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.