Casing Leather

[hidepounder]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with just wetting the leather, but casing really does help. The discoloration is puzzling to me. Please report back on what happens.

Thanks!

Bobby

[grumpyold]

I'm trying it at this time. I never thought about sunburn being the problem. I had read of this in some place at some time previously, never thought of it. This very well may be the problem as I have just moved from a work room in our basement to my freshly finished loft above the garage. No natural light in the basement to lots of light coming in through windows everywhere. I will know shortly.

[BDAZ]

It's not only sunline but also the UV in fluorescent lighting will also "tan" the leather.

Cya!

Bob

[grumpyold]

Problem solved. Tried several pieces and put them in a plastic contain out of the light and all came out just fine. Thank you Hidepounder (Bobby).

I will keep the fluorescent lights in mind too BDAZ (Bob), thank you.

[Redochre]

Thank you for the downlaod sir! Naturally stupid noob questions....

Will the hardness of water effect the quality of tooling? Will really hard water that can leave limescale immediately have a detrimental effect on leather?

Thank you,

And.

[camano ridge]

Hard water that has a lot of mineral especialy iron can discolor leather. if you have that problem just get a bottle of distilled water about 99 cents a gallon.

Edited April 1, 2014 by camano ridge

[grumpyold]

Hard water that has a lot of mineral especialy iron can discolor leather. if you have that problem just get a bottle of distilled water about 99 cents a gallon.

Agree. We're on well water and use bottled water for drinking. I always use the bottled water for my leather work. Never tried the well water, but have heard and read enough to not want to try it.

[BDAZ]

I use distilled water. Bottled water may be reverse osmosis (ok) or spring water( with minerals in or added) which may build up in the leather.

Cya!

Bob

[ToddB 68]

Hi All !

When I suspect my new post will be long and might exceed the LW program time allowance, I do a draft on WordPad and then save it in my Documents folder, then copy & paste to the new post window.

Well, I had the draft below completed back on 3-14-2014, but couldn't get it to copy & paste to a new post window, either by using the tools provided on the window, or by using regular copy & paste methods (highlighting, right-clicking for a drop-down of tool options, etc.).

I still couldn't copy & paste today, so just gave up and decided to re-type the whole post over again below. I find great pleasure in writing new stuff, but if it's long, I don't like " re-inventing-the wheel "..

.....guess I'm losing some of my patience at age 73 ! See my post below.

ToddB 68

______________________________________________________________________________

3-14-2014

Subject: PROPER LEATHER "TEMPER" WHEN TOOLING

Dear Friends,

I was on page #3 (as of 3-14-2014) of the pinned topic "casing leather", by hidepounder (Bob Park), located here > Leather Board > How Do I Do That ? forum. I had read down this thread page and after finishing northmount's post #44, , I noticed the hyperlink "moistening while tooling" at the bottom and clicked on it. That took me to the "Carving Days" thread started by Randle P. McMurphy, June 28, 2012 at the "Tooling, Stamping & Carving Leather" board > "Floral and Sheridan Carving" forum.

After reading down the first page of "Carving Days", my interest and curiosity were particularly aroused by posts #4 and #9 by username kseidel (Keith Seidel). I thought these posts were very well written by-the-way, as he explained the importance of creating and maintaining proper leather "temper" when tooling. Of course, reduced to simple terms, "temper" means hardness or softness.

I'm working with 12oz veg-tanned cowhide and plan to do some creasing and stamping after casing the leather in accordance with Bob Park's tutorial mentioned above.

(QUESTION at this paragraph) :

Since I'm just getting started in Leatherwork and haven't actually done any creasing or stamping, could someone explain to me what evidence I should watch for to determine that the leather needs more water , i.e. color, feel or other manifestation ?

My project doesn't doesn't require much tool work, so I might be able to complete all of this tool work in a single session before more water is required. Nevertheless, I would like to have prior knowledge before starting.

Thanks in advance for the help.

ToddB 68

Edited April 9, 2014 by ToddB 68

[juxtaposed2]

Ive tooled a lot of leather fresh outta the fridge, practically dripping wet, I find it handy that wet, primarily for molding; holsters, mag pouches, cell phones cases, LARP armor, etc,..its almost like clay in that state, then I'll at least begin to carve the design once I've got em clamped in place. After drying for a day or so, I'll release it from the mold templates, dampen the area where I carved my outlines and then finish the tooling. That being said I've noticed a lot of saddle & belt makers,(with WAY more experience than me) on this forum say they ONLY tool during the "damp" stage. I'm curious as to their replies to your question. I think as long as you rehydrate, (nf oil, lexol, leather balm, leather honey,etc), once your done, you should be ok. Reason I say that is I've noticed when I tool really wet leather it comes out almost crispy dry. I believe thats why they tool in the damp stage, but not positive.