Probably won’t like what I do to it, but it works extremely well for me.
I remove the portion of the mask over the area to be engraved before engraving. Engrave at a much lower power and higher speed than the defaults for leather as a first step, then put the masking back on and cut it as a second step.
That little dance is necessary due to the properties of leather…big-time differences from engraving on wood or acrylic. Reduces the char, although it can still take several days for the burned smell to off-gas on the cut pieces. (The ones I did last week finally don’t stink anymore. Hallelujah!)
Given the cost of leather, it’s worth a little extra care, IMO.
I find that cleaning it (gently) with fast orange speeds up the process considerably. But then you need to wait for the leather to dry to finish so maybe comes out about the same.
I just condition the leather after cutting and engraving with my car seat leather conditioner. Smells awesome and definitely helps the leather as it really dries out from the lasering.
I actually do something similar and found the engrave quality is vastly better when doing so(remove the masking before engrave). I haven’t replied masking for the cut because of the realignment issues though.
Quite positive, thanks! I happily leave that part to the fellas.
(I’m an ex-Cajun. Our family recipes typically start out with…“Go out and kill a nice fat pullet…Wash and set the guts aside for the boudin…”.thank God for the invention of plastic wrap and grocery stores.)
I tap/shake the leather so that the loosest bits of char fall away. If there’s still a lot of loose matter attached, you can brush it (ever so gently) with a toothbrush or dry sponge. Again, ever so gently so that it doesn’t smudge all over the place.
You can rinse it in warm water with a bit of Dawn dishwashing liquid, and hit it again with a sponge if needed. Don’t manhandle it or bend it out of shape - just a light rinse/dab is fine. Then set it outside to air out and dry.
I always do the cut with the masking on the leather. Then I remove the masking and do my engraving without a mask at 1000 speed/10 power. Makes a beautiful engrave that doesn’t destroy the integrity of the leather and requires no removing of masking which completely eliminates charring on the engrave.