Carved dragon

[Ferg]

stormdevil

I want you to try this method of tempering your leather.

Soak a trial piece in warm water until the bubbles stop. Using an old terry cloth towel roll the towel around the leather allowing it to roll with the towel.

If you do this in the evening, wait until next evening to unroll towel and leather. Leather should lay flat without any problems. The leather should appear like pie dough in texture. If you press a finger tip into it, you should have an impression. That is when it is ready to carve. I have never tested any of my swivel knives with cutting paper. The bevels on the blade should be exactly the same angle. When doing fine work you should use a blade that is relatively thin and about 1/4" in width and angled not straight. Strop the blade after you make several cuts. Do that continuously while doing the design. You should find that the thinner and narrower blades will work better with lots of stropping.

BTW: Don't put the towel in the fridge. Leave the roll lay on your work bench or similar area in normal temperature and humidity.

Please let me know if this helps with your situation.

Ferg

Edited May 22, 2017 by Ferg

[stormdevil]

6 hours ago, Ferg said:

stormdevil

I want you to try this method of tempering your leather.

Soak a trial piece in warm water until the bubbles stop. Using an old terry cloth towel roll the towel around the leather allowing it to roll with the towel.

If you do this in the evening, wait until next evening to unroll towel and leather. Leather should lay flat without any problems. The leather should appear like pie dough in texture. If you press a finger tip into it, you should have an impression. That is when it is ready to carve. I have never tested any of my swivel knives with cutting paper. The bevels on the blade should be exactly the same angle. When doing fine work you should use a blade that is relatively thin and about 1/4" in width and angled not straight. Strop the blade after you make several cuts. Do that continuously while doing the design. You should find that the thinner and narrower blades will work better with lots of stropping.

BTW: Don't put the towel in the fridge. Leave the roll lay on your work bench or similar area in normal temperature and humidity.

Please let me know if this helps with your situation.

Ferg

Hi Ferg

Thanks for your suggestions, I'll definitely try that the next time.

What I did was:
- Soak in warm water.
- Left overnight in plastic bag in work room (cool)
- Still too wet to work.
- Left out without plastic bag for rest of day
- Still too wet
- Left over next night
- Trid to carve - not good, though did get a bit better with more time

I have 2 swivel knives - one is a cheap and cheerful one, the other is Japanese. They both have a similar blade. I don't have an angled one, and I probably don't strop enough while I'm working - will need to get one.

Toni

[Ferg]

You can likely get a small blade to fit one of your knives, wouldn't need to buy the handle.

I began leather work almost 65 years ago although I didn't continue it all that time. Marriage, babies, business other than leather. lol

I used the method above all the time then when I got on the forum I tried some of the other ways, they just didn't work for me.

Hope this works for you.

Ferg