Leather For Tooling, Carving & Engraving

In this category you will find the best leather suitable for tooling, carving and engraving. The leather tooling is a very common practice, it is an hobby that continues to rise and which gathers fans from all around the world. Unleash your imagination!

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Leather for tooling, carving and engraving

Leather for Tooling, Carving and Engraving: What is?

Leather for tooling and engraving is a type of leather, usually vegetable tanned, which lends itself easily to carving and shaping, that is to assume and maintain certain features once a sharp object has passed with force over the leather or a mold has engraved a design with some pressure. In a consumerist world where people can have all the products they want, fantasy and human inspiration remains the only variable that can make the difference. Whether it is a small key ring or a bag, a product engraved and made with vegetable tanning becomes a unique and special gift. Once tanned, the leather can last a lifetime, a life spent next to an object that tell to others about your personal story, your experiences and your leather craft. The animal skins are a very versatile material, this is why they lend themselves to an infinite variety of customization among which we can include the processes of tooling, carving and engraving.

How to obtain good results in leather carving?

The practice of the tooling leather is much easier than you might think and the results can give great satisfaction. All you need are some basic tools: a vegetable tanned leather, a sponge with a little of water and tools to engrave that are available at very low prices. For instance, you might want to create a simple leather purse, a wallet, a belt or a key-chain, and as subsequent step, create a fancy pattern on the surface; the result will amaze you, guaranteeing enormous satisfaction! With this leather working technique you can customize the leather, getting unique and inimitable leather objects: think to a wallet given as a birthday gift engraved and customized by you, it will be something unique, and most importantly you will have fun doing this!

Difference between leather engraving and embossing

The engraving of the leather differs from the normal embossing mainly for the procedure: the first requires appropriate practice, skills and instruments that once mastered can offer big satisfactions, the second is performed through machines (called presses) that engrave a predetermined pattern on the skin through heat and pressure. The secret of the leather carving is therefore in practice, perhaps done first on cheaper hides and scraps and only later on skins of greater value maybe integrated leather dye.

How to engrave, tool or carve a leather hide?

The starting leather material is usually a semi-finished full grain hide, also called “crust leather”, whose surface is still in the natural stage and ready to be engraved. The skin must then first be moistened, so the fibers become available for tooling, finally, using different techniques, many patterns and texture can be carved over the grain side. A note on the leather tools: there is no need to spend large amounts of money, it is enough to have a swivel knife, a tool for backgrounds and a hammer of some sort. A note on drawings: be creative, take a cue from google or Pinterest, people tend to always draw leaves and flowers.

Where can I buy leather for tooling and carving?

On BuyLeatherOnline you will find on sale plenty of leather hides suitable for tooling, carving and engraving: from the cheapest “vacchetta” bellies to the full grain European bull double butts. Are you planning to create a journal or a diary engraved cover? Our suggestion would drive you towards a thin leather like the calfskin, otherwise, if you are looking for thick leather for sale to create a nice belt, the shoulder or the double bends on a thickness greater of 3mm would work best for you. A note on the leather material: the vegetable tanned leather is the best for tooling because the skin fibers, with this type of tanning, are more open compared to the chrome tanned ones; this means that if you moisten the leather hide with water it will absorbs it and will become more suitable for carving and engraving. As final suggestion, a thick leather would work best than thin one because it has more substance to absorb better any kind of pressure and design.