Inadequate knife sharpness, or too much moisture. Ugly "drag line"

[LakeOtter]

I'm embarassed to ask this when I have experiented with tooling this long already. Seems fundamental or elementary.

I put red dots near what I mean. The slightly raised ridge lines with tiny stretch marks pulled along with them.

It's good leather; HO. I did have to stick it in the fridge overnight after tracing lines, to work more later on when I had more time, but that's going to happen a lot in my life.

If I'm moistening it too much, esp. to bag and refridgerate, I'll have to get a handle on it. t's more moist than the color looks here; a whack on a shader burnishes nicely.

If it's because my blade isn't sharp enough... I don't know what to do. I have worked at that art of sparpening until it will shave some skin off my thumb. Surely that's at least as sharp as some guys who do great and claim personal sharpening deficienies. It is stroped to mirror smooth and all.

I didn't start or end those visible lines very gracefully but, neverminding that --

...could I be cutting just too deeply? It's 9 or 10 oz. and it just didn't feel like I was cutting through too deeply relative to the leather's thickness.

But I guess going deep enough may force the line so wide, with a standard blade, that it eventually reaches the end of the bevel on the blade, even. Maybe that could cause pulling as well.

I'm a little lost on something here that's obviously such a beginner thing I should never have gone this long without asking.

Sometimes I luck up and only have this happen on one side of lines that I'm going to bevel enough to cover it up. Back beveling doesn't help as much, lol.

Thanks for your thoughts. Too moist and too deep?

Edited December 24, 2025 by LakeOtter
typo

[AlZilla]

6 hours ago, LakeOtter said:

. Seems fundamental or elementary

It's a good question and I'll be interested in what the mad geniuses here have to say. 

Does it happen before or after you refrigerate it? Or does it matter?

[DieselTech]

It looks like a combination of a couple things. Too wet & dull swivel knife. 

I have also seen belly leather do this. 

[chuck123wapati]

Let's see the blade and how you hold the tool.

Why do you put it in the fridge? It will stay too wet All you have to do is mist your work, then put some plastic wrap over it and seal it up. You don't have to rewet it to the point of soaking it, nor keep it that wet when not working. The idea is that you get it moist and keep it moist enough to work when you want to work it, not supposed to be a process of overwatering then waiting hours for it to dry every time you want to work.

PS, it takes years to learn to tool well. youre doing fine. Merry Christmas!!! 

[dikman]

Sounds like your blade is sharp, I reckon it's got too much moisture in it. I had a similar thing when I wanted to try something in a hurry, I dunked the leather in a bucket of water and started cutting not long after and had a similar result. I think the excess moisture makes it too soft and causes the leather to "grab" on the blade.

[JDFred]

If you’re keeping your blade vertical to the work, which it looks like you are since I don’t see any undercutting, it is probably too much moisture.  I’ve never had any success with the fridge method of casing it always comes out too wet for me.

[Handstitched]

@chuck123wapati

I use a spray bottle, it administers just the right amount of moisture, the leather stays moist enough throughout, but it did  take practice  to get it right.

I did try using a sponge in the early  days, but my carelessness caused the sponge to have a lil' spot of dye that ended up as a smudge  on the leather 

HS

[Mablung]

Having had a similar issue on the most recent carving I did, I'd say that looks like excessive moisture. I find the "wait until it dries to the point that it looks close to its natural, dry color" tip the most helpful, as far as assessing moisture goes. My swivel knife is not quite as sharp as yours but more than adequate, and once I let the leather dry sufficiently, I didn't have that wrinkling problem anymore.

[LakeOtter]

I want to thank everyone for their input on this!

I think I'm reasonably sharp on the blade but will keep an eye on angle (even subtle angle seems to matter when too moist), and the 'fridge method is keeping the leather a bit weird-moist including the very, very surface, at first (what with condensation adding to the mix).

To answer a question or two put forth and explain a bit further:

Isee to have no real issues, regarding moisture, when doing a small hat patch, or doing scrap practice, anything where I get the job done fast, including how much to moisten of keep moist all in one session.

But I want to make giant-breed dog collars (ornately tooled, decently, eventually). But I work slowly, just yet, and a belt or giant collar can take numerous sessions of slipt-up-time, as time allows.

My schedule is weird and it could take a couple days before I get back to a project, spend a while, skip two more days, etc...

