Curing leather in the oven

[midgardworkshop]

Hello!

Quick question: I'm considering curing a canteen I made in my oven, it's made of 5-6oz veg, no oils or finish as I'm thinking either beeswax or envirotex as a finish.  Will curing the leather in the oven darken it?  It's painted so I'd rather not darken it excessively if I can get away with it.  want it fairly solid and durable.

 

Cheers

 

Nathan Carlson

Midgard Workshop 

[chuck123wapati]

dont cook your leather, an oven is to hot.

[TomE]

Not sure what "curing" leather is but if you're interested in hardening leather you can search the forums for "hardening leather."  One method is to use low heat to work stearic acid (a long chain fatty acid) into the leather.

[Handstitched]

2 hours ago, midgardworkshop said:

Will curing the leather in the oven darken it? 

Its not a good idea. Example: When I make knife cases etc. I wet mold using molds, templates and so on. In Winter , its cold and wet outside, so  I put all my molded cases ( up to a doz.)  next to the wood stove in the house, thats enough to harden the leather, or, if its dry outside, I put them in a sunny spot. . Its approaching Summer here in Oz, so just the ambient temps in my workshop  is enough to harden  leather.  Leaving  natural leather out in the sun  for long enough will darken it anyway. 

I have never put my leather projects in the oven , and  besides, I would not want my  roast beef or my potato bake  or anything else I've made  tasting like  the inside of my leather workshop ...LOL  

@chuck123wapati "dont cook your leather" , I prefer Beef or Pork , lol 

HS

Edited November 1, 2023 by Handstitched

[Dwight]

140 deg F is the max temperature you want to go with hardening leather  . . . and we're talking about veggie tanned leather.

Wet it . . . form it . . . and hang it in the 140 deg hot box . . . 

When it is fully . . . fully dry . . . dunk it again . . . let it soak up the water pretty good . . . not sopping sloppy wet . . . just wet . . . put it back in.

It WILL BE hard when you are done.

Paint is an unknown to me . . . never put it in the heat.

May God bless,

Dwight

[chuck123wapati]

1 hour ago, Handstitched said:

Its not a good idea. Example: When I make knife cases etc. I wet mold using molds, templates and so on. In Winter , its cold and wet outside, so  I put all my molded cases ( up to a doz.)  next to the wood stove in the house, thats enough to harden the leather, or, if its dry outside, I put them in a sunny spot. . Its approaching Summer here in Oz, so just the ambient temps in my workshop  is enough to harden  leather.  Leaving  natural leather out in the sun  for long enough will darken it anyway. 

I have never put my leather projects in the oven , and  besides, I would not want my  roast beef or my potato bake  or anything else I've made  tasting like  the inside of my leather workshop ...LOL  

@chuck123wapati "dont cook your leather" , I prefer Beef or Pork , lol 

HS

Elk is on my menu!!! Beef? vt leather is beef LOL me too but the parts under the hide are much tastier not that leather hasn't been eaten by starving people many times in the past.

[Doc Reaper]

I understand what you are trying to do, I made a friction sheath and "cured" it by the method you speak of.

There's an oven you can make using a type of heat lamp, I believe it's a radiant lamp, and the build is fairly easy and doesn't cost that much to make. The interior temperature is around 120 to 170 and you might be able to search for it on here by looking for "heat box" or "drying box"

[Double Daddy]

1 hour ago, Doc Reaper said:

There's an oven you can make using a type of heat lamp, I believe it's a radiant lamp, and the build is fairly easy and doesn't cost that much to make. The interior temperature is around 120 to 170 and you might be able to search for it on here by looking for "heat box" or "drying box"

Doc - See the last post in this thread - 

 

To the OP - you can use the heat emitting lamps, as Doc pointed out...they work great (I built a drying/"hot" box in the attached thread). A person could make their cabinet's workings as simple or complex as their mechanical aptitude allows. It's the temperature that you are after. Good luck!

 

[sheathmaker]

An electric hair dryer works wonders for hardening leather.  I have had one plugged in on my work bench for years.  Used mostly for speedier drying but it will harden leather too.

[Dwight]

This is my "hot box"  sits on the wall outside my leather shop . . . has a thermometer up near the top so I know what the temp is up there.

I hang everything on strings . . . usually 1/4 or 1/3 of the way down.

Never has hurt anything I've put in there . . . and IT DOES harden em up.

May God bless,

Dwight

[fredk]

I keep sniggering. A 'hot box' means somat else here

Another way is for your 3 year old daughter sneak it off your work bench and hide it amongst the tomato plants in your green house, and you not find it for 3 weeks, long after you've made another for your friend

No 3 year old handy? plenty of parents will lend you one for a day

Sorry, I'm just being silly

[Handstitched]

6 hours ago, sheathmaker said:

An electric hair dryer works wonders for hardening leather.  I have had one plugged in on my work bench for years.  Used mostly for speedier drying but it will harden leather too.

 I got a cheapie hair dryer that I use on my bench. Also handy for when its cold during Winter and dyes don't dry well. I also put it  under my shirt when its cold in the mornings

HS

[Hags]

I have used my wife's oven on the bread proofing setting before. Not really impressed. I use a hairdryer a lot more.

[Bert03241]

I use a toaster over very low setting like 120

[fredk]

I wonder if the title of this thread could be changed to 'Drying leather in the oven'

imo 'curing' leather is quite different from what is being asked and discussed 

[Handstitched]

On 11/2/2023 at 4:39 AM, fredk said:

I keep sniggering. A 'hot box' means somat else here

We used to use a ' hot box' ( 4 reinforced foam panels with  a roof and a few heat lamps) to keep  our  Gelcoats warm when making F/G swimming pools, otherwise they won't go through the spray guns . We also kept our waxes for the molds  in there too .  

HS