Wax dipped leather punching mat.

[SUP]

Others have probably tried this already but since I discovered it new for myself, I thought of putting it up here.

I use thick leather splits as punching mats. I often also use a block of wax. I sometimes place the split piece on the wax block so that even if the punch goes through, it just gets lubricated with wax.

When I was last melting the wax block to smoothen it, I  dipped the leather split piece in  the melted wax. I let it absorb for a minute or two on both sides and then kept it aside to dry. It dried hard, harder than the original split and it works well as a punching mat.

For the wax, I used a mix of paraffin wax and beeswax. Plain paraffin is too brittle and pure beeswax is too sticky. Together, they work well for me, both in block form as well as in the punching mat.

 

 

 

Edited May 18 by SUP

[dikman]

"Smoothen"? I had to look that up and yes, it's a word. In all my 76 years I've never heard it before.  I finally learned a new word.

[SUP]

😄

What word do you use in its place?

Edited May 20 by SUP

[RockyAussie]

Very good tip. Thanks for sharing.

 

[jrdunn]

18 hours ago, SUP said:

😄

What word do you use in its place?

Maybe SLICKIFY???  

[Hags]

Beware of using wax before staining. 

[SUP]

57 minutes ago, Hags said:

Beware of using wax before staining. 

I only use wax on pieces of splits that I use as pounding boards. I do not stain or dye those pieces. 

But when using wax to harden leather, certainly. 

As @fredk has explained in another thread, 

'This was one of the ways that leather armour was made, from the early Roman times up to the 19th century. see cuir bouilli'

So a new use for an old technique. New to me, anyway.  Isn't that nice?    🙂

3 hours ago, jrdunn said:

Maybe SLICKIFY???  

😄Certainly more illustrative of the result than boring old 'smoothen'.

 

[fredk]

This is a clever idea

What thickness of leather are you using for your stamping pad?

[SUP]

3-4 mm at least.

I got 2 huge sides of splits during a Black Friday sale but they are of different thicknesses. I just cut them up from one side, and make usable pieces. The current one is one of the thinner pieces, because the split has a very variable thickness all through. Without the wax, they gradually get floppy. Let's see what happens with the waxed one.

[dikman]

SUP, I've always just used "smooth".  Anyhow, it's an interesting idea you have there. I have plenty of paraffin wax that I bought to re-wax a jacket and don't have any other use for it, plus plenty of beeswax, plus some old hard leather from a very old saddle, might have to give this idea some thought.

[SUP]

1 minute ago, dikman said:

SUP, I've always just used "smooth". 

I guess it is just a matter of what we were taught in school. Like 'among' and amongst' or 'smelled' and 'smelt'

Anyway, do describe your experience here if you do wax some leather for a punching mat.