Stiffening Crazy Horse leather for a sunglass case?

[AWORKOFMARC]

Making a sunglass case for a friend....Anyone have some experience in stiffening Crazy Horse leather? Can it even be done? Cold water soak?  Resin coating?

Edited January 31, 2024 by AWORKOFMARC

[DieselTech]

I'm wondering if something like super sheen or resolene would stiffen it up. I've heard of people also putting melted wax of some sort to stiffen the leather also. 

[AWORKOFMARC]

37 minutes ago, DieselTech said:

I'm wondering if something like super sheen or resolene would stiffen it up. I've heard of people also putting melted wax of some sort to stiffen the leather also. 

I heard that wax is a method but not to do it bc it has a nasty habit of leeching out and permanently staining whatever it was on -- like car seats, furniture clothing etc.

[AWORKOFMARC]

I suppose I could always sandwich some sort of stiffener used in garment making in between a liner layer and the crazy horrse.. but that's  way more invloved.

[Handstitched]

Some cases that I have done , I soak the vt  leather,  mold , shape etc. and then put them out in the sun , or near our wood heater if its cold outside. They come out quite stiff  Then cut , shape,  dye, seal etc. 

Just a thought.

HS

[NatesLeatherGds]

8 hours ago, AWORKOFMARC said:

Making a sunglass case for a friend....Anyone have some experience in stiffening Crazy Horse leather? Can it even be done? Cold water soak?  Resin coating?

Boiling water? How much do you have to spare and experiment with ?

[SUP]

Soaking should work. Routinely done when molding leather, is it not? But will not  boiling water shrivel or shrink it like it does all veg-tanned leathers? 

Edited January 31, 2024 by SUP

[AWORKOFMARC]

I'll try the soaking method... thanks for the feedback.

I'll report back the results after some investigation on how I soak it in cold water properly.

[NatesLeatherGds]

56 minutes ago, SUP said:

Soaking should work. Routinely done when molding leather, is it not? But will not  boiling water shrivel or shrink it like it does all veg-tanned leathers? 

Might. YMMV. I've stiffened chrome leather with boiling or just off the boil water. Anyhow -- no promises, that's for sure. 

[SUP]

Crazy horse can be chrome tanned or veg-tanned, it appears.  @AWORKOFMARC you need to determine that first.  Chrome-tanned does not shrink or warp  in boiling water - one of the ways to determine if a piece of leather is veg-tanned or chrome-tanned.  You could try on a small sliver of the leather. See here: