Reduce Noise Tooling Leather?

[Bifrost]

Hi!

I've gotten some complaint thats it to noisy when I'm tooling leather. Does anybody have any tips how to reduce the noise? All ideas are welcome.

Kind regards Tommy

[Sylvia]

Good solid surface like granite to work on, a decent maul/mallet with enough heft to compress the leather when you strike (11-16oz), and a solid table.

You can also do some things to acoustically deaden the room. Like rubber cups under your table legs, heavy insulation panels around the walls and ceiling.

[UKRay]

Tommy,

I use a 1/2" thick rubber mat (no idea where I got it, I've had it for years) with a 24" x 36" x 2" thick granite stone on top. I find this works well for me. Make sure you aren't tooling on a flexible surface. Thin plywood tables are really loud so make a good solid bench if you can.

Hope this helps,

Ray

[Chavez]

Tommy,

Someone here suggested to try tooling with the granite block on your knees. Not the most comfortable way to tool, but there is practically no sound coming from your tapping.

Just make sure you take breaks so its not too hard on your back

[Northmount]

Like Chavez, put the granite on top a thick cushion to get a better working height when on your knees. Or at a table, add a good sturdy foam cushion about 2" thick between the table and the granite.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

For more tips , search noise, or noisy on the forums. There were a couple of threads not that long ago that covered most of the problems, and ways to quiet them down.

[PutnamLeather]

Ear plugs.

[Bifrost]

Thanks for all the tips! They will probably help me alot. Except for the ear plugs maybe...I don't think my landlord likes the idea of going around in ear plugs all day

Kind regards

Tommy

[artycpt]

one thing I did for when the baby was sleeping (sometimes the only time I get to work on things) is to use a dead blow hammer rather than a maul. You won't get as clean an impression but for general beveling and light tooling it works and keeps the noise down.

[Iron Pounder]

I have a rubber mat like already mentioned that is under my granite which is 2 inches thick. If anyone lives around the KC area there is a guy that sells off his drops of granite for next to nothing. I got 3 slabs for 5 bucks. I can get some for anyone that wants some but don't see how we could ship it.

[Kevin]

I used to put my marble slab on a stack of phone books in the middle of the bed. (wash. DC phone books, they were big)

Kevin

[HellfireJack]

I work on my bed as well when I need to be quiet. Then you just hear the slap of the maul. You have to be wary of bounce though. You'll get a lot of double impressions if you're not paying attention.

Also when punching holes or other extremely noisey endeavors use the heaviest hammer/maul you can. I bought a small 2.5lb steel sledge and wrapped it in leather and it works great. It'll drive a hole punch through anything (Including the poundo board) in one blow.

[Logans Leather]

The thicker your slab is, the less sound it will make. I work on a 4" thick granite slab. Thicker does not always mean expensive either. Some times they can be had for little or no money from a gravestone/ monument maker. They will often have a pircee around that they made a mistake on and had to start over, and it is usually too much trouble for them to re-cut and resurface them. As to sound dampening and vibration blocking, I would talk to the folks at E-A-R Speacity Composites about what would be most effective(www.earsc.com). We used their products for noise dampening and vibration isolation in armored limousines at a company I used to work for.

[impulse]

Tommy,

Someone here suggested to try tooling with the granite block on your knees. Not the most comfortable way to tool, but there is practically no sound coming from your tapping.

Just make sure you take breaks so its not too hard on your back

May dampen the sound of tapping - it's the agonized groans of the tapee that needs deadening!

[mikesmith648]

I fold a bath towel and put it under my granite slab............no more complaints from the downstairs apt anymore!!

[Jimbob]

As been said, a granite block, good mallet and a large wet bi-folded towl under the granite works wonder!!

Jim

[Harag]

Sorry to bring up an old topic, but I'm new to tooling and have a counter granite top on my nee - about 1" thick, but the downstairs people are complaining about me hammering. When I was buy my starting stuff I wasn't sure what to buy so I bought a cheap hammer:

http://www.leprevo.co.uk/photos/mallet.html

I think the noise I'm getting is actually the hammer hitting the stamps, but this hammer is only about 10 oz I think as I do have a 16oz rubber hammer I bought for hammering punches for holes, but this feels just too heavy for tooling (though not actually tried it). I've read other people using 16oz hammers above, don't you find these too heavy?

I currently have the granite on my knees so was going try putting a cushion under it on the next weekend session. Does anyone have any suggestions which hammer I should get in the UK? Should I try 16oz and see how I get on with it?

[Jax]

Harag, I use Thor rawhide mallets, they come in several different sizes, Ive found 3 & 4 work best for me, I do have a 5 but find it uncomfortable to use, Im always getting moaned at for hammering & am thinking of trying to get an off cut of rubber stable matting to put under my box stack that I work on....can only try

[Cyberthrasher]

16 oz is a good preferable weight for most tooling. Any less and you're hitting harder than you need to, which causes more noise. Along the same lines, there's less mass in the mallet/maul to absorb the noise. Holding a granite slab on your knee may be quiter, but it won't produce good tooling. Find a solid surface to put it on and get some more mass underneath the granite if you have to.

[Harag]

Thanks all, I'll try my 16oz rubber mallet I got and see how I go from there. The only reason I have it on my knee is that the work top I have is a chest of draws, old and solid - but a little too high to tool on, I need a higher chair. I'll give it a go next time.

[Harag]

I tried the 16oz, and can't hold it for more than 5 minutes when tooling, might be the angle I'm holding but it's very heavy. I'm looking at the Thor Mallets and was wondering which one to go with as the wooden mallet I use I don't know it's weight (will weigh it when I get home) so not sure which thor mallet to go for, the #2 at 190 grams sounds good:

http://www.amazon.co...=rawhide mallet

at the moment, I've put a couple bits of suede leather on the wooden mallet - it seems to have deaden the noise down a bit so I was thinking, maybe a rubber or rawhide mallet would be better.

As well as the above rawhide mallet I've found this one:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cutting-board-Rubber-mallet-Mat-Hammer-Sewing-Leather-craft-Light-weight-/321111993437?pt=UK_Crafts_Leathercraft_LE&hash=item4ac3c42c5d

Can anyone advice which makes the less noise - rubber mallet or raw hide?

Thanks

Edited May 31, 2013 by Harag

[Cyberthrasher]

Ok man, you're trying to use stuff that was designed for swinging, not tapping. Get yourself a maul or something. If you must use one of those, suck up on it and hold it as close to the head as possible. But, since you're buying stuff, just go buy a Barry King maul or mallet. The shipping will be a little more, but you'll be getting something that was designed for what we do, not for beating the crap out of something.

[Harag]

Thanks, I've looked at the BK tools, and being from the U.K. the shipping is expensive.

The cheapest maul was $50 and the shipping to UK is $33.

Unless there is something similar in the UK, I can't justify 55-60 pounds sterling on a hammer just yet. Though I must say he does seem to be popular over in the US.

BK - Move to the UK, or get a shop outlet over here please

[Cyberthrasher]

Then just get yourself one of the yellow polly mallets in the heavier weight. I used the 14oz for quite some time before I got a Bear Maul. That and some granite will work wonders for both your tooling and the noise.

http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/en-usd/search/searchresults/3301-04.aspx

[silverwingit]

Harag, you might ask fellow Brit, Master Saddle Maker and leatherwork.net member, Nigel Armitage (Dangerous Beans herein) whether he feels his Barry King Mauls were worth the extra shipping.