How do I eliminate stretching and cupping when I am tooling?

[meg1517]

Hi..

I have a tooling question. I am tooling a large piece of leather that needs to be as flat as possible when I am done. What is the best way to keep the leather from stretching and

cupping while I am tooling it so it lays flat when I am finished. Thanks so much sharing!

Meg

[CitizenKate]

What is the best way to keep the leather from stretching and cupping while I am tooling it so it lays flat when I am finished.

Before casing, try temporarily mounting the leather to something somewhat rigid. You can use rubber cement and mount it on a piece of poster (light) or illustration board (heavier and more rigid), or just line the back with packing tape (use extra layers for larger pieces). I prefer the packing tape, because it comes off easily without leaving an adhesive residue, but there are lots of options, depending on the results you want.

Kate

[Tkleather1]

Well there are lots of ways to do this. The method that I use is I tape the backside of the project with the strongest packing tape that I can find. I tape it using overlapping applications and I do this in both directions. I then case my leather and slick it to help adhere the leather to the tape as I am compressing the fibers, kind of a two for one deal on that one.

I know of a few people that will glue the project to a peice of heavy tight grained cardboard using rubber cement.

I know that a few people will glue to a piece of acrylic usning rubber cement.

I am sure that more people will chime in and help you out but these are the ways that I do it and a few that I know of.

Good luck and Happy toolin'

Tim Worley

TK-Leather

[TimKleffner]

I agree with Tim, I tape my leather prior to casing, overlap the packing tape , then , I rubber cement the taped piece to a piece of acrylic. I have different size pieces but most of them are about 3/8 thick.

I use the acrylic for rigidity , but , also, I use weights to keep the piece from slidding around the bench and keeps the tools from going thru the thin leather and damaging my tool faces.

Happy tooling

TimKleffner

[CitizenKate]

I tape my leather prior to casing, overlap the packing tape , then , I rubber cement the taped piece to a piece of acrylic. ...

I use the acrylic for rigidity , but , also, I use weights to keep the piece from slidding around the bench and keeps the tools from going thru the thin leather and damaging my tool faces.

Oooo... there's something I haven't thought to try. Looks like a great solution for the larger pieces. The rigidity of acrylic sheet with the clean separation of packing tape. Tim, you're a genius!

Kate

[meg1517]

You all are sooooo fabulous! Thanks for the suggestions. Another quick question and excuse my ignorance, what does it mean to CASE the leather.

How do you case the leather.

Thanks

Meg

[Tkleather1]

Casing is the process that you use to wet your leather. This is how I do it.

I rough cut the pattern, Tape the back, run the faucet put leather under the faucet until it is soaked but not a noodle( I look at the taped side alot to make sure that the back side is not soaked all the way through) I then slick the leather with a glass slicker, put in a garbage bag and seal up tight to let as little air as possible enter or escape. I leave it like this for preferably 24 hours but at least overnight. this will ensure that the moisture content is evenall through the project.

There are other ways

Type Casing in the search and you will find lots of ways.

Hope this helps

[hidepounder]

Hi Meg,

I glue everything I tool to a piece of acrylic. I do this after I have cased the leather at least over night. I slick my leather just before I put it up to case and again just before I mount it to the acrylic. I don't cut the leather to it's final size until I have slicked it the second time. Taping with packing tape works well but I prefer gluing to the acrylic because there is less chance of the the leather separating from the acrylic if I have to add moisture. Additionally, the acrylic is just so stable that I prefer tooling on it rather than allowing the leather to flex with the tape. It's just a personal preference thing for me. I am not concerned about any residual glue on the back because I line everything I tool. I feel it produces a much more profesional job.

Here is a photo of a piece I have glued down:

Gluing to acrylic gives me some other options as well. It gives me something to tape my pattern to so that it doesn't move while I am tracing:

When I cannot complete a piece in one sitting, I cover part of the leather with plastic wrap until I have finished the first tooling session and am ready to begin with the next section. Again, the acrylic provides something for me to seal the plastic wrap to, preserving the cased condition of the leather. This photo shows where I am working on one section of the project while the other half is being preserved under the plastic wrap:

There are a lot of methods which can be utilized to help prevent stretching....slicking and mounting to acrylic are just the ones I use.

Hope this helps....

Bobby

[hidepounder]

You all are sooooo fabulous! Thanks for the suggestions. Another quick question and excuse my ignorance, what does it mean to CASE the leather.

