Too dry leather need some opinions and ideas...

[adams484]

Hey guys I sure could use some ideas. I just bought 2 sides of some economy leather at 10 to 12 oz in a drum died tan. The reason I went with the economy stuff was for the color and the price of course. With the waste it still comes out ahead of Wicket and Craig and Herman Oak does not do a drum dyed tan or I would buy it like I do their black and brown.

Ok hear is a laugh or two for you... I also just recently bought a Cobra 14 splitter so I could start buying only one weight of leather and split it to my needs. So I go to stick a 6 inch wide chunk of the economy leather into the splitter and it goes about 2 inches and jambs up. After fighting with the thing and futzing with all the adjustments I finally figure out it is the leather not the splitter. My clicker with it goes to 20 tons of pressure and just barely cuts it and that's with super sharp dies!

After this I try something that has worked for me in the past with real hard to cut leather I dampen it just a wee bit to soften it up and well things start work but barely and with a lot of careful pushing and prodding. So now I sit with these two huge sides of 12 oz to 15 oz on the edges and wonder what to I do with it. I only have a couple of hundred into the two sides but I would like to use it for something at least.

As I see it now I have some choices:

1. I can find something else to make with it other than holsters and belts. Belts are out of the question as this is economy hides and there are a lot of defects to work around so big or long projects are not an option.

2. Try to soften the leather and work it.

3. Put it on the shelf and stare at it daily to teach me not to be so cheap.

My preferred choice is to soften 8 to 10 inch wide strips and run it through the Cobra 14 but water softening is not preferred solution. I was thinking maybe Lexol thinned down or something else sprayed on with a paint gun. I could hang the hides outside spray them there.

If any of you folks have had similar fun with leather and leather machines please share anything you have found that might help me with this. I any of you have a process to soften leather a whole side at a time please let me know about it.

Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.

 

    

[adams484]

Thanks for all the help folks ... But I finally figured out the issue. It wasn't the leather after all as it was jamming up with the Herman Oak in the same weight as well. I will put up a YouTube video demonstrating the issue and how to fix it for anyone who has the same issue and I believe there will be others if they purchase a Cobra 14 and want to use it like I do to take real heavy saddle skirting and bring it down to 8 / 10 oz. or less.

Oh by the way here is the answer to softening up a whole side at a time as well since it seems no body has tried it here and maybe needs to. Take a spray bottle with water and dampen the whole hide roll it up and get some shrink wrap at Home Depot and wrap it up and let it sit and even up for a while.

It did the trick for me and I am still tempted to try adding a little Lexol to the water but haven't tried that yet.

For you folks that have a clicker or die cutting press and have had some real dry hard to cut leather this will take some of the strain out of cutting as well.

Again thanks for all the input here I really appreciate it. 

Edited August 25, 2016 by adams484