Anyone hit any "black European full-grain leather" with a laser?

[Kev Williams]

One of my newer and better customers wants me to laser etch a bunch of $200 Mont Blanc leather wallets with a logo I've yet to see...

I've had real good luck with leather for the most part, although my motorcycle seat customer had a change in black leather, and while the old stuff turned a nice tan color, good contrast and all, the new stuff would just go a different shade of black. Even my 80w Triumph would barely mark the stuff. And it had a tar smell to it. (If ever I want to make something out of leather that will never wear out, I'm going to look up the stuff!)

Anyway, I have nothing to sample test except a $200 wallet. Not my favorite way to find out it won't work...

Hoping someone may have a positive experience (or not) to share?

[Jack Clague]

Hi Kev,

I am new to this industry so please take my experience with a massive bag of salt on the side, I have engraved around 6 different types of leather so far, now two of those pieces were a dark expensive leather (cut offs after production) i noticed that although hard to tell they had allot of additional coatings from the final leather, I spoke with the lady I am doing a bit of leather work for and she said they usually coat the expensive leathers in allot of oils and sometimes use a heavy set dye, this might be one of the reasons you got a tar smell that time you tried to laser into the darker leather.

I found the laser works well on untreated or tanned only leather (before final prep)

I would be highly interested in how you go.

[Mike Null]

The reason I would refuse the job is that leathers like that are relatively thin hence, when engraved, become brittle and can crack. The wallet would be ruined.

It is likely that the leather will be black all the way through so you could make a fairly good but subtle mark were it not for the thickness issue.

[Keith Winter]

One of my newer and better customers wants me to laser etch a bunch of $200 Mont Blanc leather wallets with a logo I've yet to see...

I've had real good luck with leather for the most part, although my motorcycle seat customer had a change in black leather, and while the old stuff turned a nice tan color, good contrast and all, the new stuff would just go a different shade of black. Even my 80w Triumph would barely mark the stuff. And it had a tar smell to it. (If ever I want to make something out of leather that will never wear out, I'm going to look up the stuff!)

Anyway, I have nothing to sample test except a $200 wallet. Not my favorite way to find out it won't work...

Hoping someone may have a positive experience (or not) to share?

I've done my far share of wallets, problem you are going to have is if you go shallow you won't be able to see it, if you go deeper so you can see it you will compromise the wallets integrity, and it will tear in the spot you engraved it over time. Only light colored wallets have worked well for me, simply because you can go really shallow and still see it on a light wallet.
Second factor you have to contend with is the wallet bulges if it's a padded or thick wallet. I'd decline the job for the wallets based upon these factors unless you have an air powered embosser.

I think the best way to do this is via the aforementioned air embosser, with pressure and/or gold leaf. Notice I said air embosser not hand embossed. Having used both I can tell you hand emboss machines don't have the force to properly do this job. However with any embosser you will be limited to text if you do that unless you have a special embossing plate made. The cost of which you should pass on to the customer. I have an expensive air powered embosser that could make short work of it. I don't use it much anymore, but if you decide to go that route I'd be happy to talk more about what's involved. Fair warning though embossing isn't perfect either, so if it's a small job it might not be worth the hassle.

[Jerome Stanek]

Could you make a stamp and to press the logo in

[Kev Williams]

Thanks for the feedback guys-- 'thin' may be key here, as these 'wallets' are actually business card holders, which appear to be fairly thin--

-on the other hand, they have their own heat pressed(?) logo, which gives the impression (no pun intended) that it's not all THAT thin.

The 'unique deep shine' also bothers me. Fortunately, my customer is perfectly fine with not doing this if I don't think it will work.
He's going to check to see if a sample swatch of leather is available, as neither of us needs a $200 biz card holder.

Jerome, yes, I could make a stamp, but how to do the actual pressing would be another challenge...

[Keith Winter]

Thanks for the feedback guys-- 'thin' may be key here, as these 'wallets' are actually business card holders, which appear to be fairly thin--

-on the other hand, they have their own heat pressed(?) logo, which gives the impression (no pun intended) that it's not all THAT thin.

The 'unique deep shine' also bothers me. Fortunately, my customer is perfectly fine with not doing this if I don't think it will work.
He's going to check to see if a sample swatch of leather is available, as neither of us needs a $200 biz card holder.

Jerome, yes, I could make a stamp, but how to do the actual pressing would be another challenge...

Yeah that looks embossed. A poor job to be sure but embossed.

[Neville Stewart]

Keith - I did a similar thing for a friend/leatherworker. I laser reverse engraved 3/8th acrylic with a logo to a depth of about 1/16th for him and he embossed them on a press after wetting the leather. Worked out great and he had been using the metal kind ( litho process ). It might work for you.

[Mike Null]

I made a die for this coaster out of .25" acrylic and glued a .25" backer to it. The customer then used a HF press to deboss the leather.





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[Keith Winter]

I made a die for this coaster out of .25" acrylic and glued a .25" backer to it. The customer then used a HF press to deboss the leather.





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That looks great! Hf = Harbor freight shop press?

[Mike Null]

It was a relatively inexpensive Harbor Freight press but i don't know the model. He said it was 10 ton but I never saw one there. http://www.harborfreight.com/20-ton-...ess-32879.html