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Leather Materials for xTool Laser Machines

Leather engraves at low power and high speed. It darkens rather than vaporises, so the mark comes from controlled scorching — push the power and you get a burnt smell, a hard edge and a stain that will not brush off.

Eight laserable leather goods in a row — a vintage brown leather swatch, money clip wallet, watch box, MagSafe wallet, assorted-colour notebooks, bookmark, blue round patch and mouse pad
Browse the Leather catalogue

Five Hides and the PU Sheet Range, Tested

The hide side is small and specific: top grain cowhide in brown, deep brown, olive and black, plus coffee crazy horse.

Alongside it sits a wide range of PU sheet in plain colours and two-tone stock that reveals gold, silver or black.

Hide is what this page is about; the finished PU pieces — notebooks, wallets, patches — sit alongside it in the same catalogue.

Browse the Leather catalogue
Twelve laserable leather and PU products — a vintage brown leather sheet, blue round patch, bookmark, money clip wallet, watch box, MagSafe wallet, assorted-colour notebooks, mouse pad and iron-on patch set

Genuine Hide or PU? They Do Not Behave the Same

Genuine leather is a natural material. Thickness and density shift across a single hide, so one setting reads slightly differently in different places, and it darkens with depth.

PU is manufactured, so it is far more consistent within a batch than hide is — which is why batch work lives there. It also melts rather than chars if you push the power.

Browse the Leather catalogue
Five recorded leather settings from 22% at 203 mm/s up to a four-pass cut at 80%, each with the resulting tone

Two-Tone PU Reveals Metal, Not Colour

Two-tone stock is a coloured PU skin laid over a gold, silver or black foil layer. The laser removes only the skin, so the artwork appears as bright metal rather than a burn.

It needs far less power than plain PU — a 55W CO2 logged 4% at 500 mm/s. Push harder and you go through the foil too.

See this two-tone record
A brown-to-gold laserable PU bookmark engraved with a detailed bridge and forest scene

Pick Your Leather

Hide behaves differently from synthetic, and waxed finishes differently again.

Brown Leather Watch Box blank

Top grain cowhide and genuine hide

A natural material, so thickness and density shift across a single piece and the tone varies with them. It smells when lasered and darkens with depth.

Vintage Brown to Black Laserable PU Leather Tray blank

Crazy horse and pull-up finishes

A waxed surface that lightens where it flexes. On the samples we have seen the laser cuts through the wax layer, so the mark can read lighter than on plain hide rather than darker — test the piece you have, because wax loading varies.

Laserable PU Round Patch blank

Laserable PU, plain and two-tone

A uniform synthetic that engraves consistently within a batch, and two-tone stock whose surface layer lifts away to a contrasting gold, silver or black beneath. Both sit under Leather in the Materials Lab.

Four Kinds of Laserable PU

Sheet or finished piece, single colour or two-tone. The route differs more than the material does.

A round blue laserable PU patch blank

Plain colour patches and sheet

One colour through the skin. The engrave darkens and slightly embosses, so contrast comes from the burn itself. Cheapest way to test a design.

A brown two-tone laserable PU patch engraved with a wolf and moon design

Two-tone over metallic foil

A skin over gold, silver or black. Lowest power of anything here and the highest contrast, which is why logo work lives on this stock.

A brown rectangular laserable PU iron-on patch

Iron-on and adhesive patches

The same face material with heat-activated glue or 3M backing. Engrave first, press second — the adhesive will not survive a beam.

A black A5 laserable PU notebook

Finished goods

Notebooks, wallets, card holders, mouse pads, hip flasks and key fobs already assembled. You are engraving a product, so the jig and the alignment matter more than the settings.

Which xTool Machine Is Best for Leather?

