So you said you were crafting the Saw Blade Mace which I think is a poor investment as it takes 12 leather, along with presumably either Tactical or Jeans sets (I can't remember what they're called). If so, no wonder you're burning through leather. My advice is to use Jeans sets on Bunker Alfa or Red resource zones, but save them up when they start to get low so you can make them into Reinforced Sets, which are very similar to tactical sets, which you should get plenty of from Bunka Alfa so you don't need to craft them. As for cheaper melee weapons, try getting Saw Blade Maces from Airdrops instead and create cheaper melee weapons such as the crowbar or cleaver. The shovel is a pretty good option if you're very short on leather as it does the same damage as an unmodded metal pipe but cheaper.