Leather Tooling & Carving
All guides filed under Leather Tooling & Carving.
Tooling Leather Selection Guide: Weight, Temper and Grain
The right leather for tooling is firm, tight-grained vegetable-tanned hide in the 4–9 oz range, cut from the shoulder or bend rather than the belly. Tooling leather has…
Leather Carving Tools Guide: Swivel Knives to Backgrounders
The tools of leather carving divide into three jobs: cutting the line, shaping the cut, and texturing the surface. A swivel knife cuts, bevelers and shaders shape, and…
Leather Tooling for Beginners: Your First Carved Piece
The fastest way to start leather tooling is to skip the flower. Begin with a simple bordered geometric piece on a scrap of 5–6 oz vegetable-tanned leather, using…
Leather Stamping Patterns Guide: Basketweave, Borders, Backgrounds
Leather stamping is pressing a shaped steel tool into cased veg-tan to leave a permanent impression — and patterns are what happen when you repeat and arrange those…
Leather Tooling Guide: Carving, Stamping and Casing From the Bench
Leather tooling is the craft of cutting and stamping a design into cased vegetable-tanned leather so it reads as carved, not printed. It works on veg-tan only, ideally…