Leather Engraving

[Julian Ashcroft]

I use my laser to engrave and cut many things, but have been working with leather for a little while.

This is one of the things I have been engraving and cutting, it's a Scout Woggle (the thing that holds the Scout scarf in place).

The design is done as a 'scan' engrave and then the shape is vector cut. I'm using natural tan leather.

I have used masking tape to protect the leather from burn and smoke marks, which works well, but getting the remains of the tape off is difficult, especially from the centre of the letters, which must be about half a millimetre across in some cases.

I have also run them through the laser without masking tape, which works and most of the smoke dust wipes off okay. Is there a spray or something I could use to protect the surface while engraving, which could then be wiped off? I'm going to be making around fifty of these at the weekend.
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[walter hofmann]

hi
I use the leather protection spray what work pretty good to especially an natural tan leather
greetings
waltfl

[Keith Colson]

I have no idea if this would work but what about some wet newspaper or a wet paper towel on the work during the engrave. Afterwards you could rinse it off. This might be a silly idea, someone has probably tried this.

[Michael Hunter]

When doing leather, I put a thickish layer of wax furniture polish on with a cloth before engraving.
After engraving I clean it up with a spray polish (Mr Sheen).
No smoke marks, though the wax does darken light coloured leathers.

I did try using transfer tape (thin masking tape) but found it very unreliable - sometimes it would stick hard and be difficult to remove and then the next time it would not stick properly at all.

[Nicolas Silva]

there is no real need to use tape at all. You can simply wash the leather piece under running water.
Sounds like a good 'project' for the scouts.

[Terry Wade]

As former scout in my childhood years, that is pretty cool. Having earned the leather working merit badge while a scout, we always wet the leather with clean water and then went to tooling it. I have made some drink coasters from leather and tried the same method and they turned out fine.

[Chris DeGerolamo]

You may want to try etching the text in various percentages of black to get a cleaner mark. On our Epilog, I run 70/80% with stucki and a lower power to reduce char.

[Bert Kemp]

Tandy Leather Eco Flo Super Sheen, I put 2 coats on Veg Tan leather then engrave, residue wipes right off then a 3rd coat to protect the engraved area. Then buff with a soft cloth for a nice luster. Never run veg tan leather under water, it will make the leather hard when it drys. A better leather for this application would be an oil tanned leather. Its softer and has a natural sheen and is pretty much water resistant.

[Julian Ashcroft]

Thanks for all your help. When I have done these in the past, I put a number of them in a mesh bag and put them through a short cycle in the washing machine. They were then put flat onto newspaper to dry out. Yes it made the leather go hard, but in the case of the woggles, this was a fairly good thing. If there was something I could just use and wipe off, it would save the washing part.

I will have a go at the suggestions.

[Scott Shepherd]

I think you've got a little too much power on it too, which is making it worse. Scale the power back some and it should get better. If you get the right balance, it'll come out pretty clean. I don't recall ever having to wash leather after I engraved it. Maybe a quick wipe and that's it.

[Tristan Ranatza]

Having done a few keychains I would say that you can wipe them down lightly with neatsfoot oil then engrave. I too put them in a mesh bag and wash them with a few old rags them throw them in the dryer (or air dry) them put another coat of neatsfoot oil on them once they were dry.
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[Bill Munroe]

As memory serves, I used Johnson's floor wax prior to engraving...then wiped down. Came out nice, but still stunk! I put the pieces in a plastic bag with some cat litter, which took the edge off

[Bert Kemp]

The best way to do leather without hurting the leather is to us products designed to used with leather. Shoe polish, floor wax, water and all this other stuff is going to hurt the quality of the leather.The best way to AVOID the residue problem is to give it 2 coats of leather sheen, then engrave, any residue will wipe right of with a damp cloth. One of my best friends owns a Boot repair and leather store , he's been working with leather all his life and this is what he recommends.This is the method I've been using for years.

[Ray Scott]

I have been playing with some leather lately. I am really proud of the results I got. I made some key fobs, a small display piece, bracelet, jewelry, steampunk stuff ... and more. Yep, I also ran into the problem of how to clean the leather.

I tried the idea of masking tape.... The burned section always gets rubbed onto the "clean" area of the leather. ..and it is a pain to weed the masking tape off of the leather. If the masking tape is stuck too strong, then the adhesive won't peel off. If the tape isn't pressed on good enough, then the tape rises and the engraving fumes concentrate under the tape... Nasty.

I tried cool water. No love there.

i tried really hot water.. This works nice. Just try to minimize the residue incurred during lasering. Saturating the leather can lead to unwanted stretching... And shrinkage while drying. Use as little water as you can.

i also tried Windex, denatured alcohol, Pledge, and some leather oils....

My best results can from using a quick spray of "LA's Totally Awesome All-Purpose cleaner" and rinsed off with hot water. The Awesome dissolves the residue and the water rinses it away. I also use a small "soft" toothbrush to clean residue from the crisp engraved ridged.

i hope this helps you all.

[Mike Null]

+1 on floor wax