How To Make A Stamp Made Of Leather(?)

[Rayban]

It's been quite a while ago, but I remember reading about how someone made an impression in leather by using a stamp made of leather...confused yet?

For instance, make an impression of something in leather....the image will of course be reversed...then heat...actually "bake", if my memory serves me..... using the leather stamp to make impression on another leather surface...follow?

The leather turned very hard when baked.

Anyway, there seemed to be a formula such as "bake for 1/2 hr @ 200 degrees" or something like that.

Anyone recall this post, or perhaps have some experience in what I'm trying to describe?

Thanks

[Bob Blea]

Hi Rayban,

I don't know of a process where you bake the leather. There is a common technique in floral carving of making a 'tap off'. You would carve the pattern you wanted (say a section of a belt design) in cased leather, and then let that dry. You only do the swivel knife cuts, no tooling needed. After it dries, give it several coats of Neat Lac and let it dry. This gives you a reversed image of the final design you want to carve. Then, you case a belt and place this carving on top of it and 'tap' (actually you have to hit is pretty hard in my experience) the design into the cased leather. The carved lines create a raised image on the cased belt that you carve with a swivel knife, kind of like a Craftaid.

It's a great technique for reproducing belt patterns or other things you will use again and again, but you can do the same thing with a floral pattern. In the Sheridan Style carving book they show using this same technique with flower elements to lay out a pattern on wet leather. In this case you are tapping the flower designs into the leather and then drawing the vinework for everything else.

This probably isn't exactly what you were thinking of, but maybe it helps.

Bob

[Rayban]

That's helpful Bob, thanks.

I have an experiment in progress..got one in the oven!......to see how it's hardened.

I'll post results with pix if it turns out ok.

Thanks again.

[Rayban]

I think I'm on the right track....I pressed an old belt buckle of mine onto a wet piece of 8oz veg tan, of course the image is inverted......I then soaked it in water a couple minutes.....set the oven at 350. I just eyeballed it to see that it was dry (only took about 10 minutes). When it was dry, it was very hard..I let it cool.

I then press it onto another wet piece of scrap, and I'm pretty happy with the results. Looks like it can be re-used over and over.

I used a one-ton arbor press to do the pressing.

[Bob Blea]

That's exactly the idea of a tap off. Sounds like the baking worked out really well. You will still want to coat the baked leather with something like Clear Lac or Resolene just to keep it from absorbing moisture from the cased leather, otherwise it will eventually ruin the impression. But it looks good!

Bob

[jessebeckham]

the guy here seems to be using something similar to layout his belt design at the beginning of this video.

[Rayban]

Bob, point well taken on the finish...I'll do the Resoline for now.

[WScott]

Thanks for discussing this guys, learned something new and useful today!

[Les No6]

Interesting cant see a use for myself but an idea on treating to make it last longer is two part resin like what is used in fiber glass this sets into a hard plastic I have some and will give it a try, always love a good experiment.

[TwinOaks]

The idea of hardening the leather like that is pretty much the same for most types of wet forming, so there's definitely some precedence behind it. And Les' comment got me to thinking....I find it likely that leather was used for this because of the lack of availibility of fast setting resins casting like we can get today. The one thing that leather shops DID have handy was scrap leather, so it became the medium of choice. Nice find on the technique!

I might be time to go visit the modelling section of Hobby Lobby.....

[Rayban]

Interesting cant see a use for myself but an idea on treating to make it last longer is two part resin like what is used in fiber glass this sets into a hard plastic I have some and will give it a try, always love a good experiment.

I'll look forward to this......but I must say, as TwinOaks has touched on...that my whole idea was to utilize leather, and if the "stamp" lasts for just one application, it will be a success in the project I have in the planning stages.

Edited August 31, 2013 by Rayban

[Les No6]

I'll look forward to this......but I must say, as TwinOaks has touched on...that my whole idea was to utilize leather, and if the "stamp" lasts for just one application, it will be a success in the project I have in the planning stages.

I meant treating the leather with the resin, its hard but brittle when cured so no use as a stamp its the glass fibre that gives its tensile strength in this case it will be the leather.

[TwinOaks]

I found that the resin used for fiberglass will NOT penetrate into and therefore bind to the leather. It's just too thick. It will adhere to the surface, but after a very little flexing, it's clear that they aren't compatible. Now....casting resins are another story altogether. I don't think they won't bond to the leather, for the same reasons, but they should withstand pressure well. I'm not real sure about impacts...but the epoxy resins should take more than enough pressure for this.

[Wishful]

Here is another video on leather as a stamp by Bruce cheaney http://www.leathercraftsite.com/leathercraft/tooling-and-carving-leather-how-to-tap-off-designs/

Here is another video on leather as a stamp by Bruce cheaney http://www.leathercraftsite.com/leathercraft/tooling-and-carving-leather-how-to-tap-off-designs/

[sheathmaker]

My long time Friend and mentor Don Atkinson, now deceased, taught me to make tap offs by carving the pattern, swivel knife only then use common ordinary hardware store variety SHELAC from the paint dept. NO BAKING It hardens the leather and seals it at the same time. I have belt pattern tap offs I made 15 years ago still useable today. We also used this procedure for saddles fenders and other saddle parts that had right/left. Carve one side and before tooling it "tap off" on the opposing fender or piece.

Paul

Edited September 2, 2013 by sheathmaker

[Rayban]

Paul, that's definitely a method I'll have to try, thanks!

[Wishful]

There is a how to in al stohlmans belts gallore book that uses shellac too

[Blak Smyth]

Interesting, thanks for discussing!

[telcelsmx]

Hello everyone sorry to zombie up this thread but i like how pattern was transfered from soft leather, i wanna get my technique down to try with a soft stamp.. A coin with lame 

Id like to ask how long should i wet leather? 

Why is hot stamping sometimes done what does it actually do? Whats the difference between solder stamping with low hand pressure and a press? I plan on a c clamp for now but just trying to know when to use what. 

Also i read about transfer foil?for coloring the final pattern (not for the initial guide tracing)?

I thought heat embossing was to darken burn the deeper pattern grooves so again confused.

Also if you have a curved pattern you like (a buckle). How would you transfer that? Im amazed how well soft leather on leather copied. Im thinking of adding either floor mat foam or wood in middle part. About how much pressure do you want? Im using a clamp but saw many dislike hand stamping.