cmgee67 wrote:carlson1 wrote:I am not for sure if I bought bullhide or horse hide. What do you think makes the better belt?
I don't buy into the horse hide craze. Supposedly it it suppose to hold up to sweat a lot better and from others I've heard tougher but more often than not I see guys posting about how the horse hide has gotten soft and is no good anymore. Which makes sense. A bull hides a lot thicker than horse.
Going by their length limitations, I would assume like other high end horse leather products they are using the butt, or Cordovan leather. It definitely is the toughest leather out there.
It has no grain direction, therefore, it cannot crack and will last a lifetime. Highest quality shoes have used it for centuries. Regular leather eventually cracks out in the toe bends. In archery, it's the premium used in string tabs for your fingers, as it cannot be worn out like cow leather, but we can only get it in small scraps, if we can find it at all. The market for it is tight, as there's somewhat a monopoly on the stuff.
It also is extremely moisture resistant which is why leather galoshes were once made of it. It's also very tedious and expensive to tan, and because it's limited in size, because it's only located under the rump, it's limited in length.
By it's nature, it "should" make a much better belt, as over time, cow leather changes from repeated bending and stress, where I know from experience Cordovan never changes no matter how much you abuse it. But, the devil is in the details on what and how these belts are constructed.