Preventing leather bulging and distorting when stamping

[CaptQuirk]

For those who use tape, do you apply it before or after casing?

[Pkay]

I have never had this problem, I guess I don't hit the leather that hard !  you could try a lighter touch and then use an antiquing finish to make the names stand out.  Or .. true the flap after tooling the name and then edge it ?? 

[electrathon]

31 minutes ago, Pkay said:

I have never had this problem, I guess I don't hit the leather that hard !  you could try a lighter touch and then use an antiquing finish to make the names stand out.  Or .. true the flap after tooling the name and then edge it ?? 

If you tool shallow and not "into" the leather the leather generally does not stretch much.  Many people are going for a 3D look, carving deep and lifting the leather.  You get a lot more depth and realism in your carving the deeper you work.

Packing tape on the rear of the leather really helps as stated above, but the compressed leather does have to go someplace.  Think of it like cookie dough. the more you roll it out, the thinner it is, but it "grows" on the cutting board.

[Pkay]

I never try and tool more than half the depth of the leather, in my experience to do so can weaken the leather. The strength of leather is in the surface layers and my work exploits that strength.  The surface layers of leather are the most dense and I do not like to sacrifice the strength for decoration.  I have achieved a greater 3D effect by using other techniques.