We see a lot of great products here at BestLeather. We’re always on the hunt for quality leather goods to showcase, and every once in a awhile we get the opportunity to review something that really stands out. The Leather Head Sports Burgundy Chromexcel 12lb Medicine Ball is one of those products. Read on and find out why.
ABOUT LEATHER HEAD SPORTS
Leather Head Sports was founded by Paul Cunningham, the former Photo Editor for Major League Baseball. After leaving the MLB he gained valuable experience as the senior baseball glove craftsman at a small glove importer. Wanting to break away from creative confines, he founded Leather Head Sports whose signature Lemon Ball Baseballs and Leather Head Footballs have gained a lot of popularity. Heck, one of his footballs can be seen being carried by Bradley Cooper’s character in Silver Linings Playbook! And with everything being handmade in their New Jersey workshop, what’s not to like?
CONSTRUCTION
Leather Head Sports offers medicine balls in several different sizes and color options. They even offer custom weight ranges if you want a graduated set. The model we’re reviewing is the Burgundy Chromexcel 12lb model. As the name implies, it’s constructed of very thick 5oz Horween Chromexcel full grain leather. It’s weighty interior is actually full of shredded leather scraps generated from all the goods they manufacture. The 7 long panels and 2 circular panels are sewn with polyester thread and lock stitched twice for extra strength. Leather Head states the weights can vary slightly, this ball weighed 11lbs 9oz, still very hefty!
FUNCTION
Once you’ve acclimated to the sheer presence of this piece, you’ll see that it is a medicine ball and meant for exercise. While it looks great on a bookshelf next to a few trophies, its true home is in your hands doing some ab work. Medicine balls might seem like a relic of the past, meant for boxers of a bygone era as a tool to toughen up the core. They still do however offer great resistance options for crunches, lunges, and squats. After a workout, this ball doesn’t stop there. I found it makes an excellent armrest on the couch while watching TV. Even my 5 month old daughter was intrigued by this strange stuffed animal! Handling the ball is truly a sensory experience. The weight in your hands, the smell of the leather and the shade of deep burgundy all add to the fun of handling the ball.
AESTHETIC
I could extol on the beauty of this piece all day long. All of Leather Head Sport’s products have that wonderful nostalgic vibe and the medicine ball delivers in every capacity. It simply looks amazing from every angle. You can see no corners were cut (Well I’m sure plenty of corners were cut to make it, I was speaking figuratively) in its fabrication. The rawhide lace is tight and the cursive Leather Head branding harkens back to an era of American made prowess seldom experienced from consumer goods. Much like a Swingline 333 or a Braun ET66, the Leather Head 12lb Medicine Ball not only performs well, it does so with brilliant style.
CONCLUSION
At $350 dollars this might seem like an extravagance for most. However, imagine a man in a workshop. He’s leaning over a table cutting leather, hunched on a stool sewing the seams, expertly lacing everything together. Sometimes you find a product that is worth the splurge, especially when you consider what went into it and the fun you’ll have owning it. Leather Head Sports Burgundy Chromexcel 12lb Medicine Ball is a perfect example of that.
Leave a Reply