Crate from Africa just arrived and I have decided to have some boots and belts made from the croc hide. Talking to my taxidermist step one is to have the hide tanned into leather. He knows of one tannery that does good work with this, Specialty Leather in Iowa. Does anyone know of other good outfits that do this type of work? Just want to be able to compare some prices but more important is that the work is done right.

Next step will be to find someone to make the boots and belts. I have no ideas at this point so any advice would be appreciated.

You won't get a better price or quality, speciality Leather is a good tannery.

Take caution prior to spending the $$ on tanning the Croc. In my experience, large Crocs are not suitable for making leather products as the scales are too big. Placemats yes, boots no. Ideal Croc size for leather is 7-8 foot, which is well below the average trophy size. JMO from what I know of it. Call Loveless and ask them.

Good point lionhunter, a couple of small areas on the belly are about all you can use for leather on a very large croc.

i will be receiving a gun case made from a 15 foot croc i shot 2 years ago. i only saved the belly/legs/neck part of the hide.the skin was glazed tan in RSA and is beautiful. i had a 14 ft croc belly hide tanned in the states and the result was a dull brown finish. had a couple of pairs of boots, 2 belts and a few small items made from it. junked the rest. if the workmanship on the case matches the beauty of the tanned hide, it will be spectacular. i will post picture when i get it. for smaller items such as wallets, shoes, etc., for sure you need the finer grain leather found around the legs, neck. for larger items couch as gun cases and belts, the belly hide will do nicely. for sure, the back skin is unusable for almost anything except a rug. for absolute sure ask if the tannery does glaze(garment) tanning or regular tanning. the difference is a dull, unattractive finish versus a shiny finish like you expect to see on high end leather products. ask yourself- when was the last time you saw a pair of alligator cowboy boots finished with a flat dull look? same thing for a wallet. i learned the hard way.

I sent emails to both Specialty Leather and Loveless and both say pretty much the same as y'all have. The good news is that the cost of tanning is about 1/3 of what I was estimating as they measure the width and not the length in determining price. So, I have decided to go ahead and have the whole hide tanned for leather goods, and they do go thru a shinning process, and then I will take pictures next to a ruler for scale and send them to Loveless to see what can be made. I figure anything that cannot be used I can at least lay it out for display.

Thanks guys,

AMTAN American tanning and leather does a good job, they did my last alligator. However if having things made into shos, etc ehre the leather is going to be stretched, and maybe treatet or made wet, I would definitively ask the (boot) maker what exact shade and from who to have it tanned, as some colors will change when they are stretched and or wetted to be put into a last.