This piece of leather wont carve to save my life!

[anester05]

I have been casing a piece of leather. I soaked it in water and let sit out of the water for a couple of hours then I threw it in a bag to let it sit over night. I have done this several times before with great success. But this time my swivel knife is dragging horribly. I will strop the knife and the first cut seems to do well at the start then it starts to drag not even a 1/4" into the cut. I have a Barry King knife and is sharpened well so I know it is not my knife, because my last project carved great with it. Could it just be the cheap craftsman oak I bought at Tandy? Any suggestions on how I can get it carving better? I really would hate to lose this piece, it is rather large. Like I said I have been casing this way my last several projects and it has yet to fail me, man is this frustrating

Any help appreciated thanks

Adam

[Rawhide]

Could it just be the cheap craftsman oak I bought at Tandy? Any suggestions on how I can get it carving better?

Adam

Yes it could be. Try mixing some lexol with your casing water and case with that. I would try a pretty big proportion too, like 50:50. See if that helps.

[TimKleffner]

Adam

You stated that the leather was from TANDY. I think that's the problem. Try spending a bit more money and get some good leather.

I bet if you contacted Springfield Leather, I bet you can get some of that medium grade / low priced Herman Oak leather. I bought 2 sides the other day , and have to say , that besides a couple bug bites, I'm real happy with it ...... AND ... it tools just like Herman Oak should.

Give Kevin a call ... you'll be miles ahead

Happy tooling

Tim

[BearMan]

Hi Adam,

One thing you can do to save that piece, is to get some Glycerin Soap,,, & lather up a wet sponge with it, & then rub the lather into the leather, all over evenly. Then let it re-case over night, & you'll be able to use it. BUT,,, next time, get some better leather to start with. There are a few good brands out there, & each has thier own characteristics, but Herman Oak, Wicket & Creig, cut, tool, & finish Very nice! I hope this helps. I use the Glycerin soap on all of my tooled leather,,, makes the knife glide through very nice. Take Care,,, & Good Luck!! Ed the"BearMan"

[HarryB]

Don't waste your time fighting a bad piece of leather!!! Use it for fillers or coasters. Start with a good piece of leather and finish with a good product.

[leatherman1457]

Sounds like you got a real bad piece of leather that was not thourghly tanned. you have hit some rawhidw spot and there is nothing you can do except save it for filler on other projects and go to kevin at springfield leather. Nice guy and he will help you out.I try not to get leather from tandy . but kevin will always take care of you no matter where you are in the country

[anester05]

Well, the soap thing seemed to help, I still had to strop every other cut which was annoying but I got it carved. This is the first time I have had this kind of trouble with Tandy's cheap leather. Is their Live Oak leather better than their other leather? Which brings me to a leather question. Which part of the cow is best for carving, Belly, shoulder, back or butt? Are double shoulder worth buying or should I mostly try and just buy sides?

Thanks for all the suggestions

Adam

[Rawhide]

The part of the hide shouldn't dictate how it carves, it's the tanning process. Sounds like you just got a piece that wasn't tanned completely or correctly. The different sections of the hide are better for different types of projects though. i.e. backs for belts, bellys for molded projects etc...

I've used dbl shoulders quite often and I think the live oak is much better tanned than crafstman oak. However, I'd try some hermann oak, wicket and craig or thoroughbred leather for you next prized piece. It's a little more expensive, but you won't spend all your time trying to make it work.

[ClayB]

I've used quite a bit of Tandy's leather and I've found that it carves better "wetter" than other leather. Some of it does cause your knife to drag quite a bit and require a lot of stropping. In my experience, the Live Oak is nicer to work with, but it seems to be a little softer leather, kind of like the difference between Herman Oak and Wicket and Craig. Once you get past the carving issue, I've been happy with how it tools and I really like how the Live Oak embosses.