How do I sand leather

[Tommy217xxx]

I recently picked up a bench mounted belt sander for cleaning up my work. It seems like I’m making more dust then actually making my work look better. 
 

What grit belt do I use? Also do I apply pressure? I’ve been putting my leather on the table and moving it back and forth. I’ve been working with 3 layers on 2-3oz chrome tan leather.

 

Thanks tj

[toxo]

This is a question that needs addressing. I feel that many of the videos that are out there are misleading inasmuch as hard thick leather is used or the amount of work involved in burnishing is understated. I too have found that the initial sanding raises so much more fibres than expected and I realise that a lot more work is needed to be done and wished I'd left it alone in the first place.

[Dwight]

You need to do 3 things:

1:  get 120 or 150 grit sandpaper . . . and you may even want to to up to 180 or 200.  It looks like you have 80 or 60 grit on there now . . . and it is way too coarse.  You also might want to  hook up a vacuum to the sander . . . I did with mine . . . it grabs the dust and makes a better experience.

2:  move your machine so there is almost zero distance between the sandpaper and the shelf on which the leather will sit.  Mine would not move so I made a topper for the table . . . out of 3/16 basswood plywood and contact cemented it to the table.  I purposely changed the sanding belt . . . and then placed the plywood shelf up so it was just barely touching the sandpaper.  When I started it up . . . it sanded the plywood slightly . . . but left a VERY THIN space between the shelf and the sandpaper . . . THAT is the desired effect.

3:  make sure your table is exactly 90 degrees angled from the sandpaper.  I sometimes have a problem with seeing my project . . . so I outline where I want the sanding to go with a black ball point pen . . . and I sand it until the ink line just disappears . . . works perfectly.

The technique is to slide the project back and forth . . . barely touching for chrome tanned . . . you can apply a bit more pressure with veg tan . . . especially if it is layered thicker . . . like a knife sheath or holster.

When you have your desired edge . . . comes the final tricky part you need to do.

Turn your project over and VERY LIGHTLY touch the sandpaper.  It will take off a little "edge" that the earlier sanding produced.

Try it . . . you'll like it.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Tommy217xxx]

10 minutes ago, Dwight said:

You need to do 3 things:

1:  get 120 or 150 grit sandpaper . . . and you may even want to to up to 180 or 200.  It looks like you have 80 or 60 grit on there now . . . and it is way too coarse.  You also might want to  hook up a vacuum to the sander . . . I did with mine . . . it grabs the dust and makes a better experience.

2:  move your machine so there is almost zero distance between the sandpaper and the shelf on which the leather will sit.  Mine would not move so I made a topper for the table . . . out of 3/16 basswood plywood and contact cemented it to the table.  I purposely changed the sanding belt . . . and then placed the plywood shelf up so it was just barely touching the sandpaper.  When I started it up . . . it sanded the plywood slightly . . . but left a VERY THIN space between the shelf and the sandpaper . . . THAT is the desired effect.

3:  make sure your table is exactly 90 degrees angled from the sandpaper.  I sometimes have a problem with seeing my project . . . so I outline where I want the sanding to go with a black ball point pen . . . and I sand it until the ink line just disappears . . . works perfectly.

The technique is to slide the project back and forth . . . barely touching for chrome tanned . . . you can apply a bit more pressure with veg tan . . . especially if it is layered thicker . . . like a knife sheath or holster.

When you have your desired edge . . . comes the final tricky part you need to do.

Turn your project over and VERY LIGHTLY touch the sandpaper.  It will take off a little "edge" that the earlier sanding produced.

Try it . . . you'll like it.

May God bless,

Dwight

Thank you Dwight. My belt is an 80 grit b/c that’s what it came with. I’m gonna do all your suggestions and we shall see.

[kgg]

15 hours ago, Tommy217xxx said:

What grit belt do I use?

I do agree with @Dwight but the grit of the sand paper selected has a lot to do with the speed of the machine. Too course a grit say 60 at slow speeds will tear chunks out while too fine a grid at high speed will burn. I use 120 grit on my machine which is a modified variable speed bench mounted buffer with a 4 3/4" long X 3"diameter sanding disk at 3400 rpm. 

kgg