Casing leather, how and why?

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vilePossum

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A quick search didn't turn up any results, so i though i might ask in a new thread, if this has already been done, please point me in the right direction.

when searching the web casing is about as elusive/unconclusive as slickening your leather (another thing i am wondering about ;) ).

the methods and the reason vary widely.
from just soaking it and letting it dry, to leaving it in the fridge while soaked for several hours. or as our very own horsewright does, just a quick dip in a pro carv solution (i'm really going to do a list of stuff i haven't been able to find over here in germany ;) ).

why do you case the leather? and do you case every piece you work with?
is soaking the leather for wetforming the same as casing?
or is it a preparation for tooling?
or used on every piece to add some stiffness to the leather to add stability?

kinda confused right now. :p

also do you slicken before or after casing and on which side of the leather? do you use much pressure?

the reason i am asking is that up to now i always used the leather "as it was" (wiped down, but not really wet) unless i needed it to be wetformed (in which case i soaked it under warm running water), or tooled (brushed some water on top of the leather).

now on my current project i noticed once again the obvious difference between soaked (and dired leather) and non soaked leather. though both feel smooth to the touch once more after applying wax, the wetformed part is obviously much stiffer. so from my point of view, if you case leather every piece would gain this stiffness unless you counteract it with eg neatsfoot oil.

sooo, what's it gonna be? :)
 
[video=youtube;tgCvRjt0Oe0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgCvRjt0Oe0[/video]

[video=youtube;fUlVnbpXlm4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUlVnbpXlm4[/video]

[video=youtube;mmSJRmdLQ4c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmSJRmdLQ4c[/video]
 
thanks druid, i watched the first one already... didn't see the last one, will look at it right away.
also, finally somebody who differentiates between casing and wetting leather...
 
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I tend to simplify

When wet molding I simply run warm water over the leather till its pliable, wipe it down with a towel, and commence to molding. If you over sop the leather till its floppy your going to have to wait a bit while it firms up.

When carving, weather I use a carving solution or not, wet the leather (not heavily) then go do something else while the top surface starts to return to the normal color. When its there, start carving. A simple carving solution taught to me by an old timer is a very mild soap solution, saddle soap works well but make sure you use a mild soap to begin with. Strong detergents are not a good thing. The point is to help the knife slide smoothly through the leather.
 
well, okay, that's basically how i was doing things up til now, in addtion to leaving umolded/untooled parts dry.
see, that's why i was confused about the many methods to casing and how long they leave the leather to soak/case.
 
This is an area that I'm very much still messing with. I've tried several things. As Dwayne said, I've tried mild soap and water for a solution, but not enough to see a difference. Then again, I carve very little at this time.

I've tried soaking until the bubbles stop (this takes a surprising amount of time, at least for me), followed by watching/feeling for color and coolness. I've tried throwing the leather in the fridge in a plastic bag on the rare occasion that I cannot finish stamping after I've started.

Tried using just a sponge to wet the surface.

Honestly, I don't really see a great difference in quality of tooling or molding and have just been running the leather under the tap for about 30 seconds.

I do have a jug of Pro Carv and really like the quality and ease with which I get my normal quality, only application is very easy and much faster than waiting for the leather to stabilize. Don't have enough time as it is to work, so this is a great thing. I bought an aluminum spray bottle a couple of days ago that does a very fine mist. If the solution can be left in the bottle between jobs I see no reason to mess around with anything else. Per application price is very very reasonable as the solution mixes with 10 parts water.
 
In my opinion is casing leather for tooling not the same as wetting for molding. When I wet my leather for molding I´ll take lukewarm water and put my leather in. I wait for the bubbles to come out and that takes about 20 to 30 seconds.

Casing for tooling I´ve never done. I know that casing is realy time consuming, you put the leather under running water, put it in plastic and 15 minutes in the fridge.
Then let it rest for about 30 minutes until the original color of the leather starts to come back.

Mostly I myself just wet my leather with a spunge and start cutting or tooling.
 
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