for anyone who has tooled leather, what's the best way to do it? i tried it out and it didn't work at all. i tried it on a singe piece(it may have been too thin? ) and nothing showed up, just faintly, except the to that i hammered really hard and actually cut threw the leather some. i can go through trial and error, but figured i could save some time by asking here, because your all so nice. i think i need to double up the leather so it's thicker, like i did for the armguards and quiver i made, but i'm not sure. mabey it was to wet, or something, not sure. can anyone give me a good method, thanks ... Jay
If you havn't already check out www.leatherworker.net, (http://www.leatherworker.net) it's the Tradgang of leatherworking. They have a ton of advise and everyone is respectful.
A lot depends on the type of leather & how it was tanned. Good side, bridle or butt will tool or emboss very well if it's vegetable tanned. However if it's chrome tanned you'll never get it to work well. The same with 'split' leather, it just doesn't tool well at all. Also you don't need the leather wet, just damp will do. I usually find that wiping it once ever 4 or 5 minutes with a damp sponge is plenty.