Casing leather

[UKRay]

How do you guys actually case your leather?

Over the years I have read all kinds of stuff about soaking leather in cold water/warm water/baby shampoo/leather conditioner and a raft of other less savoury stuff and then putting it in the fridge overnight, leaving it outside in the porch (and even digging a hole and burying it) but it seemed like a whole lot of fiddling about for little return - I'm now doubting my decision to ignore this stuff. Can anyone shed any light on the best way to case leather or even why their way works for them?

Is it all nonsense and hype? Do you really do any of those things or do you just wet it with plain water and sponge? I have to know the honest truth!

Who is brave enough to reveal all?

Edited July 22, 2008 by UKRay

[IanCantwell]

I just fill a sink with luke warm water and drop it in there, swill it around untill the bubbles stop (usually under a minute) and it's ready for moulding. If it's just stamping it gets a quick wipe over with a wet sponge making sure it's evenly wet.

Don't know if this is correct but works for me.

[Rawhide]

I use Pro-carve Casing solution. I wipe with a loaded wet sponge evenly in one direction, then evenly 90 degrees to the previous direction. I do this until the leather quits absorbing very quickly. Once the leather begins to turn to it's natural color again, I place it under a sheet of glass (glass cutting board). I leave this overnight and it's cased. I can also maintain this cased state for several days by using a lightly wet sponge over the middle, and a heavily wet sponge to the edges, then back under glass. You can do this once a day and keep it cased. I have had a piece cased for over a week this way.

Marlon

[JRedding]

I don't case leather to tool it, I just spray it down with a spray bottle fairly damp to tap-off or trace off, usually another spritz before carving, by the time it's carved it's about how I like it for tooling, and I maintain the moisture with a spray now and then as it's needed. I know that's not how most do it but it works for me. I'm not going to tool into the bottom layers so what's the point of them being moist, I've always thought it only increased stretch if the bottom layers were moist and pliable as opposed to firm enough to help retain it's original shape. Just one opinion but most of the books that stress the need to case were written forty or fifty years ago when leather was much different than it is today, in Stolhmans day cattle weren't raised on steroids and went to slaughter at a much older age than they do today,and a greater percentage of slaughter cattle were farm raised as opposed to feed-lot raised anyway, all of these factors as it's done today have negative effects on the size and quality of the leather produced. Shep Hermann of Hermann Oak Leather makes no secret of the fact the EPA has forced them to "reinvent" the process of tanning leather several times over the last forty years in an effort to make it a cleaner process with less hazardous waste. If I remember correctly his words were "the process we use today isn't much like we used to do it" or something close to that. The leather of fifty years ago was harder than the hinges on hells door compared to leather of today and required casing to make it workable but that leather no longer exists as I see it.

[Rawhide]

I usually mount my leather to illustration board to prevent stretch. You don't necessarily have to do this for 8/9 oz leather, but a 2/12 oz will stretch, no matter how little or how much you wet it.

M.

[bustedlifter]

I've done both; soak completely or just lightly wet. Now I just get the top slightly wet to trace a pattern. I'll then rewet the top a bit and wet the bottom some with a rag or sponge, when it returns to the natural color I'll carve it. I 'll let it sit overnight before tooling it.

[Tpsorion]

I use either a spray bottle with water or a sponge. I spray it lightly then when the color is almost back to the original color I tool it.

[UKRay]

No word yet from anyone in Australia, South Africa and New Zealand about the way they do their casing...

[UKRay]

Lots of different approaches and no two people in full agreement so far. It is beginning to sound like casing 'alchemy' is not as widespread as I thought.

JRedding's thoughts on 'modern leather production' sound very reasonable to me and worth a lot more discussion.

Ian's instantaneous 'dunk and cut' approach is starting to sound like a common sense way to handle things - followed up with a spray of water to keep the leather moist. I accept that thinner leather can stretch but is there any real reason not to dunk thicker leather - say 8oz and above?

What about the 'soaking and leaving overnight' thing - is it really worth the effort and what do you achieve?

I'm fascinated by Rawhide's 'under glass' technique - how does that improve things for you Marlon?

[Rawhide]

Lots of different approaches and no two people in full agreement so far. It is beginning to sound like casing 'alchemy' is not as widespread as I thought.

JRedding's thoughts on 'modern leather production' sound very reasonable to me and worth a lot more discussion.

Ian's instantaneous 'dunk and cut' approach is starting to sound like a common sense way to handle things - followed up with a spray of water to keep the leather moist. I accept that thinner leather can stretch but is there any real reason not to dunk thicker leather - say 8oz and above?

What about the 'soaking and leaving overnight' thing - is it really worth the effort and what do you achieve?

I'm fascinated by Rawhide's 'under glass' technique - how does that improve things for you Marlon?

I got this method from Peter Main. What it does for me is prevent me from having to add water. Once it's cased, I can carve and stamp a small to medium project, without having to re-wet it. Once you begin to re-wet, Leather tends to get a little harder to cut, Because the water, pushes out the fats and oils used to tan the hide. Not nearly as much as say a spirit dye, but if you use enough water it will dry out the leather. The glass is just a method to keep in the moisture for a long period of time, so if I'm carving and I want to quit, I can cover it with glass. the only way for the water to escape is through the edges of the piece, hence why I wet the edges with a loaded sponge. This will last for about a day, add a little water once a day and the piece can stay cased for a long time. I have use the refrigerated method and it works as well...Only problem is my wife thinks leather is "in the way" most of the time.

Marlon