rjdankert

Dave, thanks for replying. I have a well and the water is VERY hard. However, I have one tap with soft water only. I'll try this on some scrap for the heck of it. I've also got some wood bleach on hand to experiment with. I have read a few posts on casing. It seemed to me that they dampened the whole piece of leather. I'll do some more searching. thanks again, Bob

Hi, this is my first post. I am retired and my main hobby is woodworking. I've lately had a desire to try a little leather working. I am starting with sheaths. So far just for hatchets - simple and utilitarian. On my latest sheath I decided it would be better to form it to this particular hatchet. I used 8-9 oz veg leather from the local Tandy. I glued a welt in with non water resistant contact cement. I dampened the leather just where I wanted to form it (didn't want the glue part to get wet). I held it under a facuet (cold water) just long enough so it felt plyable. I put the hatchet in it and held it in place for a couple of hours. Took it out and let it dry. I was very happy with the shape BUT... I ended up with water marks between where the leather was wet and dry. So my questions are how to avoid these stains and how can they be removed? thanks, Bob