How Wet-Forming Works

Wet-forming is one of the most unique properties of vegetable tanned leather, and the one which first got me seriously interested in the material.

A tray with wet formed edges.

Simply put, you can get the leather wet, sculpt it into any shape you please, and once it dries, it will hold that shape permanently.

My trays are a simple example of this sort of technique. Once I have done any tooling or carving I am going to do on the tray I re-wet the leather, bend the edges up, and leave it on the rack to dry.

This shape will be cut in half to form two pockets in a pencil case.

I use this same technique to make a pocket which always stays open, like I use in my pencil cases and on tool belts to make them easy to use with one hand.

For these sorts of shapes I stretch the leather out over a mold I have carved from wood and tack it down at the edges as shown here. The metal tool below the hammer helps me form a sharp crease at the base of the form.

A friction lock knife sheath, only possible through wet forming.

Wet forming can capture a much higher level of detail as well, this technique is used to make the best sheaths, with a reliable, friction lock and a satisfying click into place.

To make an object like this the craftsman needs to have the item to be carried to wrap the leather around. If you take a close look at that sheath you will notice that every contour of the handle is represented in the leather.

Glasses case showing some subtler uses of the technique.

When the knife slides into place, all those contours grip the handle using every little facet of its surface as catch points. This means the tool is easy to retrieve when desired, but can never simply fall out, even after many years of use.

Wet forming can also be used in more subtle ways. In the image of the glasses case notice the long straight portion along the front face of the case, next to the two curves closer to the edges. That had to be wet formed. If this had been done dry the edges of the case would not curve as sharply, and the straight portion would have bowed out, resulting in a case with much less room inside.