How do you case the leather.

Thanks

Meg

Meg,

This is a copy of a recent post I made in answer to the same question:

Casing is a very important step in preparing you leather to be tooled. Years ago, saddle shops would have a "Casing box" which was usually a wooden box lined with galvinized steel sheets to prevent moisture from escaping the box. Needless to say these boxes were anything BUT airtight and you could put a pretty wet piece of leather into the box and remove it next day and it would be ready to tool.

Today, people use plastic trash bags, zip loc bags and ice chests, all which prevent ANY moisture from escaping....especially the plastic trash bags and zip loc bags. When you put your overly soaked leather in that sealed bag it did what it was meant to do....it preserved it....moisture and all! Your leather was not cased...it was just soaked!

When I wet my leather, I pull it through a pan of water. I want to see bubbles coming out as it passes through the water.....but waiting until all the bubbles are gone is way too long. Once you start casing you will learn how much is enough. The same holds with learning what the leather should look like when properly cased. Almost it's natural color.....a cool feel to it when touched to your cheek....you will get the hang of it quickly once you get started.

If you are going to utilize plastic bags to case your leather, you need to allow much of the moisture to evaporate BEFORE you put it in a bag. I let my leather begin to turn back to it's natural color before bagging it. I want it a little wetter going into the bag than what I want to begin tooling. The idea is for the moisture to be evenly distributed through the leather. Not wetter on the top than on the bottom. Properly casing your leather will result in cleaner, crisper and better colored tooling. In addition, properly casing the leather will allow you to tool a little longer than than just wetting it with a sponge and starting to tool. Wetting the leather with a sponge IS NOT casing!

Additionally, the more you have to re-wet the leather, the more definition you lose in your tooling! The colors fade, beveling begins to raise and the piece doesn't look nice and crisp because it isn't any longer. If you can wet your leather once and get the whole thing tooled then that is fine. It will look nice. But you won't get the nice burnish produced when beveling and shading that properly casing your leather will give you. Nor will it cut as nicely! When I am tooling a piece that I know I can't finish without re-wetting several times, I break the tooling down to sections and keep everything I'm not tooling covered with plastic wrap until I am ready to move on to the next section. I am not saying you can't add moisture as you go...it's just that the more you do it, the more you will lose.

I do not know one single professional tooler who does not case his leather. Give it an honest try...once you get the hang of it I think you will be sold.

I hope this helps....

Bobby

[steveh]

Hi Meg,

I glue everything I tool to a piece of acrylic. I do this after I have cased the leather at least over night. I slick my leather just before I put it up to case and again just before I mount it to the acrylic. I don't cut the leather to it's final size until I have slicked it the second time. Taping with packing tape works well but I prefer gluing to the acrylic because there is less chance of the the leather separating from the acrylic if I have to add moisture. Additionally, the acrylic is just so stable that I prefer tooling on it rather than allowing the leather to flex with the tape. It's just a personal preference thing for me. I am not concerned about any residual glue on the back because I line everything I tool. I feel it produces a much more profesional job.

Here is a photo of a piece I have glued down:

Gluing to acrylic gives me some other options as well. It gives me something to tape my pattern to so that it doesn't move while I am tracing:

When I cannot complete a piece in one sitting, I cover part of the leather with plastic wrap until I have finished the first tooling session and am ready to begin with the next section. Again, the acrylic provides something for me to seal the plastic wrap to, preserving the cased condition of the leather. This photo shows where I am working on one section of the project while the other half is being preserved under the plastic wrap:

There are a lot of methods which can be utilized to help prevent stretching....slicking and mounting to acrylic are just the ones I use.

Hope this helps....

Bobby

Bob,

What type of glue do you use to glue your leather to the acrylic?

Thank You,

Steve

[hidepounder]

Steve,

I use rubber cement. You can use Barge if you glue to the acrylic only and apply the leather before the glue is set, however, you get a messy build up on the acrylic that has to be removed.

Bobby

[meg1517]

Meg,

This is a copy of a recent post I made in answer to the same question:

Casing is a very important step in preparing you leather to be tooled. Years ago, saddle shops would have a "Casing box" which was usually a wooden box lined with galvinized steel sheets to prevent moisture from escaping the box. Needless to say these boxes were anything BUT airtight and you could put a pretty wet piece of leather into the box and remove it next day and it would be ready to tool.

