Help! There Seems To Be Something Wrong...

[Krystian]

Hi guys and girls,

I have a bit of a problem.

I am still a beginner and I don't have all of the tools yet. Not enough skill to use the ones I have yet so I guess that there is no need to build up on my workshop.

Long story short. Instead of buying a strap cutter for my girlfriends belt (Christmas preset, so bit urgent issue!) I bought a pre-cut belt on eBay. It supposed to be a "high quality" veg tan tooling leather.

In my not-so-experienced opinion it is far from high quality.

The skin side seems to be very thin and the grain side is thick and tough.

As a result the swivel knife drags like hell and I can't go in as deep as needed for the tooling to look right.

I tried 4 different blades. Those blades work perfectly fine on other leather I have (even some cut off scrap pieces I bought for practice) so it is not a matter of them not being sharp enough.

I thought that I will ask you before giving an earful to the seller.

Is there any way to make this leather work or I should not waste my time?

Thanks!

K.

[BDAZ]

Some of the pre cut belts are NOT vegetable tanned and consequently, they won't get soft when you case the leather and will be not be suitable for carving. I assume your scraps are veg tanned.

Cheers!

Bob

[Krystian]

Hi Bob,

Thank you for your answer.

The seller listed the belt as veg tanned leather, I would not buy it otherwise. Please see the auction below:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171325936943?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&var=470388457103&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Cheers,

K.

[BDAZ]

Oh My..well the leather may be "defective"? Dried out, incorrectly tanned but certainly not right. I'd contact the seller and ask for a proper blank as this one is not carving properly.

Good Luck!

Bob

[Krystian]

Thanks Bob,

Seller just replied to me saying that it is definitely "good quality" leather and it may not be "ideal" because it is "natural" (???)

Say what? That's the whole point of veg tan to be as close to natural as possible, am I right?

Anyway, he said that I can return it if it is in the same condition. Obviously it is not because I discovered that it is poor quality in the process of tooling it...

I don't think that I will bother to argue for the sake of £15 (I bought 2 of them).

I should have got a strap cutter and order "half of a cow" from my trusted supplier...

Live and learn I guess.

Thanks for your reply Bob.

[papaw]

Ok first have you cased the leather, some leathers are very hard and that said yours could be one of those. But that being said most all veg tan can be tooled. Wet (dampen) the leather with a clean sponge and distilled water (if you have distilled) if not tap water will work. Wait till the leather just starts to return to its normal color then try tooling it. Here is the start, you didn't say water you did to start you may have already followed these steps. Veg tan for a belt should be 6 oz. to normally 10oz sorry I do not have my metric chart with me, so it should be thick. Repost here and let people know what you have done and any pictures maybe worth thousands of words.

[Krystian]

Hi Papaw,

Thank you for your reply.

To answer your questions:

- I have ceased the leather and I re-do it when it dries out. I've done it exactly as you have described

- I don't mind the belt being thick - as you said, belts should be thick. Problem is that the flesh side is very thick and the skin side very thin. Flesh side is very hard as well, so when the swivel knife goes through the thin layer of skin it gets dragged by this thick and hard flesh side.

I will attach the photos but they are a bit embarrassing - my tooling normally looks much better. I have to put so much force against it that I can't be as precise as I wish to be - my hand is killing me and I am only half way through ! And it drags, it drags a lot.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/36379698/2014-12-10%2015.07.33.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/36379698/2014-12-10%2015.06.59.jpg

[BDAZ]

If it were me I would explain that one wouldn't know if it was poor unless you tried carving it. Send them both back for a refund and threaten bad feedback. It's not the £15, it's the principle.

Cya!

Bob

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

Different leathers case up differently. Have you tried a casing agent? Search the forum and it should come up with something. I've had leathers that had so much drag I had to strop my knife very often. Made a long process out of what should have been an easy job. Best of luck to you.

[Krystian]

Thanks Big Sioux,

I have no ceasing agent and I don't think that I will be able to have one delivered before Christmas in time to have this finished.

I guess your answer was what I was looking for: "deal with it, shit happens"

I will strop the knife every leaf (as it seems to help a bit) and do what I can with it.

BTW, seller insists that the leather is high quality and it is not old/dried out. Well, that's his opinion. I am sure that I will not buy anything else from him. I guess we all have our own imagination about "high quality"...

Pity that I had to learn this lesson on my girlfriends present though...