Casing Leather

[abn]

I'm curious about the "older harder" leather, I assume that it hardens as it ages. Is there any way to judge the "carveability" of a piece of leather before buying it, or do you just trust the source?

Skip,

I'm not sure leather hardens with age, as long as it's properly conditioned, and leather usually doesn't sit around in a store long enough anyway. However, I've seen hard leather in my time, and I think the culprit was sunlight, which darkened it and made it a somewhat hard. If you're in the store, take a look at a number of sides. The lighter-colored ones should be softer and easier to tool... Stay away from the ones that are getting tan. You should be able to press a fingernail into the grain. If not, it's probably too hard.

That's just my experience in picking double shoulders from Tandy... Maybe someone else has some advice on this topic, too?

Regards, -Alex

[Go2Tex]

The thing with leather is that you immerse it until it stops bubbling like I do, and pull it out, or leave it in all nite it is going to absorbe the same amount of water... it cant absorbe more than it can....

Well, I guess that's true after a time. I have forgotten about a piece I was soaking and left it in for much longer than the time required for the bubbles to stop and it was much more soggy than normal. But I've never tried it all night.

You're probably correct about that sponge analogy but, frankly, once the bubbles stop, you really should be pulling it out, seems to me. Unless you're working in the Mojave, I can't see that piece being ready to tool for a couple days where I am.

Of course, in about 10 days, I'll be someplace HOT and humid so I have no idea what I'll experience there. Maybe somebody from South Texas can shed some light on this subject of drying times, eh?

[greg gomersall]

Go2tex when I lived in s.w. Alberta I could soak a chunk of skirting till it quit bubbling take it out and lay it on the bench all day, bag it when I went home for the night, unbag when I returned in the morning and it would be ready to go around 1 pm. When I moved to sw Idaho 6 years ago I had to relearn the process. Here the humidity is so much lower and a lot hotter temps, I wet a piece around 7 am and by early afternoon I better have my carving pattern ready cause the leather is. I'm sure you will find the humidity a bigger factor than the heat. Greg

[wolvenstien]

Greg, Tex, those are good points.... me being here int eh south east.... it is very humid... even more so than when I lived in Ohio.... or atleast it seems like it...

Anyway... here are a few pix of a piece I just finished... The piece of leather is 10x11 inch, 8/9oz with branding marks on it as you can see. I totally imersed it in water then let it sit out for about 26-27 hours... and put my pattern on it, then waited a little longer before I carved and tooled it.... it is a nice piece that was not mushy when i was working with it.... and I was very satisfied with the finished product....

Before Casing:

Ready to have the pattern added to it:

Here is the Carving before adding dye and color:

And here she is finished:

Edited July 22, 2007 by wolvenstien

[Beaverslayer]

Looks real good there Wolven, what did you use to dye it with? Is that the new Eco-Flo dyes?

Ken

[leathernut]

that came out real cool.love the color..

[wolvenstien]

thank you. the white and browns are cova color, and the green and yellow are tandy pro dyes....

[Luke Hatley]

thank you. the white and browns are cova color, and the green and yellow are tandy pro dyes....

WOLVENSTIENE.............A +, looks great.

[Mike Phelps]

I'm curious about the "older harder" leather, I assume that it hardens as it ages. Is there any way to judge the "carveability" of a piece of leather before buying it, or do you just trust the source? As to casing, always a problem for me, would a wood moisture gage work? Perhaps sometime I blame my casing for problems when it's the quality of the leather that causes stamping and carving problems.

SkipJ

I get the cheap saddle skirting from time to time from TLF and it will have areas, typically along the spine and butt, that are extremely hard. I've got some that I use for sandal soles. TLF even says can be used for sole and armour. You can feel these hard areas when you are at the store.

Lately I've had very good results casing with saddle soap followed by, when the leather has reached the right temper, burnishing with a hardwood 1"X4"X12" stick that I rounded the end and carved a handle on, really makes the grain of the leather stand out, then do the tooling. Burnishing this way you can repeat it several times and eliminate any desire to use antiquing stains or gels. Typical casing time on the 4-6oz leather I use for wallets and such is the time it takes to drink a soup mug of real good coffee. Then I burnish and do the stitch lines, cut and burnish the border lines. A good tool I've found for doing those are those Maple Popsicle sticks you can get in the craft section of your mega retailer. Down at the end where the stick starts getting round sand a nice taper with course then fine sandpaper. I get a deep rich tobacco brown color to all my creasing and stamping that I use on that weight leather. Casing with saddle soap makes things a little slippery but my results have been so good that I put up with it. Just set my stamps the way WC told me, get it where I want it, light tap with the maul to set it followed by a good lick.

I'll post some pictures when time permits me to post some usable images. My digital photographic skills ain't so good.

[Nocturne]

I saw in the other thread that some of you add a few drops of Dawn to your spray bottles...

What does this do? I'd never heard of doing this before.

Personally, I've tried the spray bottle, and find I do a better job of "casing" the rest of my work area than I do the leather. So for now, I do the ol' sponge in a bowl method. I've immersed pieces before, but never for more than a minute tops, and more often than not when my intent is to mold or form the leather, not carve it.