Long Wallet

[cbossio]

This was my first attempt at carving. I found a random picture on the net and gave it a shot. It was a lot harder than the youtube made it look. Hats off the to the folks that are able to properly tool because damn, you folks are artists.

So, another learning experience. I learned that 9oz is way too thick to make a comfortable wallet. I learned that my crap stamps are indeed crap no matter how hard I hit them. I also learned that I should have researched what "genuine leather" means before I had a stamp made.

[Mattsbagger]

Casing the leather is one of the most important things. Too wet mushy impressions. To dry doesn’t stamp. Yours looks to dry to my. I don’t tool but stamp a fair amount. And I use a lot of $3.99 stamps from Tandy.

[Tugadude]

I tend to agree about the stamps.  Experiment with a bit more water.  Casing is a learned thing, a lot of people tend to the extremes.  Getting it right takes time.

[cbossio]

I was actually worried that I used too much water, but I''ll try giving it some more. I haven't been using a sponge or anything to case it. I've just been running the grain side under a water faucet for 1-2 seconds. Initially I thought the stamping looked pretty good until I oiled it and began folding. Then it seemed like the stamps began to fade. My stamps were a very cheap starter set of 20 off amazon. There's a noticeable difference between the ones I have and the ones marked tandy that I've seen at hobby lobby. So, I blame 5% on the tool and 95% on the craftsman.

How long do you usually let the leather sit to absorb the water?

[Northmount]

If your leather isn't totally dry when you start flexing it, it will lose a lot of definition.  But too dry when tooling means you can't get a good deep impression.  Flexing the leather, folding it, stretches the outside of the fold, and in most cases won't return to its original state.

Tom

 

[JLSleather]

On 1/19/2020 at 8:23 PM, cbossio said:

I learned that 9oz is way too thick to make a comfortable wallet

Yeah, something like that I use 3/4 oz leather for the carving piece, and like 2 oz on the inside.

STILL, that aint so bad fer a fella what got a picture and a piece of cow and wentta toolin' !

You learned leather weight use and some stampin' basics - and got some experience at both - all without 10,000 posts and 100 hours of video poo!  You gonna mess round git good at this!

Edited January 22, 2020 by JLSleather