What I did was cut two strands, each about 6 - 8 inches long, one from the stretchy one from the good part. They both had not
been treated with plaiting soap or leather dressing. Both of them broke with a bit of effort.
Now the experiment,
I noticed in Aldo's blog, what he does is soak a hide in water to remove the tanning components, then he treats it with plaiting soap
or dressing, and he says it absorbs it better and strengthens.
Well I decided to try this myself. I submerged the pieces in water for about 2 or 3 hours, by then the water was almost completely
orange, I'm guessing from the tanning components.
After this I squeezed them out, cut a slit in the top, hung them on a hook and smeared them well with dressing.
After a day, the dressing had almost completely soaked in, I wiped off the excess ( I forgot to mention that I took another dry
piece and smeared it with dressing also, one that wasn't soaked in water )
Most all of the dressing was still on the dry piece.
What I did now was cut a 6mm wide strip from each of these pieces now, one from the good part, one from the stretchy part,
one from the dry part, that I had smeared dressing on.
Keep in mind this is 2-3 oz tooling calf hide.
The strips were again anywhere from 6-8 inches long.
Before I state the results I'll just state a couple things I noticed about the leather itself.
Both the pieces that I soaked in water, then applied dressing feeled... I'm not gonna say wet, but more "wet" than the piece that
wasn't soaked in water. I guess it could be described as supple?
Either way they felt very "healthy".
Also on the stretchy bit, the flesh side looked "bad" Like it would break easily. If I had thought about it I would have taken
pictures but I didn't so sorry
](./images/smilies/Indy_wall.gif "Brick wall"){kind=small}
After soaking and applying dressing that look was completely gone. It is what I went by when cutting lace to determine when to
cut wider, and it worked for the most part.
Now the results:
Stretchy area, soaked in water and dressing applied:
It originally stretched to about 10 inches long, ( from about 6 inches ) after this cut, it only stretched an inch or less. Also, giving
it all my strength, I could not break it.
Good area, soaked in water and dressing applied:
Originally stretched from about 6 inches to about 7, this one stretched almost zero. Again, giving it every bit of strength I had,
I could not break the strand, and I have tried 3 or four times to make sure.
Goodish area with just dressing applied ( remember it sat on it for over a day )
Stretched most the same it did without dressing, just a smidge less. Also I COULD break this one, and not even giving it anywhere
near all my strength.
Conclusion:
Kip/calf should be soaked in water and dressed while drying. IT WORKS
