cbeatti2

Hi there. Just to be 100% clear (and so I am not trying to do something silly to my project) are you talking about "Mop & Glo 3in1 Floor Shine Cleaner" (gives you the beautiful floor you deserve in one quick and convenient step)?

Thanks Bobby. That sure does help. I'll use the plastic wrap on my next project and figure out how to manage it properly. I know it's dry here in Calgary so perhaps that is part of the problem too...I was even thinking of putting the granite slab in the freezer beforehand to try to reduce evaporation, but maybe that is going too far. Clark

Hi I have been trying to prevent adding moisture to a job in progress, but I have come to the conclusion that this must be near impossible for larger jobs..those requiring several or more hours, or for thin leather such as a wallet. I am trying not to rush in order to make it quality, detailed work and therefore worth the time (plus I am just not that fast at it yet). Is it common practice to add some moisture (lightly dampened sponge/cloth) as the leather starts to dry? I've searched and read on casing leather but not much is said about what to do as the leather begins to dry out, although I did read where you could cover the untooled parts with a piece of glass...make sense but I would have to adjust my tooling process and switch tools a lot more, instead of doing most of the back-grounding first, then beveling, etc, and do one segment at a time to completion. What is considered best practice here? Thanks, Clark

Thanks again. I guess I can use the practice, and this time will be more observant as to the subtle changes from one piece to the next. That's good info about the cutting of the leather...I'll be more careful and pay better attention to how it behaves. Cheers! Clark

Hey there. Thanks for the replies. Now that I think about it more the last piece of leather did behave differently, in that it didn't have the air bubbles coming out of it like the first piece while passing through the casing formula. I didn't think much of it at the time unfortunately and assumed the two pieces to be from the same section of hide. The next day it didn't feel quite as cool to the touch either but again figured it was fine since I had even gone to the trouble of bagging it. It seemed fine (to me) when pulling the knife through but this is a fairly thin piece of leather and i suspect I don't have the feel for what's right and what's not right yet. I guess I will just have to take a few tough lessons before I get this leather tooling craft down. Do you think this piece is garbage now or can it be saved? It looks alright when it has a coating of neetsfoot oil on it, just turns ugly and dry looking once it dries out. For the casing formula I used: 1/2 cup Lexol conditioner 2 cups water 1 - 1 1/2 tablespoons "No More Tears" baby shampoo. Thanks!

Hi I am just starting out with leather working and therefore am not sure where I have gone wrong on one of my first projects. I am working on a small purse for my wife and while the first side of the purse turned out fine so far (to my eyes at least) the other side did not. I suspect I may have not cased it quite right, or perhaps I need to clean the leather before casing? I used the "no more tears" casing formula and bagged both pieces overnight, although at separate times. I have inserted an image of the good side and then the piece that doesn't look very healthy, despite a coating of neatsfoot oil which I thought would straighten it out. It just seems to dry out and has white areas so not sure where I went wrong, and whether I can fix it somehow. Thanks!