To clarify one of the greatest differences between chrome tanned and vegetable tanned leather besides the etching problem is that the veggie tanned leather can be tooled with any manner of tooling past or present that's been used on leather throughout history.:thumbup:
Chrome tanned leather on the other hand is impossible to tool because of its tanning process.
Chrome tanned leather is tanned with chemical salts and the leftover salts is what etches the steel.
The slick and shiny surface on such things as shoes is the main giveaway as to what is chrome tanned and what is not.
It can be decorated by punching holes in it eg, the wingtip style of men's shoes. Also the chrome tanned leather is able to hold up to the largely toxic environment of pavement which is covered with countless chemical compounds like gasoline and oil much better than the veggie tanned which is why it is the main source of shoe leather.
Vegetable tanned leather has been around since the beginning of time. The tannin largely from the bark of Oak trees used to be the main source of vegetable tanned leather.
Veggie tanned leather needs some kind of protection on it to help keep it safe from the weather and general wear and tear.
We've talked a lot about using different waxes heated up too melting and the leather dipped in it to seal and harden it which is an excellent means of protection.
However it is pure hell on elaborately tooled pieces and the influx of wax most generally if not always destroys the burnished tooling effect that is so prized on a well tooled piece of leather.
Even old saddles that have been lovingly tooled and once had a beautiful contrast between between the natural leather and the dark burnished effect of the tooling have been erased due to many applications of saddle soap used to clean and soften the leather over time.
Unfortunately I don't know of any preservative that will maintain the dark burnished effects of the tooling on the lighter natural and uncompressed leather.
Even exposure to sunlight will cause the colors to blend eventually.
However if the leather was properly cased and tooled there will remain a polished effect to the tooled areas that can't be duplicated any other way.
I made my own set of leather saddle stamps when I worked at Fo-Mac when I was 18 and 19 years old and I've tooled leather off and on since then.
When I was in SoCal I took orders before Christmas one year and got absolutely sick of tooling leather for a long while.
But it enabled me to buy a really nice set of Tandy's Saddle Stamps along with several other leather working tools I had done without up until then.
They sure made my job a lot easier but I do have to say there is just a certain romance in a piece of really nice leather tooled with my old handmade stamps.
There may be similar but there are no others exactly like them anywhere else in the world.
And I have a few stamps I have made that are totally unique unto themselves and absolutely no others like them anywhere.
Once upon a time the secrets of leatherwork was passed from father to son and the work commanded high prices.
Now you may realize my interest in Tom's engraving as to me the processes are very similar.
