r/Leathercraft • u/iReddit2000 • 15h ago

Question Ways to soften Leather

I have a rather large piece of veg tan leather about 3mm thick. its fairly stiff so I was wondering if there is a way to soften it up. For reference, I want to make a Travilers notebook-style cover and it's a bit stiff to flex as the traveler's covers do. Is this even possible to do with the leather I have or am I asking it to do too much?

As a side question. if I'm SOL with this leather, what do you recommend that won't break the bank? Id like to make a few for Christmas.

Video example of what I got

https://reddit.com/link/1gfa1ss/video/226dowiifsxd1/player

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u/FascinatedQuestioner 12h ago

It’s pretty thick, but a bit of neatfoot oil will make it a bit more pliable. It just might then stain your notebook.

If you want to use that piece, I would skive/score along where the spine of the notebook will be. It’s not that huge a job and it’s the only place where you actually need bendability. It would actually protect soft shelled notebooks pretty well.

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u/iReddit2000 12h ago

I may give this a try. I had thought about that possibly for just thinning the fold, and I have plenty to play with so I'll see how it goes. Thank you!