How to Tool a Leather Belt

A belt stamped with a tooled design

Tooling means imprinting a design onto leather. You can enhance belts with a decorative edge and images, names or words. When a metal tool is hammered into leather it leaves an indented image that appears darker than the leather. You may stain the belt after it is tooled. If a dark finish is used the tooled images will be lighter than the leather. Many different stamps are available at craft or leatherwork stores or on the Internet.

Things You'll Need

• New leather belt
• Leather stamp
• Hammer

Instructions

1. Wet the leather belt and place it on a hard surface. The buckle should not be attached to the belt yet.

2. Allow it to dry until it returns to almost its original color.

3. Place the head of your stamping tool on the leather and pound the other end of the tool firmly with a hammer once or twice until the tool leaves an imprint in the leather. If the tool does not leave an imprint the leather is too dry. Dampen it again and allow it to dry for a shorter period of time.

4. Move your stamp to another spot on the leather and pound it again. Repeat until you have the design you want.

Tips & Warnings

• If desired you may stain the leather to highlight your tooled design.

References

• Tandy Leather Factory: Basic Stamping Leather Craft Video