How long can leather be?

[Tedwilliams94sox]

I see 10 meter and 50 meter spools of leather, but how long can leather be. If it is just coming straight from a hide, then how can it be that long? Is it in separate pieces?

[BretMan]

Well, first they start out with REALLY BIG cows...

You know, that's a good question and something I've never really thought about. The only spooled lacing I've ever bought was from Tandy's. Those spools were 50 feet in length- which sounds like a lot but is only equal to about eight 72" laces or twelve 48" laces. The typical modern fielder's glove uses in the neighborhood of 16 feet of lace.

I don't recall there being any breaks in the 50 foot spool, but there did seem to be portions where the lace took had an odd curvature and didn't seem to want to lay flat. Maybe there is some method of cutting continuous lace where, instead of one long straight-line cut, they curve the cut to make it longer.

In the link I posted on the other thread in this section (titled "LACES!"), the Leather Cord USA company has some "FAQ's" about lace making and there is some information about their spools of lace containing "splices". Might be worth a look and might contain the answer to your question.