Leather is one of the more forgiving laser materials, and the records here span diode, CO2 and UV sources.

xTool S1 diode laser for powder-coated metal

S1 and M2 — the most recorded

Blue-light diodes account for most of the community-recorded leather jobs. A brown leather wide keychain engraved at 250 mm/s and 60% on an S1 20W, and deep brown cowhide at 203 mm/s and 22% on an S1 40W.

xTool F2 Ultra MOPA laser for colour marking on steel

F2 Ultra — cutting as well as engraving

Black cowhide cut through at 30 mm/s and 80% over four passes — the one machine here recorded cutting hide, not just marking it.

xTool P2S CO2 laser cutter

P2S — CO2 for volume

55W CO2 cuts leatherette cleanly on the honeycomb panel at 45 mm/s and 40%, and the large bed takes full hides.

xTool F2 Ultra UV laser engraver

F2 Ultra UV — cold marking on grain

3mm top grain cowhide engraved at 225 mm/s and 65% — recorded as an engrave. UV works cold, so there is less heat spread around the mark.

Shop Leather Blanks & Patches

Mais

Leather Settings Recorded by Makers

The machine each job was run on, and the numbers that produced the result.

LSA Leatherette No Foam Backing — community-tested settings on P2S (CO2 55W)

LSA Leatherette No Foam Backing

P2S (CO2 55W) · Honeycomb panel · Cut · 1mm · 1 pass · 45mm/s · 40% CO2 cuts leatherette cleanly in one pass.

Deep Brown Top Grain Cowhide Leather — community-tested settings on F2 Ultra (Blue light 40W)

Deep Brown Top Grain Cowhide Leather

S1 (Blue light 40W) · Process on baseplate · Engrave · 1 pass · 203mm/s · 22% An enclosed 40W diode on bare hide.

1/8"(3mm) Top Grain Cowhide Leather — community-tested settings on F2 Ultra UV (Ultraviolet light 5W)

1/8"(3mm) Top Grain Cowhide Leather

F2 Ultra UV (Ultraviolet light 5W) · Process on flat surface · Engrave · 3mm · 1 pass · 225mm/s · 65% UV marks cold, with little heat spread.

Black Top Grain Cowhide Leather — community-tested settings on F2 Ultra (Blue light 40W)

Black Top Grain Cowhide Leather

F2 Ultra (Blue light 40W) · Process on flat surface · Cut · 2.4mm · 4 passes · 30mm/s · 80% Cutting hide: slow, hot, four passes.

Brown Leather Wide Keychain — community-tested settings on S1 (Blue light 20W)

Brown Leather Wide Keychain

S1 (Blue light 20W) · Process on baseplate · Engrave · 1 pass · 250mm/s · 60% The most-recorded route for leather.

PU Settings Recorded by Makers

The machine each job was run on, and the numbers that produced the result.

An olive PU notebook engraved with a first name

Deep Brown PU Leather

M2 (Blue light 20W) · Lasering on flat surface · Engrave · 2mm · 1 pass · 150mm/s · 50% Plain PU on a 20W diode.

A brown-to-silver PU strip engraved with dense name artwork

Brown to Silver Laserable PU Leather

S1 (Blue light 20W) · Process on baseplate · Engrave · 0.5mm · 1 pass · 150mm/s · 30% Two-tone at low power.

A brown-to-gold PU bookmark engraved with a forest scene

Brown to Gold Laserable PU Bookmarks

P2S (CO2 55W) · Honeycomb panel · Engrave · 3.1mm · 1 pass · 500mm/s · 4% A 55W CO2 wants 4%, not 40%.

A bookmark cut from deep brown PU with a floral engrave

Deep Brown PU Leather

F2 (Blue light 15W) · Process on baseplate · Cut · 0.42mm · 1 pass · 20mm/s · 50% Cutting PU: slow, one pass.

Leather-look tags cut from two-tone PU and riveted to straps

Brown to Black Laserable PU Leather

F2 Ultra UV (Ultraviolet light 5W) · Process on flat surface · Cut · 1mm · 1 pass · 10mm/s · 100% Ultraviolet cuts without a melted edge.

