Tooling leather

[biker55]

Hello, is there a type of leather to use when tooling? I know it can't be soft leather, but how thick should it be? Thanks

[bikermutt07]

It should be veg tanned tooling leather. I believe 4-5 ounce is the thinnest you want to go on thickness (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

If you are just starting out, use up scraps for practice, then buy the nicest you can afford. 

[YinTx]

What do you plan to make with it?  Today I am tooling a card holder with 3 oz leather, did a wallet with 2-3 oz leather, but thats really kinda pushing it for me.  With practice, and years of experience, there are those who tool thinner leathers with great success.  

Of course, if you are doing a saddle or a belt or some such thing... much thicker.

YinTx

Oh, and veg tanned is generally the proper leather if that was part of your  question..

 

[biker55]

Thanks, I'm still a novice when doing leather work. don't do it too often. but after seeing the gallery of folk's projects, I wanted to give it a shot. I just finished making an ax sheath for my brother. I just used the scrap  bag of leather that I purchase from Micheal's arts and craft store. nothing fancy. Got another question, is tooling leather the same stuff you use for making holsters and sheaths? Thanks again.

Edited February 23, 2018 by biker55
left something out.

[bikermutt07]

35 minutes ago, biker55 said:

Thanks, I'm still a novice when doing leather work. don't do it too often. but after seeing the gallery of folk's projects, I wanted to give it a shot. I just finished making an ax sheath for my brother. I just used the scrap  bag of leather that I purchase from Micheal's arts and craft store. nothing fancy. Got another question, is tooling leather the same stuff you use for making holsters and sheaths? Thanks again.

Generally yes. If you want to tool the holsters and sheaths then definitely. But if not, you could use several different veg tan leathers or even some stiffer chrome tanned leather.

Veg tan can be bridle, latigo, harness, or some others I'm forgetting.

There are also combination tanned leathers that use both the veg tan and the chrome tanned process.

Like horween chrome excell aka cxl. I just got a very thick side of this leather. I think it would make a great holster.

Most of these I have mentioned are processed with a hot stuffing method that uses lots of oils and waxes. They are made to stand up to the abuse if the elements. But, they won't take tooling or even molding very well.

I am by no means an expert on the subject. But I will offer this up. Collect different leathers. Look for great deals and experiment. You will find all kinds of things to make with all the different types of leather.

Tooling leather is always going to be more expensive than the others. And, it's not always what you want for a particular project.

Have fun.

[ComputerDoctor]

Bikermutt is giving very good advice, mainly EXPERIMENT !

I take pieces of scrap and try different glues and then clamp them and time the drying process and write the results on the scrap:) I use a lot of 'Gorilla' Superglue to hold pieces together before I hand sew.

I do the same thing with dyes because they sure look different wet than when they dry.

I try different ways to burnish edges and different media. The typical wood hand burnisher for instance works 99% as well for me as a burnisher head on the end of a Dremel.

Some leathers tool very well and others are terrible. Light weight hides to me at least are almost impossible to tool. 

I hardly ever throw away even a small piece of scrap because I will eventually use it for something.

YouTube is your friend for learning leather work and I go there often.

Have fun!

Sam:)

[Gabriel Rasa]

 

On 2/22/2018 at 5:57 PM, bikermutt07 said:

Veg tan can be bridle, latigo, harness, or some others I'm forgetting.

Latigo's not exactly veg-tan -- it's a veg-tan/chrome-tan hybrid, with a waxy finish that means you can't case it, so you can't tool it.

But you can tool on any type of veg-tan, it doesn't have to be labeled "tooling leather." When I see something advertised as tooling leather, I think they usually mean it's a higher quality hide, so you'll get better results from it. Cheap leather tends to be spongier, less uniform in thickness, with more scars and imperfections -- and it's usable, but it can be more difficult and less fun to work with. I tool a lot of cheap leather in my work (because I make costume pieces -- it's decorative, not functional, and gets black-dyed/painted anyway), and I've found that using a casing solution goes a long way toward making it easier to work with.

[charon]

Everything you need to know has already been said, real good advice here, as always. Highly depends on what you‘re planning to do, I had the best results with pure veg tan, but have seen tooled chromexcel many times as well. You can basically use every part of the hide. For practicing I recommend the cheaper bellies. You can get full bellies for $20-30 quit. Again the thickness should be chosen by the project you do. I hammered a few letters on 2oz leather but thats not tooling by definition. Turned out pretty well anyway but I‘d recommend 4-5oz at least for trying.

[DJole]

3 hours ago, charon said:

Everything you need to know has already been said, real good advice here, as always. Highly depends on what you‘re planning to do, I had the best results with pure veg tan, but have seen tooled chromexcel many times as well. You can basically use every part of the hide. For practicing I recommend the cheaper bellies. You can get full bellies for $20-30 quit. Again the thickness should be chosen by the project you do. I hammered a few letters on 2oz leather but thats not tooling by definition. Turned out pretty well anyway but I‘d recommend 4-5oz at least for trying.

A typical veg-tan tooling belly is a strip about 5 feet by 6 inches (give or take, of course). Not all of it will be usable (holes, too stretchy, etc.) but if it's just to practice tooling on, or for small projects, then it will be fine. I recently found some thick veg-tan tooling bellies at Tandy for 10 dollars apiece, on sale. Four bellies came home with me, and I still have more than half the leather left to play with.
Just in case you aren't familiar with the terms that describe  hides (belly, shoulder, etc.), the diagram below will help:

Tandy often has bags of scrap for sale (mixed veg tan and chrome tan), and Brettun's village up in Maine also sells scrap leather by the pound (but not tooling leather, I think --see this link for that part of their website).