Water Hardening
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Bleddyn De Caldicot
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Water Hardening
I've heard of a water hardening method for leather where you soak it then bake it and it hardens but stays the same thickness. How long do you soke it for and how warm is the oven? Does one need to have the piece on a form shapped like the final outcome?
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Christophe de Frisselle
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There have been scores of threads and posts on this subject.
The temperature needs to get over 167 degrees F in the leather. That's the temp where the chemical changes occur that produce hardening. Don't let it go over 200 degrees. Oven set about as low as it goes generally works for me and I try to target a temp of 180 in the oven. Use a good oven thermometer.
Depending on the complexity of the shape you are making, a last may be needed. I use a piece of log as a support for cuisses, greaves, rerebraces, vambraces and bazubands, but it's not a form -just something to insure they don't collapse.
There needs to be water present in the leather, but it does not need to be *wet*. When you dampen leather, it becomes plastic and shapes easily. Get it too wet and it won't hold shape, it will just mush around. If you get the leather to the water content where it molds and holds its shape, that's fine for hardening.
I've done pieces where after shaping, I let them dry for days, then dipped them in water on the way to the oven. No soak, just in and out of the bucket, barely enough to change the surface color. Worked great.
Do Not put your leather into the oven on the wire racks, or on a metal sheet. The metal will singe the leather. Use a wooden plank (not plywood, you don't want that glue heating in your oven) under your pieces. Put the plank on the wire rack, then the leather on the plank.
Remarkably, if you take a piece of the very same leather, leave it aside, let it dry completely (completely!) and later put it in the oven at 212 degrees for four hours.... it won't harden a bit. Not at all. Comes out as though nothing has happened.
The temperature needs to get over 167 degrees F in the leather. That's the temp where the chemical changes occur that produce hardening. Don't let it go over 200 degrees. Oven set about as low as it goes generally works for me and I try to target a temp of 180 in the oven. Use a good oven thermometer.
Depending on the complexity of the shape you are making, a last may be needed. I use a piece of log as a support for cuisses, greaves, rerebraces, vambraces and bazubands, but it's not a form -just something to insure they don't collapse.
There needs to be water present in the leather, but it does not need to be *wet*. When you dampen leather, it becomes plastic and shapes easily. Get it too wet and it won't hold shape, it will just mush around. If you get the leather to the water content where it molds and holds its shape, that's fine for hardening.
I've done pieces where after shaping, I let them dry for days, then dipped them in water on the way to the oven. No soak, just in and out of the bucket, barely enough to change the surface color. Worked great.
Do Not put your leather into the oven on the wire racks, or on a metal sheet. The metal will singe the leather. Use a wooden plank (not plywood, you don't want that glue heating in your oven) under your pieces. Put the plank on the wire rack, then the leather on the plank.
Remarkably, if you take a piece of the very same leather, leave it aside, let it dry completely (completely!) and later put it in the oven at 212 degrees for four hours.... it won't harden a bit. Not at all. Comes out as though nothing has happened.
Gavin Kilkenny
Proprietor
Noble Lion Leather
hardened leather armour and sundry leather goods
www.noblelionleather.com
Proprietor
Noble Lion Leather
hardened leather armour and sundry leather goods
www.noblelionleather.com