Curling Leather

[srbonner]

Ok heres another question froma new guy. I have cut some 91/2" x 121/2" pieces out of some 7-8 oz. double shoulder. The pieces are turning up on the corners. What can I do to make these pieces stay flat. Especially while tooling. Thank you for your advice.

[chancey77]

PRETTY MUCH NOTHING:) You could use some sort of weight...horse shoes or bottles of Jack D:)

It won't flatten out until you have oiled it after you are all done tooling it:)

[dirtclod]

I use shot bags to hold things still while i work them. All a shot bag is, is a bag generally made out some chrome tan scraps what ever size you to make, fill it with shot, sand or BB's.

[ouchmyfinger]

if your tooling a piece that big you can use a piece of plexiglass on the parts that your not tooling, this will keep your hand oils off of your project as well as keep the water from evaporating and drying out too fast. it will also help keep your leather from curling, if your a quick tooler you may want to try the paper weight method the other guys were talking about or maybe a combination.

i tool slow so the plexi keeps me from rewetting, also to keep it from stretching (just asked this a few days ago for some better methods) use GOOD packing tape from 3m aka the scotch brand. this will keep it from stretching. then you can rubber cement it onto another piece of plexi to reduce stretching a little better and this will keep it from curling. the best part of going through the hassle of the tape and rubber cement is when your messing with thinner leathers like 4 oz. the plexi will be perfectly smooth and you won't have the inconsistencies as you do in your granite that your tooling on, I'm sure we all have those little spots where its not sanded down and as smooth as it should be, at least i do lol

good luck i hope this helped