What Are The Finishing Steps?

[rcav8r]

I've checked several topics, read a bunch of articles, and the subject of finishing is confusing.

So say I'm making a simple holster. No tooling or dying. How do I finish it? What do I use? Do I need to oil it with something, then seal it with some kind of finish? inside and out? Do I need to treat the edges?

And looking forward to the future, supposed I do want something dyed or painted. It's all tooled, it's ready for finishing. What are the steps? some sort of prefinish (oil?), then dye/paint, then sealant? Will this be enough to keep the dye/paint from rubbing off, especially someones sweaty back or something? How about UV/heat protection of the leather (say car or aircraft seat)?

I'm surprised that there's no tutorial (that I could find) on basic finishing. Maybe I missed it?

[Parasite]

Everyone finishes their leather differently, so I'm just going to tell you what I would do.

For a plain holster, while it's still damp, give it a coat of oil, and another light coat after it has dried. Buff to a shine using a cotton cloth. When you apply the oil (could use pure neatsfoot oil), I only apply it to the outside. If you do both sides, it just seems to make the leather feel too greasy. Let the leather breath on the inside, whether you make holsters with the grain side or flesh side in.

To get a good finish on your plain holster, beeswax is an essential ingredient. I use huberd's shoe grease because I find it contains enough beeswax to give me just enough protection without leaving my leather goods feeling sticky, while conditioning at the same time. If you want extra protection, apply a wax after you oil it. Wax the edges too. I make my own wax with beeswax, carnauba wax, and olive oil. For the most protection, some people will melt beeswax and then apply it to the edges.

For more in depth information (consider this the tutorial ypu've been seeking) http://www.jarnaginco.com/catframe.html Go to footwear, bootees, and brogans, using the left hand menu, then find the leather preservation link on that page.

[Cyberthrasher]

You missed it. There's been several break downs over the past few months. But, they have gotten a little buried since I had to go search for them. If you search for "dying leather" you'll get all kinds of answers. Here's one where a step by step list was created. Try things out and figure out what works best for you.

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=48166&hl=+dying%20+leather#entry305331