Today, people use plastic trash bags, zip loc bags and ice chests, all which prevent ANY moisture from escaping....especially the plastic trash bags and zip loc bags. When you put your overly soaked leather in that sealed bag it did what it was meant to do....it preserved it....moisture and all! Your leather was not cased...it was just soaked!

When I wet my leather, I pull it through a pan of water. I want to see bubbles coming out as it passes through the water.....but waiting until all the bubbles are gone is way too long. Once you start casing you will learn how much is enough. The same holds with learning what the leather should look like when properly cased. Almost it's natural color.....a cool feel to it when touched to your cheek....you will get the hang of it quickly once you get started.

If you are going to utilize plastic bags to case your leather, you need to allow much of the moisture to evaporate BEFORE you put it in a bag. I let my leather begin to turn back to it's natural color before bagging it. I want it a little wetter going into the bag than what I want to begin tooling. The idea is for the moisture to be evenly distributed through the leather. Not wetter on the top than on the bottom. Properly casing your leather will result in cleaner, crisper and better colored tooling. In addition, properly casing the leather will allow you to tool a little longer than than just wetting it with a sponge and starting to tool. Wetting the leather with a sponge IS NOT casing!

Additionally, the more you have to re-wet the leather, the more definition you lose in your tooling! The colors fade, beveling begins to raise and the piece doesn't look nice and crisp because it isn't any longer. If you can wet your leather once and get the whole thing tooled then that is fine. It will look nice. But you won't get the nice burnish produced when beveling and shading that properly casing your leather will give you. Nor will it cut as nicely! When I am tooling a piece that I know I can't finish without re-wetting several times, I break the tooling down to sections and keep everything I'm not tooling covered with plastic wrap until I am ready to move on to the next section. I am not saying you can't add moisture as you go...it's just that the more you do it, the more you will lose.

I do not know one single professional tooler who does not case his leather. Give it an honest try...once you get the hang of it I think you will be sold.

I hope this helps....

Bobby

Hi Bob

Thanks for taking the time to repost this about casing. It is VERY helpful and something I wasn't doing before...so that answers a lot of questions for me.

Thanks for your time and sharing your knowledge. I really appreciate it!

Meg

[meg1517]

Well there are lots of ways to do this. The method that I use is I tape the backside of the project with the strongest packing tape that I can find. I tape it using overlapping applications and I do this in both directions. I then case my leather and slick it to help adhere the leather to the tape as I am compressing the fibers, kind of a two for one deal on that one.

I know of a few people that will glue the project to a peice of heavy tight grained cardboard using rubber cement.

I know that a few people will glue to a piece of acrylic usning rubber cement.

I am sure that more people will chime in and help you out but these are the ways that I do it and a few that I know of.

Good luck and Happy toolin'

Tim Worley

TK-Leather

Thanks Tim, I will try this. Our piece is big so this is probably the best way to go.

thanks for your help!!

Meg

[Tkleather1]

No problem I am glad to hear that I can be of assistance and not just the one asking

[electrathon]

I agree with Tim, I tape my leather prior to casing, overlap the packing tape , then , I rubber cement the taped piece to a piece of acrylic. I have different size pieces but most of them are about 3/8 thick.

I use the acrylic for rigidity , but , also, I use weights to keep the piece from slidding around the bench and keeps the tools from going thru the thin leather and damaging my tool faces.

Happy tooling

TimKleffner

Hitting myself in the head... I always either tape the backs of my projects or glue down when I can leave glue on the back of my project. For some stupid reason I never thought to glue the tape down.

[King's X]

Steve,

I use rubber cement. You can use Barge if you glue to the acrylic only and apply the leather before the glue is set, however, you get a messy build up on the acrylic that has to be removed.

Bobby

Here is another question. What about the myth of removing the 'backing' from the leather and not the leather from the backing for fear that it will 'stretch?' I don't use acrylic, I have heard of it, but I use either poster board or packaging tape. As for the posterboard, on some thinner leathers I just leave it on after I am done tooling and before lining as a stiffiner. The packaging tape I removed like on the belts. This something that I do, not something that was taught. Of course, others have told me to use a thicker leather on these projects and no gluing is necessary? What is your opinion?

