Casing question

[Kustomizer]

I'm working on my next motorcycle seat and having a bit of an issue casing the leather. I'm using a sponge and plenty of water as I have all the other times, but this piece of leather doesn't case very well, it acts as though there is some kind of protection on the leather and the water kind of beads up in a few areas. I can get it cased enough to use the swival knife on it, but not sure how it will react to tooling. Is there something I can do to it before I start tooling to try and correct this? Any idea's why it's doing it? It's 6-7 oz. vegtanned leather from Tandy.

[mendedbowl]

maybe try using a deglazer on the leather, and add some dish soap to your casing water to aid penetration.

ken

[whinewine]

I would take the whole entire piece back to tandy, tell them: 'lookie here!', show them what is happening when you try to wet it & see what they say & what they will do. This could have been a defect in tanning or could have happened anywhere along the way (crap spilled on it, forklift got 'stuff' on it, bad tanning in a section, junk leather itself- anything...) Take it back! Don't try to correct it yourself- it's probably not your fault. Put it back on tandy- they're generally pretty good about correcting. They don't need dissatisfied customers.

russ

[King's X]

I must have gotten the other side of that hide. I took the piece and placed it in my bathtub with cold water and left it there until all of the bubble stopped coming up. I think most toolers will tell you about 5 minutes, but this piece actually took almost 16 minutes before all the bubbles stop.

I then set it aside and allow it to return to a natural color. It was still hard to cut, so I stopped and recased it using a forumla I got from the members(here) using Listerine (Thanks Marlon), a teaspoon of neatsfoot oil, several drops of dish detergent (thanks Joanna) and cold water. I cased it good until it stopped sucking the water. I placed it it a plastic trash bag, but I didn't tie it off, I just folded over the end and placed it on my granite piece over night.

The next day, I took the leather piece out of the bag and let the leather sit until it turned back to the natural color. I also turned the trash bag inside out to allow it to dry for fear that mold would begin to grow. I could tell that the leather cut better and tooled nice with good burnish. Unfortunately, if you search here, I ended up having some major problems with the finishing. I just threw it away and chucked it as an experience. I ended up taking the leather hide back since I paid more that I thought it was worth and the Tandy Manager was nice enough to give me a credit and allow for an upgrade piece. I think you are right, it is just the process of the tanning.

No offense to Tandy because I buy other things there, but I am moving on Herman Oak at $99 a side fo 6-7 oz.

[Saddlebag]

I've never had good luck with Tandy leather. It's imported from who knows where. It's like some cheaps in the tanning processes.

[kevinhopkins]

I must have gotten the other side of that hide. I took the piece and placed it in my bathtub with cold water and left it there until all of the bubble stopped coming up. I think most toolers will tell you about 5 minutes, but this piece actually took almost 16 minutes before all the bubbles stop.

I then set it aside and allow it to return to a natural color. It was still hard to cut, so I stopped and recased it using a forumla I got from the members(here) using Listerine (Thanks Marlon), a teaspoon of neatsfoot oil, several drops of dish detergent (thanks Joanna) and cold water. I cased it good until it stopped sucking the water. I placed it it a plastic trash bag, but I didn't tie it off, I just folded over the end and placed it on my granite piece over night.

The next day, I took the leather piece out of the bag and let the leather sit until it turned back to the natural color. I also turned the trash bag inside out to allow it to dry for fear that mold would begin to grow. I could tell that the leather cut better and tooled nice with good burnish. Unfortunately, if you search here, I ended up having some major problems with the finishing. I just threw it away and chucked it as an experience. I ended up taking the leather hide back since I paid more that I thought it was worth and the Tandy Manager was nice enough to give me a credit and allow for an upgrade piece. I think you are right, it is just the process of the tanning.

No offense to Tandy because I buy other things there, but I am moving on Herman Oak at $99 a side fo 6-7 oz.

For what it's worth, you can use a mix of about 30% alcohol to 70% water and it will help with the initial problem. And it doesn't affect the finishing ability. Pretty much all of the "carve eze" recipes have a secondary effect like you experienced. They sure make it easier to cut with a swivel knife tho. And by the way, We've got Hermann oak for 4.79 per sq ft.

Kevin@springfieldleather.com