1St Holster, Dyed, Now What?

[vapor162]

Hi Guys,

This is my first holster (actually, first my leather project of any kind) I have been able to figure out each step so far, by reading this forum. Thank you all!

I'm not sure you would call this a success or not - but hey, its my first one so its a start.

So, I dyed a test piece and then sprayed some resolene on it - the resolene seems to leave a tacky feeling that I dont care for.

Im wondering if I should finish this thing off with some sort of oil or balm instead of resolene?......

any suggestions?

This picture makes it look like I only sprayed the edges, but I sprayed the whole thing, with a few a little extra on the edges to darken. Like they do with the tobacco sunburst guitars...

now that I have done it......I'm not so sure I will do it again.....but it seemed like a really cool idea at the time.

Thanks,

Chris

[gregintenn]

After the Resolene, I buff it with a shoe brush, then apply some neutral shoe polish and buff again. That looks quite good for a first try.

[katsass]

Hi Guys,

This is my first holster (actually, first my leather project of any kind) I have been able to figure out each step so far, by reading this forum. Thank you all!

I'm not sure you would call this a success or not - but hey, its my first one so its a start.

So, I dyed a test piece and then sprayed some resolene on it - the resolene seems to leave a tacky feeling that I dont care for.

Im wondering if I should finish this thing off with some sort of oil or balm instead of resolene?......

any suggestions?

This picture makes it look like I only sprayed the edges, but I sprayed the whole thing, with a few a little extra on the edges to darken. Like they do with the tobacco sunburst guitars...

now that I have done it......I'm not so sure I will do it again.....but it seemed like a really cool idea at the time.

Thanks,

Chris

Good morning vapor. As to finishes, I have found that, for my purposes, Feibing's Leather Sheen seems to fit the bill best. I have tryed Resolene but don't care for it much. I don't know what part of the Country you hail from, however, if you are in a humid climate, that can cause you problems with any finishing product. Out here in the desert my humidity level sits in the single digits to the high teens, except when the monsoon comes up from Mexico. Before shooting a finish be sure that the dye is totally dry....in moist areas this can take up to 24 hours. For any of the "sheen" products I have found that if you warm your project well (don't cook it, just get it nice and warm with the sun, a blow dryer, heat gun on 'low', heat lamp, etc) then mist on a couple of coats.......alowing them to dry between applications.......you will end up with a very satisfactory finished surface. I emphsize 'mist on' your finish, as too heavy an application will produce a plastic appearance.........not good in my book. I use an airbrush to apply dye, neatsfoot and finishes.

Now, as to the 'sunburst' effect. I do it fairly often. Some very pronounced and others less so. For less pronounced effect, I use the same dye all over, just feather it out, or in, as the case may be. On others I dye the lighter tone uniformly over the entire project, then feather in a darder shade with an airbrush set to shoot a very fine mist. A couple of examples: Hope this helps a little, Mike

P,S. I dye all pieces prior to assembly, allow them to dry, then assemble and stitch, burnish edges, then apply my finish.

Edited August 14, 2010 by katsass

[vapor162]

Gregintenn:

That sounds good I will try that for sure. Shoe pilosh and saddle soap are totally different animals correct? but the neutral polish contains no dye / color?

Thanks for kind words,

Katsass:

Im in Allen, Texas - its fairly humid about now.

Funny you mention drying times.....I only allowed my test piece a few minutes in the sun to dry, long enough to clean the airbrush with some rubbing alcohol and pour in some resolene and start spraying onto my cardboard back stop.

well to my surprise rubbing alcohol and resolene combine to make some sort of poormans napalm. Basically water based and alcohol based coatings dont play nice in the same airbrush with out a good cleaning and drying. .... Lesson learned!

From your pictures, I can see that I need to back up a little (get a better feathered edge) and work on my corner transitions - they are a little boxy

Thanks guys.

[gregintenn]

Shoe polish and saddle soap are NOT the same. There is no color or dye in neutral shoe polish. As for the Resolene, I rubit in with a damp sponge, and it's dry with no tackiness in a matter of minutes. I imagine you applied it too thick.

well to my surprise rubbing alcohol and resolene combine to make some sort of poormans napalm.

[katsass]

Katsass:

Im in Allen, Texas - its fairly humid about now.

Funny you mention drying times.....I only allowed my test piece a few minutes in the sun to dry, long enough to clean the airbrush with some rubbing alcohol and pour in some resolene and start spraying onto my cardboard back stop.

well to my surprise rubbing alcohol and resolene combine to make some sort of poormans napalm. Basically water based and alcohol based coatings dont play nice in the same airbrush with out a good cleaning and drying. .... Lesson learned!

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Vapor162:

Funny thing about drying times, the project can feel dry to the touch but, 't'aint necessarily so'. I always try to go a little overboard on time, just to be sure. I meant to mention in my previous post.......very nice work for your first holster. Mike

P.S. Yep, mixing acrylic with an alcohol based substance calls for a thorough clean up.

Edited August 14, 2010 by katsass

[vapor162]

Well, here it is all finished. Thanks for all of your comments. The shoe polish seemed to be what I needed.

Thanks to everyone who commented!

Moving on to my next holster!

[katsass]

Well, here it is all finished. Thanks for all of your comments. The shoe polish seemed to be what I needed.

Thanks to everyone who commented!

Moving on to my next holster!

Very nice work!!