from Aero that every now and then they get lighter or heavier batches; if this has to do with different thickness or different density of the material this is another issue. And keep in mind that thickness ≠ weight ≠ stiffness.

Guppy · Jul 4, 2020

oskar said:
Hello,

I have a short question:
Is there a variation in the thickness of CXL leather? I heard that a lot of people think that there is, but in reality it just has to do with the stiffness of the particular hide. I just wanted to check with the experts
Regards,
Oskar

Yes. CXL is a process for tanning, and has nothing to do with the weight of the leather used to produce it. They produce CXL in a variety of weights. As well, even within a given weight, there's natural variation in the thickness.

Carlos840 · Jul 4, 2020

I'm not sure about this "natural variation" in thickness thing.
Leather comes out of the cow or horse much thicker than what we see on jackets, something like 5mm.
The leather is then split to desired thickness at the tannery, it just so happens that aero uses 3-3.5oz CXL.
The variation in thickness from batch to batch might be due to the machine being setup slightly differently, not a cow bing thicker than the other.

TREEMAN · Jul 4, 2020

Full grain is not split........

Carlos840 · Jul 4, 2020

TREEMAN said:
Full grain is not split........

It is, you just use the top part...

AeroFan_07 · Jul 4, 2020

You can check it all out right here:

Carlos840 · Jul 4, 2020

AeroFan_07 said:
You can check it all out right here:

Thanks, 2:03...

TREEMAN · Jul 4, 2020

I stand corrected.........

ton312 · Jul 4, 2020

Yeah you can get CXL all the way up to 10oz I believe. Obviously not jacket leather. Aero spec’s at 3-3.5. I’ve had two jackets, both steer in the 4oz range. You can certainly feel the difference.

oskar · Jul 5, 2020

Thanks for the help. I have the question after a discussion. Someone said that the fqhh cxl hides that aero uses differ quite a bit in thickness. I just belueve that it has to do more with the softness of this particular skin. The hide only appears to be thicker

Guppy · Jul 5, 2020

oskar said:
Thanks for the help. I have the question after a discussion. Someone said that the fqhh cxl hides that aero uses differ quite a bit in thickness. I just belueve that it has to do more with the softness of this particular skin. The hide only appears to be thicker

I can tell you they definitely use a range of leather weights, from 2.5-4.0+ oz.

ton312 · Jul 5, 2020

Guppy said:
I can tell you they definitely use a range of leather weights, from 2.5-4.0+ oz.

Agreed. I’ve had a CXL steerhide HB in 4oz and the others in 3-3.5. It’s not related to the hand or feel of the leather. It’s a measurable difference. They don’t always have the super heavy stuff either. If that’s want you want be very specific and be prepared to wait. In fact ask to wait if they can’t make you an 8lb plus jacket (should that be the goal).

ton312 · Jul 5, 2020

Edit: if you are strictly looking at FQHH I believe 3.5oz is the max weight. You will not receive a 4.0 oz FQHH jacket in CXL. It could happen with steer, not with FQHH. At least as far as I know. I’ve owned a fair number in both hides. Never that heavy in FQHH.

Seb Lucas · Jul 5, 2020

Pretty sure ( but I could be wrong) Ken advised us here a few years ago that 3oz is the thickest Aero uses. The difference tends to be in the tanning and use of waxes. I had a hide that even after 10 years was so stiff I couldn't enjoy wearing it.

Guppy · Jul 5, 2020

Seb Lucas said:
Pretty sure ( but I could be wrong) Ken advised us here a few years ago that 3oz is the thickest Aero uses. The difference tends to be in the tanning and use of waxes. I had a hide that even after 10 years was so stiff I couldn't enjoy wearing it.

They used to use heavier, up to at least 4oz+, but I think they announced maybe about a year ago that they were dropping that due to the difficulty of working with such heavy material. I think they are maxing out at 3.5oz now. But I could be wrong.

Harris HTM · Jul 5, 2020

Seb Lucas said:
The difference tends to be in the tanning and use of waxes.

This is also what I think. Due to the tanning process and probably higher intrusion of waxes, the denisty of the material becomes higher (= heavier for same thickness).

Seb Lucas said:
Ken advised us here a few years ago that 3oz is the thickest Aero uses

They still advertise their steerhide as 4oz, see snapshot from their website (just taken, http://www.aeroleatherclothing.com/product-detail.php?id=1295):

Seb Lucas · Jul 5, 2020

When I said 3oz I was referring to HH. I thought that we were discussing this. My mistake.

Edward · Jul 6, 2020

Monitor said:
There definitely is.
If I'm not mistaken and from what I understand, Aero will specifically select a hide of appropriate thickness for a certain style. For example, some jackets cannot be (easily) made in the heaviest CXL so a somewhat lighter leather will be used.

When I was looking at various hides for my Dustbowl, Aero advised specifically against CXL Steer, as it's too stiff for the pleating in the back panels to work properly.

Carlos840 said:
I'm not sure about this "natural variation" in thickness thing.
Leather comes out of the cow or horse much thicker than what we see on jackets, something like 5mm.
The leather is then split to desired thickness at the tannery, it just so happens that aero uses 3-3.5oz CXL.
The variation in thickness from batch to batch might be due to the machine being setup slightly differently, not a cow bing thicker than the other.

Would that not depend on whether the machine is designed so as to cut the leather to a certain thickness, or to remove a certain thickness?

CXL thickness

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