Wetting Leather To Tool... Water Not Soaking In Please Help

[rastanley]

Hi, I'm very new to leathercraft and I am making a belt, but I have tried to wet the belt before tooling but it is only minimally soaking in and most sits on top. I got the leather strip from a saddle which is supposed to be a great tooling leather but having trouble with the water soaking in part. Any suggestions?

[shtoink]

Was this a strap that has already seen use on a horse?

If that is the case, then it will likely have had a coat of some kind of finish applied and even oils and such from the horse.That would explain why you weren't able to get any water to soak in, and any tooling would need to have been done prior to all of that stuff.

Maybe taking some time to strip any finishes and oils will make it somewhat accepting of water, but I have not heard of anyone having good results from anything like that. You'd still need to replace any of the oils removed and refinish. It's easier to just start with a belt blank than to add tooling to one after it's been in service.

[WyomingSlick]

From a saddle huh?? Unless it was part of the main body of the saddle which is usually vegtable-tanned leather suitable for tooling........then the odds are good that the strap is made out of latigo leather which is leather that has oil and wax impregnated into the leather to water proof them to an extent. Does that sound familiar?

Even if your leather was originally veg-tan......it is almost a certainty that it has been oiled many times and is also going to be very water resistant.

My suggestion is to just go get some virgin tooling leather and forget about recycling saddle leather. It would work for just a plain belt, perhaps with a stitching, or lacing pattern. perhaps with some conchos.........but tooling it is not in the possibilities.

[rastanley]

Sorry, I had spell check error.. I meant saddler not saddle. It's just a strip of blank leather that I bought from a saddlery leather shop and they said its a belt blank that I can tool but the water just sits on top and soaks in maybe after 10 mins but still isn't wet enough. Doesn't soak through ... And I tested a little antique finish on an end and it does the same and then leaves speckle marks

[treybecca]

Definitely has some kind of finish on it. You can try a deglazer to see if it removes whatever it is and opens the leather back up.

[St8LineGunsmith]

I would say you have a piece of harness leather although it is veg tanned it has beef tallows to make it more impervious to water

it will take a stamp without casing it is just not the best tooling leather.

[Tex Shooter]

I make formed items and sometimes I get leather that does not want to take on water. When this happens I use a drop of liquid soap as a wetting agent in hot water and this usually works. I rinse the leather with clear hot water before proceeding. -- Tex