Vegan (sort of) Leather

[tonyc1]

I just don't like ultimatums. I had a girlfriend, between wives, and she said I shouldn't go to the range and shoot on a Sunday morning, but go to church with her and her mother. Mother reckoned it was heathen. Guess what I chose! She said later she was wrong and tried to make amends but I'd already made up my mind and have been happy ever since.

Tony.

[NoRemorse]

Noah,

I haven't been LWing for very long, but I do craft a lot of stuff out of a lot of different materials (for fun, just to see if it will work). While I don't know of any Leatheresque materials that could be used as a substitute, azrider made a good suggestion..wood. I know wood can be molded and shaped into all sorts of shapes and things, and azrider said they had a decent attempt at tooling on it. Wood burning/stamping along with molding the wood, in my eyes could make an awesome sheath or even a pouch of some sort.

Go to your local hardware store or hobby shop and see if they have any balsa (or any other thin porous wood). Soak this in a pool of water for a day, and you should be able to bend it over on itself, than you could mold it to the knife, and sew it up, just like leather (well it will take some getting used to, but generally the same). once you figure out how to make one, try tooling one and then folding it over and continuing.

If you are more into the tooling side of the LWing, then; although it doesn't seem to be, silversmithing and hand etching are actually quite a close fit to tooling leather, in some respects. I don't know very much about silversmithing, so I will leave that to someone else...

As for a Leather replacement, as I said before I don't know of any..but, very heavy paper (maybe even posterboard?) would be thin but I think still carvable/toolable. Think vinyl, I don't think would hold a stamp, or any carving, but can give the "leathery feel" to a piece.

There is some information on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleather that may be of value, they have a section on vegitarian leather.

As for the girlfriend... relationships = compromise.. compromise = sacrifice.. There are many things in this world to sacrifice, love isn't usually one of them in my book.. but then again, this is coming from a hopeless romantic

I don't think the girlfriend part had anything to do with your post, so that is your own business, I wouldn't take relationship advice from a LW forum, ha ha

Hope this was helpful in the midst of chaos,

-NoRemorse

[cem]

I'm afraid there will be no compromise here. Poor Noah is going to have to choose between his hobby and his girl. Ah heck, it wouldn't be the first time that happened in history! Women are always making us men folk change our habbits and hobbies. And we DO IT damn fast too if we want to continue to enjoy our most favorite hobby..... the one we can't live without.

So, Noah ol' buddy.... suck it up, Dude. Take up golf or something, 'cause you ain't gonna win this one. At least not for a while. If it's that good, and apparently to you it is damn fine stuff, then you hang in there and wait until the little lady moves on to some other cause du jour and then you can take up the leather hobby again.

Good luck to you and I hope this post didn't OFFEND anyone.

Please don't lump all women in this category it works both ways you know, my response to Noah was from someone who has had to comprimise and not on a hobby but a career.

Noah I hope you find an alternative if what I suggested before definately isn't an option and that is up to you and your girlfriend to decide and putting designs on your knife sheaths is what you are interested in then you could possibly also look at carving in wax or clay (bas relief) then casting it into a flexible polyurethane and inlaying it into the kydex. If thats a possible alternative check out www.smoothon.com that should help you to get started.

Kind regards,

Clair

[NoahL]

Thank you for the help and suggestions, there have been a few recommendations that I hadn't thought of, and I definitely appreciate that. I had never thought of using cast polyurethane to simulate tooling on a kydex sheath--that may definitely be something to look into! I also believe someone mentioned artificial skin generation, which is something that I had read about before, but never applied to leather, and it would definitely be a cool thing to utilize! The use of green wood to take stamps had crossed my mind (I've accidentally "stamped" green wood before when I was a kid hitting things with a stick ) but I wasn't sure how well it would work, or if it would damage the wood to the point where it would not hold up, though I do know that you can carve and burn designs into wood, which could be another alternative. In regards to taking up silversmithing, I certainly will not say that I would never try it. Kangaroo leather was mentioned, and it got me thinking that there may be leather out there from animals that were most definitely not kept in bad conditions, killed for meat, etc. A horse, for instance, is more of a competition/companion animal, not a food source, so leather from a horse would most likely come from an animal that had died of natural causes or had been humanely put down, I assume, so is there horse leather out there that is obtainable and useable? I'm sure there are other animals that may also apply, I just can't think of them at the moment. Thanks!

Edited March 30, 2009 by NoahL

[Johanna]

Someone commented that this thread was like throwing a bleeding baby in a shark tank. I made a mental note to remember that line. I hope you got some good ideas, NoahL, and I hope you don't judge us all by a few. The time has come to close this topic now.

Johanna

[greg gomersall]

Regarding my comments on the Vegan leather thread the other day I would like to apologize for my rude, insensetive comments. Greg

[greg gomersall]

The apology I posted this morning which got moved to the bottom of the vegan thread was posted as an APRIL FOOL'S DAY post. I stand by my original comments. Greg

[greg gomersall]

My apology from this morning which got moved to the bottom of the vegan thread was part of an APRIL FOOL'S DAY joke. I stand by my original comments. If you choose to remove THIS post please delete my account at the same time. Greg