A white PU patch engraved with a farm-stand logo

White PU Patch

F1 Ultra (Fiber IR 20W) · Process on flat surface · Engrave · 1 pass · 600mm/s · 75% Infrared marks PU too, very fast.

Four Things That Decide a PU Job

Too much power melts, it does not darken

PU is plastic. Past a threshold the surface goes glossy and rubbery instead of matte and dark, and there is no way back. Lower power with more speed is always the fix.

Two-tone and plain PU are not interchangeable

A value that looks right on plain brown PU will punch straight through a two-tone skin and destroy the foil. Treat them as two separate materials with two separate test grids.

Engrave before you press a patch

Iron-on backing is adhesive. Run the artwork on the loose patch, then press it — lasering a patch already stuck to fabric puts the beam through to the garment.

Foil transfer is a second route

On the M1 Ultra a hot foil pen lays metallic foil into the surface as a line rather than burning it away. Same material, opposite effect: metal added on top instead of skin taken off.

Explore the Materials Lab

Nine laser material families from the Atomm Materials Lab

All laser materials

Wood, acrylic, leather, metal, glass, stone and the rest — every material family that carries xTool-tested settings.

Nine laser wood surfaces — basswood and birch plywood edges, walnut, mahogany, cherrywood, bamboo and MDF

Wood, plywood and MDF

Forty boards from basswood ply to oiled MDF. Grade decides the cut, species decides the look.

Nine fabric and felt items — a felt square stack, a denim tote, a felt colour range, a two-tone tote, denim sheets, a canvas tote, coated engraving canvas, a drawstring bag and a black canvas tote

Fabric and felt

Felt, canvas, denim and tote blanks. Synthetics seal their own edge; cotton does not.

Nine engravable jewelry blanks

Engravable jewelry blanks

Bar pendants, signet rings, cuffs and tags — cut and finished, and many drilled for a jump ring.

Laser materials and printing supplies side by side

Laser and printing together

What cuts, what only engraves, and how the printing routes differ — both sides of the catalogue in one place.

Leather Guides & Ideas

Deeper reading once the material is sorted.

Everyday Carry, Personalized: 30 Engraved Leather Wallet Designs

30 free engraved leather wallet ideas — monograms, wildlife, pop-culture, and quote designs for personalized laser-engraved wallets and card holders.

2026/08/21831

48 Custom Leather Keychain Ideas

48 custom leather keychain ideas from the Atomm community - engraved leather key fobs, name tags, layered cut-outs, and leather-plus-hardware builds with free files to edit and export.

2026/07/311362

12 Free Personalized Leather Coaster Ideas

12 real personalized leather coaster designs from the Atomm community — sports, seasonal, decorative, and monogram templates, free to preview, edit, and export.

2026/07/161137

How to Make Embroidered Patches: 4 Methods Compared

How to make embroidered patches by machine or hand, plus laser-cut leatherette and ordering. Satin borders, cut-away stabiliser and how to attach them.

2026/08/071292

How to Design a Bookmark: Size, Strength and the Tassel Hole

How to design a bookmark that fits a book and survives it: real dimensions, material thickness, how thick bridges need to be, and where the tassel hole goes.

2026/09/04884

How to Make Your Own Keychain: 4 Methods and the Hole Rule

Make a keychain that survives a pocket: build the ring hole into the shape, keep 3 mm everywhere, blunt every point. Four methods and a real AI design run.

2026/09/071325

Perguntas frequentes

Can a laser cut leather?

Yes, but it is mostly used for engraving. Only a handful of the community-recorded leather jobs are cuts. A diode or CO2 will cut thin hide and leatherette; thick top grain needs several passes and leaves a darker edge.

What power should I use on leather?

Why does my leather smell burnt?

Does genuine leather engrave differently from PU?

What is two-tone laserable leather?

What settings should I start with on PU?

Can you cut PU with a laser?

Why did my PU turn shiny instead of dark?

Can you laser an iron-on patch after pressing it?

Engraving leather? Start low on power and high on speed

Open the leather catalogue