And So:

1) Fridge option: I am afraid that leather kept moist all week, working off and on during "spare time", will rot or spoil after that long, unless it is refridgerated (but I'm inevitably staying too moist or weirdly-distributed moist)

2) Dry/Moist/Dry/Moist option: I am also afraid (and it would be nice if I were wrong...?) that if I just let the leather dry out completely (out on a shelf, open) and moisten it enough to tool more, and potentially repeat numerous times... this goes against my suspicions that yu are not supposed to let leather dry out completely if you have more tooling to do. Somewhere I got this in my head that it sort or work-hardens (?)... that a piece of Herman Oak leather wet, dried fully, then wet again won't tool quite like virgin Herman Oak anymore, and that it starts acting like cheaper or crummy leather the more you moisten and fully-dry and moisten again.

That's why I thought you had to retain some level of moisture until fully done tooling.

That would be great if concern #2 was non-existent, at least in terms of wetting/drying/wetting less than 4 or 5 time, lol. Then I'll just let 'er dry overnight and re-wet the next day/hour I have available to tool.

Otherwise, my second choice seems to be to compromise and let the leather's surface dry a bit out after taking out of the fridge so it behaves better, but isn't totally drying out between sparse sessions.

Eventually this 'fridge or no fridge / storing in between tooling options should become moot as my tooling speeds up and I just commit to get tooling done in one session, or at least to get the rest done the very next day (and then I can keep it covered at room temp like I think Chuck123wapiti was suggesting).

Thanks to Chuck and everyone who reads and answers my posts!

I tried to do this scrap fairly quickly... I can see where I messed up and/or can do way better, but I'll keep practicing. I had to blow out the pipes after being tied up for weeks (months really) and wanted to work toward a viable or practical speed (so definitely skipped the bargrounders for nlater, lol)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 02:52 AM by LakeOtter
typo

[chuck123wapati]

8 hours ago, LakeOtter said:

I want to thank everyone for their input on this!

I think I'm reasonably sharp on the blade but will keep an eye on angle (even subtle angle seems to matter when too moist), and the 'fridge method is keeping the leather a bit weird-moist including the very, very surface, at first (what with condensation adding to the mix).

To answer a question or two put forth and explain a bit further:

Isee to have no real issues, regarding moisture, when doing a small hat patch, or doing scrap practice, anything where I get the job done fast, including how much to moisten of keep moist all in one session.

But I want to make giant-breed dog collars (ornately tooled, decently, eventually). But I work slowly, just yet, and a belt or giant collar can take numerous sessions of slipt-up-time, as time allows.

My schedule is weird and it could take a couple days before I get back to a project, spend a while, skip two more days, etc...

And So:

1) Fridge option: I am afraid that leather kept moist all week, working off and on during "spare time", will rot or spoil after that long, unless it is refridgerated (but I'm inevitably staying too moist or weirdly-distributed moist)

2) Dry/Moist/Dry/Moist option: I am also afraid (and it would be nice if I were wrong...?) that if I just let the leather dry out completely (out on a shelf, open) and moisten it enough to tool more, and potentially repeat numerous times... this goes against my suspicions that yu are not supposed to let leather dry out completely if you have more tooling to do. Somewhere I got this in my head that it sort or work-hardens (?)... that a piece of Herman Oak leather wet, dried fully, then wet again won't tool quite like virgin Herman Oak anymore, and that it starts acting like cheaper or crummy leather the more you moisten and fully-dry and moisten again.

That's why I thought you had to retain some level of moisture until fully done tooling.

That would be great if concern #2 was non-existent, at least in terms of wetting/drying/wetting less than 4 or 5 time, lol. Then I'll just let 'er dry overnight and re-wet the next day/hour I have available to tool.

Otherwise, my second choice seems to be to compromise and let the leather's surface dry a bit out after taking out of the fridge so it behaves better, but isn't totally drying out between sparse sessions.

Eventually this 'fridge or no fridge / storing in between tooling options should become moot as my tooling speeds up and I just commit to get tooling done in one session, or at least to get the rest done the very next day (and then I can keep it covered at room temp like I think Chuck123wapiti was suggesting).

Thanks to Chuck and everyone who reads and answers my posts!

I tried to do this scrap fairly quickly... I can see where I messed up and/or can do way better, but I'll keep practicing. I had to blow out the pipes after being tied up for weeks (months really) and wanted to work toward a viable or practical speed (so definitely skipped the bargrounders for nlater, lol)

Your tooling is looking good !!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Put your mind at ease by testing out your myth, tool scrap, let it dry right on your tooling bench, then re-wet it and tool it and see if your worries are even real. OR I use one of these. They work well for a few days and will keep your leather or whatever you put in it moist until it actually gets moldy. https://www.dickblick.com/products/masterson-sta-wet-palette-seal/  They come with a pad liner you wet, then place some plastic wrap between that and your leather.

Edited Sunday at 11:26 AM by chuck123wapati