Leather Weight/Thickness Conversion Calculating

When people want to buy leather, one of the things that confuses them the most is deciding how thick the leather should be.

 

How to Measure Leather Thickness?

Leather thickness is usually measured in ounces. One ounce is equal to 0. 4 millimeters or 1/64 of an inch. Most online stores that sell leather don’t show the thickness in inches, so we will mainly use ounces and millimeters to measure it.

This helpful chart will assist you when you need a certain leather thickness for your crafting projects.

 

How can you check how thick leather is?

In Canada and the USA, leather thickness is usually measured in ounces. This leather measurement shows how thick it is instead of measuring its weight like usual. If you are buying from Canada or the USA, it's important to know about ounce measurements. This helps you get the right thickness of leather for your project.

How thick is each ounce of leather?

One ounce of leather equals 0.4mm (1/64 inch). 16mm or 1/16 of an inch equals 4 ounces, and so on. To quickly change measurements, take a look at our chart for leather thickness below. Please remember that the thickness of each leather piece can be different across the entire hide. The chart below shows these differences.

Please remember that leather can be different thicknesses.

Leather is a material made from animal skin. Like all living things, animals will always be a bit different from each other. This will explain why most leather comes in different thicknesses. As mentioned before, common sizes are 1-2 ounces, 4-5 ounces, 6-7 ounces, 8-9 ounces, and so on.

In reality, this small difference in thickness probably won’t change the result of your leather project.

Choose the Right Leather for Your Project
Here's a simple example of the usual thickness for your project.

1-2 oz Leather

The leather is about 0. 4 to 0.8 millimeters thick This thickness is commonly used for garments, mittens, gloves, hats and small leather goods. This leather weight is mainly used for projects that need to be soft and flexible.

4-5 oz Leather

This leather will be about 1. 6 to 2.0 mm thick. Common items made from this type of leather are lightweight wallets, leather masks, coin pouches, clutches, small cases, and lightweight notebook covers. This weight is good for projects that need to be light and flexible.

6-7 oz Leather

This leather is about 2.4 to 2.8 mm ounces thick. This leather weight is mainly used to make camera bags, notebook covers, slim belts, knife holders, and small gun holsters. This weight is both flexible and strong, making it good for many projects, and it can also be used for shaping or cutting.

 

8-9 oz Leather

The leather is about 3. 2 to 3.6 millimeters thick This thickness is commonly used for belts, medium to large holsters, and saddlebags. This leather weight is mainly used for projects that need to be strong and firm.

 

Try it out yourself.

The examples above are just suggestions for beginners in leather crafting. After working on a few projects, you will get a good feel for the leather thickness you like best. We always suggest that beginners buy leather scraps on eBay when they're first starting out. Leather scraps are useful for small projects and let you try out various types of leather. One big advantage of leather scraps is that you save a lot of money instead of buying whole pieces of leather.