wet leather

[dustin29]

Thanks for the input guys. I will definetly try these methods and decide what is best for the leather that I use.

[PaganBear]

Bob,

Thanks, the information helped me better understand. How do you handle it if you have an exceptionally large design that is taking WAY long or youre working with some of that wont stay wet leather...

is it ok to re-wet before the leather fully dries out or is there a better method? I have never tried casing the leather, I will definitely have to do that now.

[hidepounder]

Corey,

With the tooling patterns I am mostly doing now, they cannot be completed in a single tooling session. So I divide the leather into sections, leaving what I am currently working on exposed while the rest of the leather is covered with plastic wrap, preserving the initial casing. When I finish one area, I exposed the next "stage"....tool it....then expose the next "stage" and so on until I have completed the tooling. I do re-wet the leather when necessary, but I try to divide the tooling into stages where I don't have to.

Bob

Edited July 29, 2009 by hidepounder

[dbarleather]

Bob,

What do you use as a slicker on your cased leather?

[hidepounder]

Bob,

What do you use as a slicker on your cased leather?

I really like the glass slicker that Barry makes. I have a beautiful wood slicker (cocobolo or something like that) that I spent a lot of money on but it cracked here in our dry climate. Also, the glass is harder to nick or scratch which leaves marks on the leather.

Bob

[ericluther]

when slicking the leather whats the best procedure? how much pressure, direction, etc?

also can slicking it make it stretch out of shape?

thank you,

Eric

[King's X]

Eric

There are so many variables and Mr. Parks may chime in, please do. I found that it doesn't stretch when I slick my leather, but are you talking about 2oz verses 9oz? If you glue your leather down to a board, you should be okay. Obiviously, with thicker leather this may not be necessary. I say this because I know people who will glue down an 8-9oz piece of leather and others that will not? Go figure. A lot of what you learn will be from your own doing. Just like anything else, practice, practice, practice; experiment, experiment. There is another thread somewhere here about having too much scrap around? What experiments can be done with all of that leather?? A lot.

If I am casing a piece of leather for a job, I will also put a small piece in the casing process to use as my "warm up" or practice piece. This will give you an idea of how your leather will react when you are warming up. Last thing you want to do is mess up your final piece! Been there done that too many time.

As for the slickers, PM TimD on here, I believe he may chime in later, but he makes these great little slickers for $20 bucks plus S/H. Wow, for a hobbyist they are great and build like the old Sear's building. Small investment for experimenting, I think.

Good luck

[hidepounder]

when slicking the leather whats the best procedure? how much pressure, direction, etc?

also can slicking it make it stretch out of shape?

thank you,

Eric

Eric,

Slicking does stretch the leather and that is part of the purpose. I slick when the leather is wet, before it goes into the sack. I then slick again when it is cased and I am ready to glue it to the backerboard...in my case 1/4" acrylic. It stretches again when I slick the second time. By pre-stretching, the leather stretches less during tooling.

You're probably wondering what about the piece stretching out of shape, right? Well I haven't cut it to shape yet. It is at this point that I cut the piece to the it's final shape. Up to this point it is just roughed out because I know I am going to stretch it a little before I glue it down. On some small pieces, especially when they are scalloped, I will glue the roughed out piece down to the acrylic and then use my swivel knife to cut the final shape into the leather so that I have a guide to use my dividers on to establish my borders. When I'm finished tooling, I will remove the piece from the acrylic and then finish cutting to shape thru my swivel knife cuts.

When I'm slicking, I push and pull and go in all directions, but generally I push out to the edges. Besides taking some of the stretch out I am also compacting the surface of the leather. I would say I use firm pressure. Too much pressure will damage the leather and if you stretch too much, the leather will shrink back some when removed from the backer board. I tool mostly on leather ranging from 5 ozs to 9 ozs, but I slick everything from skirting leather to 2 oz lining (if I'm going to tool it).

Hope this helps....

Bob

[ericluther]

Thank you so much! that clears up all my questions, a friend of mine does glass work and is making me a slicker cant wait to try it out!!

Eric

[TexasLady]

Bob:

... Even before I went to bed that night, I could see the change in color of the leather like it was drying out? Right then I figured I was going to encounter problems the next day. I recall when I case Herman Oak or Wickett & Craig, this didn't happen. It would turn a rich slightly darker color as it sat. Anyways, sure enough last night, that thing would not cut well, even stopped like every stroke. My hand/fingers were worn out. I decided to put a little water like Bob Dellis did with a slight wet rag and it would ease up, but it soon dried out. Finally, early this morning I was done, but the family reported what sound like construction going on with the hammering and pinging. I think I might have cracked my poor granite. The rest of that leather is going in the trash.

Okay, I said enough. Thanks for sharing Mr. Bob.

King's X, would this kind of leather still be good enough to use up as, for example, some soles sewn on the bottom of moccasins? - TexasLady