The guiding principle in determining the right stingray skin for your product is that the usable surface area on a stingray skin is typically a square panel two inches less than the width of the skin. For example, the usable surface area of a 10” stingray skin is approximately an 8” x 8” square.

Any panel 11” x 11” or smaller can be covered by one skin. That is because the market for defect-free stingray skin larger than 13” is scarce. Any panel that is that size or smaller will require only one skin 2” larger than the size of your panel.

If either dimension of your panel is larger than 11”, the panel will need to be broken into four quadrants covered by four separate stingray skins. In this case, the size of the skin required will be ½ of the largest dimension plus 2. For example, if you need to cover a panel that is 14” wide x 8” long, you divide 14 by 2 and add 2 (14/2+2=9). As a result, you need four 9” skins.

This assumes grade 1 skins only. Make sure you ask for that. Otherwise, 20-30% of your stingray skins will likely have holes in the center square.

Here is a quick step-by-step summary of how to select the right stingray skin and how many to cover each panel:

1. What are the dimensions of each panel?
2. For panels with both dimensions 11” or smaller, you will need one skin 2” larger than the largest dimension.
3. For panels with either dimension larger than 11”, you will need four skins 2” larger than half of your largest dimension.
4. Add up all stingray skins in each size to place your order as stingray skin is priced by size.
5. Remember to ask for grade 1 skins only.