Does Anyone Ever Oil Before Tooling?

[SalInRI]

I've done a number of projects and have always oiled after the tooling was complete. I learned early on that over-oiling (at least with Neatsfoot) means "too dark."

Is there a disadvantage to oiling before starting to carve and tool?

Thank you,

Sal

[King's X]

Hey Sal

Neatsfoot will usually tint the leather especially if you stick it in the sun to tan. If you do not want to tint the leather you can use EVOO and keep it away from the sun. I haven't heard of anyone using oil before carving & tooling. Make sure to post pictures when you find out what happens.

thanks for offering!

[Radthalan]

I have a question about oiling leather. Do you have to wait till the leather is dry, like bone dry, or can you oil leather while it still wet? If you can oil wet, how wet is too wet? Should I look for properly cased leather?

I'm looking to use EVOO to help restore a sheath I'm making for a friend. It has become a bit dried out in the forming and slicking. I have cased the leather a little too much.

Sorry if I hijacked this thread I thought it might be useful to know if it can be done even to a freshly carved piece of leather.

[King's X]

Rad: typically, by the time I finish tooling, my leather will still have moisture, but not fully wet. The contrast or burnishing effect is more pronounced when the moisture has settled into the leather (not too wet). To properly case leather would call for allowing the leather to sit for some time and to including overnight after it has been dunked in water until the air bubbles disappear.

What I prescribe for quick carving projects (something small) here is not what most masters call "proper casing." I will either use a spray bottle or sponge and water mixture and thoroughly wet my leather piece. Depending on my leather that I am using, I will place the leather piece aside for a prescribed amount of time before I consider working with it. Before I start carving, I will check the grain side to see if the leather has almost returned to it's original color. I will then place the leather (grain side) against my cheek or the top of my hand to check for coolness. Now, I am ready.

When I am done tooling, if there is a slight hint of moisture, I will apply my oil and let it sit overnight. If the leather has been embossed or molded into shape, I will usually wait until the next day to oil. Some people will even oil their project and put in the sun for some natural tinting.

I hope this helps.

[Radthalan]

Yes it does. I kinda figured since water and oil don't mix. Your reply reassures me. I didn't want to wait or even artificially drying leather before oiling it. Thank you King's X

[King's X]

By the way, you can artificially dry your leather just use a dryer (carefully).

Not a problem......good luck!

[BillB]

OK, let us talk about what it is that we do to carve or tool leather. Unlike wood carving which removes material, leather carving or tooling is the process of compressing leather. The material we use is leather or on other words the skin of a cow. Now this skin has been tanned which is a chemical process to remove the organic material and leave the inorganic material behind. Like skin, if not properly maintained it will dry out, harden and crack. You could think of this almost like our hair, which is also inorganic material once it leaves the root. Now when we buy this skin that has been chemically treated, we need to start moving to a more natural state. If we are going to "Tool" it we take it through a process the softens the fibers so that they can be compress and bent into position and stay in that position. This requires us to get it to a state of moisture content to do this effectively, that process is called casing. There are lots of discussion on this site about casing, so I will not cover that here, but what I will do is talk about the results if it is not properly "cased". If the moisture content is too high, then the skin/leather becomes spongy and will not retain the compression or bending. If there is not enough moisture, it will remain too hard and not compress or bend to the extent to have a good impression. You could think about this process like get a hair perm. We use water or a mix of water and other additives because water has both a good penetration characteristic as well as a good evaporation rate. By drying the skin/leather, we are "locking" in the pattern that we have compressed/bent the fibers into. Those of us who also form leather into form fitting holsters or masks will use hot water to achieve even more interesting bends that will lock into place once dried. If we were to use oil, cold or hot, it might work since the oil does have a good penetration characteristic, but the evaporation rate is extremely slow. That would mean a very long wait to get the moisture content to the proper level if it is too high to hold the tooled pattern or the bend. Since it takes so long to evaporate, then using hot oil when form fitting leather would probably not work since the oil would cool long before the moisture content was reduced and the form may never hold.

Once the leather has been tooled or formed, and has dried locking the tooled pattern or the form in place, then adding oil to restore enough of moisture content so that the leather does not dry out, get hard and crack, is not enough to soften the leather to remove the tooling or the form. Though if you were to soak the piece in boiling oil, I would bet that it would not hold either once it was saturated. I have successfully removed tooling that was done without any cut lines by soaking the leather to it's saturation point and softly smoothing the leather. I don't recommend this for removing tooling errors since it affects the whole piece.

As always, this is from my experience and I hope it helps.

BillB

[Bob Blea]

Thanks BillB, this explanation certainly helps me understand. I appreciate the insight.

Bob

[TwinOaks]

Expanding on what Bill wrote, the actual "stuff" in hides is Collagen. In it's preserved state (tanned), the leather fibers and collagen are dry. By re-moistening the hide we are reactivating the collagen in it. That collagen is what allows us to compress and shape the leather. It is, for all intents and purposes, the 'glue' that holds skin together. When tooling, stamping, or forming, we compress the fibers and the collagen locks the fibers in place. As the leather dries, the collagen is still holding things in place. If you read of holster/sheath makers using heat to 'set' the leather, what we're doing is using heat to 'set' the collagen glue.

Think of it like a kitchen sponge- if you leave it sitting out, it'll dry up and get somewhat stiff. You can bend it, but not as easily as when it's wet. Add a little water, and it swell up and gets very soft. Fold it in half, or compress it then let it dry, and it will retain that shape.

The leather fibers also contain natural oils and waxes in them, which lets the preserved hide flex and the fibers in it to move against each other. When we case our leather, the process of re-hydrating it forces some of those natural lubricants out. It's possible (according to leatherchemists.com) to effectively wash the tannins OUT of leather over a long period, which causes the leather to revert to rawhide, which can get very hard and brittle ---AND---removing the preservative properties of the tannins. Oiling or conditioning after tooling/stamping/forming replaces some of the natural oils and waxes we washed out of it.

There's a LOT more detailed info available, but you need to have an deep understanding of chemistry to understand some of what they write over at leatherchemists.com, so I'll leave it up to the reader to decide if they want to decipher it.

[leathervan]

It sounds like the best thing to do before stamping is to wet the leather lightly. Not soak it. Maybe just enough water to cover the surface very lightly. Am I on the right path?

[BillB]

leathervan,

At the top of the forum section called "How Do I Do That" is a thread titled "Casing Leather" by Hidepounder. He has compiled a step by step process for casing leather prior to tooling based on his experience. It is very good. Casing Leather is name given to getting the leather wet enough to tool and it is more than just getting the surface wet. I actually soak mine to get moisture all the way through to the inner core of fibers. I then let it start to dry until the surface returns to its natural color and it is cool to the touch. To get good deep impressions, you have to soften all the fibers, not just the surface ones.

BillB

[TwinOaks]

Agreed.

I'll sometimes do a "quick case" while I'm molding by spraying the leather with casing solution. But for carving, the best results are achieved through tried and true methods.