Do I Need To Condition During/before Tooling?

[stanly]

I'm getting cracking where I rebevel/ smooth my work. Should I be putting something on to condition even thought I'm not done? And of course I don't want to darken it.

I'll admit to newbie status and that I seem to always go back over the the piece to touch up by recut/rebevelingl something-sometimes multiple times.

thx

[ClayB]

I wouldn't put any sort of conditioner on before you are done with the tooling. If it's too dry to work, dampen it slightly with a sponge or spray it lightly with a mist of water (or whatever casing solution you use). Once you put a conditioner on it, it may be very difficult to do any more tooling/modeling work.

[stanly]

ClayB:

I can't be sure when in the sequence of dry, condition, tool, think about it - repeat - repeat - repeat that the cracking is appearing so you could be right - that at sometime I let the piece get a little dry before I tried to retool it. (usually trying to correct something with a spoon/smoother)

Guess I need to try out a conditioner on a scrap anyway as my mink oil doesn't seem to be penatrating very far

[hidepounder]

Stanly,

If you could show us some photos it might help. I'd also like to know more about your sequence starting with how you prepare your leather. I suspect that you are not casing your leather properly. Are you having to re-wet your leather over and over during the tooling process? If that's the case you'll want to tool in sections where you can comfortably finish the tooling area before you have to re-wet constantly. Constant re-wetting destroys your tooling. It is not necessary or advantageous to add conditioners to the leather during the tooling process. I don't know anyone who does that.

Bobby

[bruce johnson]

I don't know anyone who does that.

Bobby

Add one to that list Bobby. I have Lexol conditioner in the casing mix.

[hidepounder]

Add one to that list Bobby. I have Lexol conditioner in the casing mix.

I know you do Bruce but I feel that is different than what stanly is talking about. You aren't applying a conditioner to the leather in order to be able to tool it. If you eliminated the Lexol you could still tool the leather successfully without experiencing moisture problems. In addition to the Lexol, your casing solution also contains a sufactant, which IMHO, is as important as the Lexol. And while there may be benefits to using the Lexol in a casing solution, it isn't essential to the "toolablity" of the leather. I just don't believe that a conditioner will solve any of stanlys problems with beveling and cracking leather. Just my opinion....

Bobby

[stanly]

Stanly,

If you could show us some photos it might help. I'd also like to know more about your sequence starting with how you prepare your leather. I suspect that you are not casing your leather properly. Are you having to re-wet your leather over and over during the tooling process? If that's the case you'll want to tool in sections where you can comfortably finish the tooling area before you have to re-wet constantly. Constant re-wetting destroys your tooling. It is not necessary or advantageous to add conditioners to the leather during the tooling process. I don't know anyone who does that.

Bobby

Wish I had a camera so I could, Im rewetting because Im trying to "pick up" details that I missed the first time through