Transferring Patterns to Leather and Carving

In the last post, you had to read many things about what you do not want to do when getting ready to trace the pattern onto your leather. Do make sure that your hands are clean and that your leather is not too wet to work. One of the problems that you will find when you have your leather too wet is that the pattern that you traced onto the leather will not be as sharp as it would have been if you had let it case for a few minutes or in the case of heavier leather overnight.

Below you will see a couple of pieces of leather that were moistened and the patterns transferred to the leather. It is easy to see which piece of leather is too wet to work because the excess moisture makes it very dark. (I apologize that the quality of these photos does not show the in-person difference between the qualities of the pattern transfers.) Looking closely at the pattern on the left, you will notice that the lines are darker than the one on the right. One of the problems that you will find with having the leather too wet is that while carving some of the lines might disappear because the can will stretch.

Left - Damp Leather and Right - Too Wet

Below is photo of one of the swivel knives in my collection. Please do not get excited, you only need one swivel knife. I have found over the years that I wanted to try something new and that fit my large, getting older, hand better than the basic unit hands. One thing that I might recommend rather than having more than one swivel knife is that you get additional blades to fit the need of you carving styles. It is not mandatory that you have more than one blade to do your work. One of the blades that I became particularly enamored with is a hollow-ground one that seems to open the carved lines a little more, making it easier to carve.

Swivel knife with hollow-ground blade

If you look at the blade on the swivel knife shown above you will notice that the center appears to be ground out, making it thinner in the center. This is exactly the way it has been done. The center is ground out to help with carving and the trailing edge of the blade is a little wider which opens the line a little more. Again, this will make the carved lines a little wider for easier stamping with the bevelers.

Carving the leather when it is too wet can cause some problems when making curved cuts. It took me a little bit to learn that the swivel knife blade will more or less peel the surface of the grain from the outer edge of the curved line that I am carving. Countless times, I used a little trickery to hide this eyesore by lightly re-carving that portion of the line to remove the little flap of grain that I pulled from the other edge. The peeling effect can happen at other times when carving but this is one of the most prominent of which I know. The photo below does not clearly show this effect but I hope to have one later that will.

Carving leather with swivel knife

The main idea behind carving the pattern when the grain is mostly dry is that it will be easier for you to see the lines that have been transferred to the leather. It will also pretty much automatically put you in the position of stamping the leather when it is at the right moisture content. After you have done enough projects, you will begin to learn how damp you want to get a piece of leather for the best results when working on it. As far as wetting the leather before beginning the carving and stamping process, I am somewhat more in favor of using a bit less water to start with. I will explain briefly, I would rather use a spray bottle to add a little moisture to a project than to take a chance on getting it too wet and having to wait hours for it to dry sufficiently to carve and stamp.

I have had more than one saddle maker tell me that I was doing it all wrong when I applied more moisture to the leather via spray bottle or a slightly damp sponge. I actually prefer the spray bottle set so that it will put out a fine mist rather than a jet. The mist will moisten the area that I feel is too dry and put only a small amount of moisture on the areas that I may have already worked. The danger with getting too much water on an area that you have already carved is that it will cause the carved lines to close up some and that it will reduce the bruising effect of some of the already-placed stamps.

Now that I have pounded you on the idea of not getting the leather too wet, the photo below, (same as the previous), demonstrates the approximate angle at which you want to hold your swivel knife when carving. The main thing is that you want to make sure that you tilt the top of the swivel knife back enough to make sure that the front edge of the blade will not catch as you carve. Do not attempt to use more than half of the length of the blade when carving. Rest the side of your hand on the leather, tilt the top of the swivel knife back and pull it along the line while pressing down hard enough to cut the line. Be extremely careful when carving lightweight leather because it is possible that with enough pressure you could cut completely through the leather.

A second look at carving notice the angle of the swivel knife.

Please leave a comment if you have any questions or comments. I will be glad to hear from you.

Have fun!