Engraving on ghost leather/white wax leather

Are there any leather crafters out there that know if ghost leather/white wax leather will engrave well? It’s only veg tan leather, so I know it can engrave well, but I’m worried about the wax layer on top and how well it will react with the laser. I’m worried it won’t look good, and I would really like to know before I spend $100 on the leather. I couldn’t find any info online, so hopefully someone here can help me out.

It’ll probably be fine if you mask it.

I was thinking that, but I’m also worried that the masking will pull off the wax because there are a lot of leathers that the masking pulls off some of the finish. The wax is supposed to wear off over time, but I feel the masking might pull it off awkwardly. I have never worked with it before so it’s hard to say.

If you mean waxed “pull-up leather”, I haven’t done any white, but I’ve done other colors and it worked fine. I don’t mask it and just use a good leather condition to clean off the soot.

No, there is a leather on Rocky Mountain Leather website called Ghost Buttero, but they have other brands that I think just call it white wax leather. It’s a veg tan leather that has a layer of white wax on top that is meant to wear off slowly over time building a really pretty patina. So I don’t knowhow this wax will react to the laser.

have you considered asking them to send you a small scrap sample that you can test on?

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It sounds like a very similar process since pull-up leather is dyed leather that has a layer of wax on top and when you stretch/pull it, the dye migrates and leaves a patina of lighter colored areas. So FWIW, the wax on pull-up leather has engraved fine with no issues, but there’s really only one way to know for sure if the ghost leather would work too and that’s to test some. Probably the biggest hurdle would be masking and keeping soot off of the white leather, but in my experience the wax seemed to protect the leather from staining pretty well. Hopefully you can get a scrap piece to test on before committing to a bunch of it.

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No, I haven’t, but I guess I will try. I guess I was just hoping for a quick answer because I have two wallet orders that I want to use this leather for so to use it for these wallets I would need a quick answer. Thanks for the suggestion though, I will most likely have to do that.

I see what your saying. Thanks!

yeah, unfortunately it’s uncommon enough that you may not be able to find someone who’s used it. but you could also ask the vendor if they know of anyone using a laser cutter on it. they may be able to put you in touch w/someone.

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That is where I buy all my leather I haven’t use the white wax but I think you can mask it up with no problem also you can practice on one area first to see how it works.

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