For generations, leather craft making has been in Joe Hovey’s family. His grandfather, Pedro Salinas and his father, Rodolfo Hovey, have used leather to make everything from simple ropes to saddles. If it could be made out of leather, they created it.
Now years later, Hovey is modernizing leather crafting by taking it a step further and making everyday household products, such as toilet seats and light switch covers.
“I enjoy working with leather because after you see the finished product, you get this sense of satisfaction,” Hovey said. “Everything I do, I do by hand which just adds to the accomplishment.”
Hovey first started taking up leather when he was in middle school. The first project he attempted was making a whip that according to Hovey “turned out mediocre.” But after a few more tries, the whips started coming out better and better.
Using bull hide that his dad and grandpa had skinned, Hovey would braid the whip until it met his satisfaction. Then he would braid rawhide to form the handle.
Moving on into high school, Hovey then began to venture into making horse reins. It was then that Hovey was first offered money for his craft.
“When my family made leather, we did it mainly for ourselves,” Hovey said. “But then, in high school, I had been offered some money for a set of reins. That opened a whole new set of doors for me.”
Hovey has been working with leather so long that his collection of tools and other leather equipment take up most of his home. In the area that he refers to as his leather station, Hovey has a wide selection of tools that he uses to tool designs on some projects. In another part of his house, he has hide after hide that he uses for everything.
“Hide is expensive,” Hovey said. “Half a hide can cost anywhere from $90 to $120, not to mention the gas money. I have to travel out of state to get the leather I need.”
Depending on the type of project that he’s working on, Hovey will cut his hide the length that he needs and then traces a pattern that he has designed himself onto it. Cutting that to shape, he then dampens the leather so that he can tool it. Selecting the tool Ð flower motic, basket weave, barbed wire, etc Ð he then takes a mallet and hammers it down into the leather. Picking up the tool, the design is inlaid on the leather.
Leather crafting is tedious work but for Hovey, it’s a passion that he sometimes loses himself in.
“When I work with leather, time just passes by,” he said. “I like that I can sit down to work and look up only to discover two hours have gone by. That’s how engrossed I get.”
Different projects take a different amount of time, depending on the size and detail of it. A drink hugger that fits a 12 ounce can, takes Hovey about two and a half hours to make. But on a reata, a braided rope out of rawhide, it takes him three days.
“Your taking 65 feet of rawhide and braiding it,” Hovey said. “After ever so often, you have to stop, pull the hide to stretch it and then start braiding again. It can be very tedious.”
Following in the footsteps of his grandfather and dad, Hovey is passing the art of leather crafting on to his son, Scott, who is taking it up as well.
“Leather will never go out of style,” Hovey said. “It’s handmade and hand stitched, making it tens better than what you can buy overseas. It also lasts longer. “
Hovey resides in Morganfield where he’ll continue his work with leather.