[hidepounder]

Here is another question. What about the myth of removing the 'backing' from the leather and not the leather from the backing for fear that it will 'stretch?' I don't use acrylic, I have heard of it, but I use either poster board or packaging tape. As for the posterboard, on some thinner leathers I just leave it on after I am done tooling and before lining as a stiffiner. The packaging tape I removed like on the belts. This something that I do, not something that was taught. Of course, others have told me to use a thicker leather on these projects and no gluing is necessary? What is your opinion?

I see nothing wrong with leaving the backing on and using it as a stiffener when the option exists. It would depend of course on what the backing is and how well it would function as a stiffener. I use a backing on almost all leather thicknesses. My leather thickness is determined by two thiings.....function and tooling pattern size. For a small refined tooling pattern I need to use a thinner leather to make the pattern look it's best. If function reqiures a heavier piece of leather, I increase the thickness of the lining.....but either way I use a backing when tooling. As far thickening the leather to avoid stretch goes, a large pattern tooled on skirting leather can still stretch, so I'm not on board with that. Again, the type of pattern being tooled and the depth of the tooling make a big difference in the amount of stretch you can expect.

In my case where I am using acrylic as a backing, removing the backing from the leather really isn't an option. However it makes sense to me to remove the backing from the leather when the backing material allows you to do that.

Hope this helps...

Bobby

[Cowboy316]

ok guys and gals just got to this thread and i have to ask when talking acrylic are you refering to just like think plexi-glass or what cus i have a problem with strech with everything i tool help a fellow crafter please LOL

Cowboy316

[Tkleather1]

I love the acrylic Idea I just havent had a chance to go get any yet. But Tim what I would do is try the Packing tape unless you have acrylic layin around. Just tape it using overlapping passes. and then again pepindicular with overlapping passes it will get you started on the right track at least.

[Cowboy316]

hey there TK Jim Linell showed me that little trick at one of his classes and i do use it but seams to still get a bit of strech so im wanting to try the acrylic idearjust need to know the thicknees and if plexi-glass will work

Cowboy316

[Randy Cornelius]

hey there TK Jim Linell showed me that little trick at one of his classes and i do use it but seams to still get a bit of strech so im wanting to try the acrylic idearjust need to know the thicknees and if plexi-glass will work

Cowboy316

I use 1/8" or 3/16 that you can get at the hardware stores for the smaller projects and 1/4 inch for the larger ones. But you have to go to a plastics company to get that. And it is quite pricy. Most plastic companies will have a scrap bin that you can get some good sized pieces out of. Just look in your yellow pages in any major city under plastics and you should be able to find a supplier. They also should carry the HDP cutting board material for your cutting tables too.

Randy

[hidepounder]

ok guys and gals just got to this thread and i have to ask when talking acrylic are you refering to just like think plexi-glass or what cus i have a problem with strech with everything i tool help a fellow crafter please LOL

Cowboy316

hey there TK Jim Linell showed me that little trick at one of his classes and i do use it but seams to still get a bit of strech so im wanting to try the acrylic idearjust need to know the thicknees and if plexi-glass will work

Cowboy316

I use 1/8" or 3/16 that you can get at the hardware stores for the smaller projects and 1/4 inch for the larger ones. But you have to go to a plastics company to get that. And it is quite pricy. Most plastic companies will have a scrap bin that you can get some good sized pieces out of. Just look in your yellow pages in any major city under plastics and you should be able to find a supplier. They also should carry the HDP cutting board material for your cutting tables too.

Randy

I, like Randy, use 1/8" and 1/4" thick acrylic. Leather like 7/8 oz will cause 1/8" acrylic to warp when you are tooling and that is frustrating. You will find yourself chasing it around your bench while tooling on it. The only reason I use the 1/8" for light leather is because I have it left over. I have since began using the 1/4" and it is much better........so I guess what I'm saying is that you are better off to just start out with 1/4". I call acrylic and plexiglass the same thing, although I am not certain that is true. I bought a 1/2 sheet and took it home and cut it into shapes that were convenient for me to use.

Hope this helps....

Bobby

[Cowboy316]

Hidepounder

that help me a ton ty for the info im gonna head to ace hardware now and get some im working on some spur straps now so ill give it a whirl

thanks again

Tim

[Mike Craw]

After removing the leather from the backing (whichever method you use) does the piece have to be lined because of discoloration from the rubber cement or tape?

Mike

[King's X]

Mike: For me yes, I would suppose everyone else that uses it?

Hidepounder ~ you DA man. Thanks.