How do you keep stamps in leather from fading?

crimsonfalcon07

crimsonfalcon07

Joined
Dec 27, 2010
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I made a few sheaths today for some knives I've made from a tutorial I found online, and overall it went pretty well, but I tried stamping designs into the leather, and they faded quite a bit by the time I was done. I wet the leather before stamping, and re-wet it several times. I'm a complete noob at this, having never even attempted a sheath before today. The tutorial didn't mention making a line in the leather for the stitching either, so I didn't do that. Read about that on here today.

Anyways, what tips do you have for keeping the stamps nice and deep?

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most likely your leather was too wet. when the leather is too wet, your impressions from stamping look deep and rich, but as the leather starts do dry, the leather retracts to its original shape. that's why your stamps look like they're "fading".

casing the leather is tricky.
first, you should use a damp(not dripping) sponge. i'll usually saturate a sponge, then squeeze it out one good squeeze. then you should wipe lightly until the color is uniform, then STOP! for the best results, you can put the leather in a ziplock bag and put it in the fridge over night. this will help the water to spread evenly throughout the leather. when you take it out, you need to wait till the leather has nearly returned to it's original color(keep a dry piece of scrap from the same area of the hide to compare). once it has nearly returned to its original color, then, AND ONLY THEN should you start stamping.

hope this helps.

Randy
 
I take 2 inch masking tape and put it on the back side and then wet and stamp it. Leave it set till dry. The tape will hold its memory and your stamp will keep its depth. Then take the tape off. KT
 
What if you were to wet the leather, "clamp" the stamp down, let it sit till dry, then remove the clamped stamp? I haven't done any leather stamping, just curious if anyone has tried that or knows what the result would be.
 
i wouldn't try it. chances are that along with the stamp impression, you'll also get the outline of the tool as well. some stamps are on a square base, so you'd end up with the square outline around the stamp.

also, if it's a stamp you need to use more than once on the project, that's kinda out of the question.

Randy
 
tape on the back of the stamp? on the back of the leather?

unless it's really thin leather, the stamp won't displace enough leather to see it on the back side.

if you mean on the stamp, then does the sticky side stay on the leather? that'll mar the tooling surface(ask me how i know).:sorrow:
 
Also, once stamped try not to re-wet the leather. Keep it moist in a ziploc bag in the fridge if you need to work on it the following day, but letting the leather dry out and then rewetting does cause the stamping to fade.
 
Randy put the tape on the back of the leather. 6 ozz 8 oz 10 oz. It works on all . I do a lot of leather work and lots of it is posted on this site under KID Terico and it works. The belt and holster are 8 oz and the inlay onthe holster and belt are 2 1/2 oz . Hope this helps. KT
 

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well Kid,

i'm glad that works for you. most of my work is 8/9oz, and the stamping doesn't look full enough on the back of mine to keep shape.

it's always nice to here of different techniques that work for others. :)
 
I have looked very carefully at the pictures of the sheaths that you have made. Your constructiion is good but I think that you are beating on a dead horse! Oooops! make that cowhide! By the blue coloring I see on the cut surface of the leather I am assuming that you are using a chrome tanned leather. This leather WILL NOT hold stamping and can not be carved. If you are not using a vegetable tanned leather (usually referred to as carving cowhide or skirting) you are spinning your wheels on a slick surface. This is only tendered with scant info. A more detailed assessment can be made with more info as to the leather you are using,----------------Sandy
 
helmar4578 said:
I have looked very carefully at the pictures of the sheaths that you have made. Your constructiion is good but I think that you are beating on a dead horse! Oooops! make that cowhide! By the blue coloring I see on the cut surface of the leather I am assuming that you are using a chrome tanned leather. This leather WILL NOT hold stamping and can not be carved. If you are not using a vegetable tanned leather (usually referred to as carving cowhide or skirting) you are spinning your wheels on a slick surface. This is only tendered with scant info. A more detailed assessment can be made with more info as to the leather you are using,----------------Sandy
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good call Sandy.

i totally glazed over that.
 
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