instroke case pocket finish question

[jer9ball]

I have an instroke cowboy, leather case. Where the pockets are sewn onto the case, the material is not folded over. So, the edge of the material is exposed. I have heard that this means the case is vinyl. How do I know for sure if my case is vinyl or leather? I've seen several other instroke cowboy cases that have the material folded over where the pocket is sewn to the case. Why would there be a difference?

thanks,
jeremy

[Kokopuffs]

Did you check the responses at AZBILLIARDS where you made your initial post? Please do.

[skor]

If you can't tell between leather and vinyl then my guess is that you never saw leather in your life,
come on it's not that hard

If you can't tell between leather and vinyl then my guess is that you never saw leather in your life,
come on it's not that hard

Skor: If you think it is that easy, my guess is you've been suckered alot of times in your life.

[skor]

the easiest way to tell (but not the safest):
try to burn it with a cigarette, the leater will not burn the vynil will.
I accualy did it once to a leather jacket that I bought, I did it in the store before I payed for it just to make sure, the sales person didn't mind because he knew that it was real leather and that it wouldn't burn,
so to your statment dear guest I'm no sucker :)

[Neil Fujiwara]

Wow, that is a neat trick, I have to try that sometime. Hopefully I don't set anyone on fire.

[jer9ball]

Well, good tip...but I'm not sure it is practical in this particular case. I'm just a skeptic trying to make sure I get what I pay for.

jeremy

[skor]

Jeremy,

vynil looks to good the texute of it is perfect and you'll see the patern over and over, Leater is not perfect looking like there is no such thing as perfect in nature

[Kokopuffs]

Leather, by nature, has natural flaws in its texture hence its 'uneven' appearance.

[jer9ball]

Leather, if not top-grain, can have a finish applied that looks like grain, but it isn't. It is manufactured. Plus it is dyed, and shined up. Makes it hard to tell from vinyl if you don't cut into it.

In an effort to learn the differences in leathers and vinyl, I went to a furniture store that has samples of all different leathers and synthetics. Some synthetics seem more like leather than leather...and some leather I would have sworn was vinyl. Go figure. At least I know know the difference between top-grain, nubuck, and so on. :)

cheers,
jer9ball

[sonnic]

so your claiming that leather and vinyl are the same apperance wise? I am not sure but the price isn't the same ill tell you that. I am in the market for a case but i have a hard time justifying it because i would rather spend the 300-400 on a new predator. and keep it in a regualar hard case. Ill probibly catch a backlash for this but What is the differece??? I dont care so much about the apperance of my game, its the performance i am concerned with and there isn't anything about a $400 case that will improve anything but a bigger hole in my pocket.

[skor]

sonnic,
you are right if you just take your cue, put it in the car, drive to the pool hall, get it out, shoot some pool and back home.
BUT if you travel you'll need a good case to protect your cues not just from someone who'll drop it but from temperature changes as well, now days the air lines do not allow you to bring the cue up to the cabinet with you and in the luggage area the temperature drops a lot,
a good case that will protect your cues cost a lot regardless of what it's made of.

[New Kid In The Hall]

That P2 ultra leather feels better than real leather....

[instroke]

Jeremy,

Did I understand on another board that our case came with a "real leather" tag? Instroke includes these only on the cases that are leather. So if you got one then you likely got a leather case.

As to the differences in leather types.

Top Grain used to refer to the top layer of skin with uncorrected grain pattern. In other words the leather would be dehaired and then tanned but the surface would otherwise be unaltered except for whatever particular finish would be used. Now however, tanneries and leather distributers use "top grain" to mean the top layer with either the unaltered pattern or a corrected (embossed) grain pattern.

All split leathers have embossed grain patterns. Generally, Instroke does not use splits for the Cowboy series but we have occassionally been forced to due the the wild fluctuations in availability and price caused by BSE (Mad Cow Disease). Whenever cattle is destroyed it is cremated whole rather than allowing the leather to be used. Thus the price goes up and the supply goes down. Whenever we use splits though we have made sure that the quality was as good or better than the top grain we normally use.

If you can email me a digital picture of your case I can tell you exactly what the material is and where it came from.

John