Reference specs, per-sheet math, and laser settings for 2–3oz (0.8–1.2mm) vegetable-tanned leather — the standard weight for earrings, keychains, and small laser-cut goods. Punch in your sheet price below for an instant per-part quote.
Vegetable-tanned leather is the material almost every laser-cut leather good on Etsy is built from — it cuts to a clean, slightly darkened edge with no melting, holds fine detail well, and doesn't need any special ventilation beyond what you'd already run for wood.
Only cut genuine leather — never "bonded leather" or PVC-backed "pleather." Those materials release chlorine gas when laser-cut, which is genuinely hazardous to breathe and corrosive to your machine's optics and metal parts. If a listing doesn't clearly say vegetable-tanned or chrome-tanned genuine hide, don't put it under the laser.
The same math the calculator above runs — worked out longhand, so you can sanity-check it against your own numbers.
Leather is usually priced by the square foot rather than the sheet, so converting a supplier's per-sq-ft price to a per-sheet cost before plugging it in here is the most common place to make a quoting mistake — double-check units before trusting the output.
This is the material line only. A full shop quote adds machine time, labor, and finishing — KraftyQuote's cost engine rolls all of it into one number automatically.
Ballpark settings for a clean through-cut — leather chars quickly if run too slow, so lean toward higher speed over higher power when dialing in. Always run a test strip first, and expect a strong smell even with correct settings.
That's just genuine hide — natural collagen fiber gives off a distinctive burnt smell no matter how well-tuned the settings are. Run your exhaust fan on high and vent outside if you can; it's normal, not a sign something is wrong.
Vegetable-tanned is the safer default — chrome-tanned leather contains chromium salts, and some in the laser community avoid cutting it over fume concerns, though opinions vary. When in doubt, stick to veg-tan and check with your specific tannery if you need chrome-tan.
Even precut rectangular sheets of hide carry more natural variation than manufactured sheet goods — slightly uneven thickness across the piece, and leather's tendency to curl or shift on the bed unless taped or weighted down, both eat into usable yield more than a flat, uniform material does.
KraftyQuote's full cost engine handles materials, machine time, labor, and margin in one quote — free to build, no card required.