Leather can be personalized by stamping (also referred to as debossing) or with laser engraving (also referred to as laser etching). The options for personalizing leather are endless! Here at Ox & Pine, almost everything we make and send is personalized--it makes your leather good that much more special and meaningful. Let's go over some details of each so you can understand each option!
LEATHER STAMPING
This is not to be confused with leather tooling; although, they're similar since both make a physical impression in the leather! For stamping, small individual metal pieces of type have heat and pressure applied to create a beautiful impression in the leather. Logos and artwork can even be made up into special metal stamping pieces to apply that heat and pressure to create an impression in the leather. You can get an amazing amount of detail and it really showcases the natural beauty of leather.
Stamping creates an impression for a beautiful dimension and depth added to the leather. It's truly an art form since each piece of leather and different types of leather will take the stamping differently. That just adds to the unique beauty of leather since no two pieces of leather are alike.
There are some downsides to this method that you'll want to consider. The stamping variation can be a con, if you want it to be identical each time. Due to the nature of leather and stamping, the stamping can relax over time making it not as deep. Hot stamping can also be done with different foil colors which is really cool, but the foil can rub off over time especially if it's an item used every day.
Overall, stamping with heat and pressure into the leather is beautiful and unique which complements the beauty of leather.
LASER ENGRAVING
Laser engraving uses a laser to burn an image or text into the surface of the leather. Depending on the quality of the laser embosser, it can create a great amount of detail. There also isn't a lot of setup since you work with a computer program and the laser--there's no special pieces that need made up. For that reason, it can be a faster turnaround time, too!
There's a wide variety of images and fonts since you can choose those from the program and allows some more customization for names and personalization. There's less variability since a machine creates the image once the settings have been adjusted and it's not done by hand.
There are also some downsides to this method. The smell can be very strong since it's burning the surface of leather. There's also soot left behind that can smear and be messy. While laser engraving shows up well on some leathers, there are leathers it will be difficult to see on.
Laser embossing is a great option when it comes to personalizing leather and gives a lot of versatility in options.
Left: Leather Stamping. Right: Laser Engraving
