leather cracking when bending

A

AJH_Knives

Well-Known Member
Hello all, trying to make a sheath out of some leather a friend gave me. it has to be in the 8-10oz range, and it is very stiff. yesterday i cut out my pattern and ran it under the kitchen faucet to get it wet. it seemed more pliable, however when i folded the leather over it started to crack. DO I need to let the leather sit in the water longer?

any help is appreciated, as i really don't know what I am doing...


Aaron
 
Yes It needs to soak through or you can get some casing concentrate from tandy. Either way it needs to penetrate the leather.
 
Along with being wet go slow when bending it. You have to let the outside stretch around the bend. The cracking comes from it not being wet enough and using too much force.
 
So how long should I soak the leather? I didn't measure the thickness but I feel its either 3/16 or 1/4 thick.
 
Yes that is very thick leather though. It can be done but make sure it is wet all the way through.
 
With leather that thick add a drop or two of dish soap to the soaking bin. This will help the fibers to slide better and soften the top layer. It in effect lubricates the fibers. Using luke warm water also helps get the action going.

This from Dave Cole way back in the late 90's when I was asking so many questions. :)
 
On thing not being mentioned is on thicker leather especially, use a regular leather gouge (not an edge groover) or use a sharp knife to cut a vee shaped groove on the flesh side before bending - by removing a bit of leather on the inside of the bend first it won't bulk up and cause problems with your bend. Depending on thickness of the leather used, the depth should be about 1/4 of the thickness and the width of the groove should equal slightly wider then the leather is thick.
As for wetting - wet through just like you would case your leather for tooling never sopping wet though - that can cause unwanted stretch problems

There are two basic types of adjustable leather gouges
The U shaped as seen here http://zackwhite.com/xcart/product.php?productid=16579&cat=406&page=1

or the V gouge s seen here http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/en-usd/product/craftool-adjustable-v-gouge-8082-00.aspx
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top