Need Help With This Horween Side!

[Christianlikeswhiskey]

Hey guys!

So I stumbled upon this gorgeous Horween side at a leather shop and need help distinguishing what type it is. I'm guessing the CXL tan but I want to be 100% as I will be offering goods using this. Both The Tannery Row and Horween are not the best during a time crunch.

Much appreciated!

[MonicaJacobson]

What's it like to burnish? If it's easy, you might have natural dublin (veg tanned). If it's harder, one of the chrome tans. Whatever it is, it looks great.

[Nuttish]

Dublin is easy to burnish? Do tell.

[MonicaJacobson]

Have you tried Dublin? It's a veg tanned Horween (as is Derby), so it's much easier to burnish than some chrome tans I've tried. It doesn't hurt that it's thick enough to make it easier.

[Nuttish]

Yes, I work extensively with Dublin. I find it very difficult to burnish. It will sand relatively smoothly but doesn't hold a shine. Edges tend to haze and "crinkle".

What are you doing right that I'm not!

[Christianlikeswhiskey]

Hey Guys!

Just confirmed this is Dublin but was a custom color making it a bit harder to distinguish..

Please do tell about burnishing Dublin. I find that I am able to smoth the edge when the edge is not beveled but never knew someone found success in burnishing Dublin with a Beveled edge.

[MonicaJacobson]

LOL, now you mention it. I didn't claim it would stay shiny, it's just easier to deal with than some other chrome tans I've tried. Have you tried another Horween chrome tanned that burnishes better? I haven't tried more than 6 Horween types, and I'd love to hear your methods if you've been able to successfully edge treat them.

I've been experimenting with edges for a while, and haven't really found anything I'm super happy with. Lately, I've been dying the edge (I think that helped with the crinkle on my Derby leather) saddle soaping, and then sealing with three coats of resolene. That gives it a shiny edge, but not glaringly shiny like edge paint. I'm not sure how well the resolene will hold up. I've been playing with the idea of doing paraffin/beeswax on top of that, but haven't tried it. If that doesn't work, I'm going to try uncolored fenice edge paint again. It's really too shiny for my taste, but it might be worth another try.

Here's a picture of two of my tool cases.

One is black Dublin (the bottom one), and one is Derby (very similar to Dublin, also veg tanned). My edges aren't gorgeous and shiny, but they do have some shine, and I coated them with resolene a month or so back. Maybe I've given up on edges a little, but I've never been able to get anything shiny exactly like tooling veg tanned.

How do you finish Dublin, and what do your results look like?

[Nuttish]

To be honest, I'm still working on a strategy for retanned Horween like Dublin, Legacy, and CXL.

John Culliton invented Dublin and Essex to be "rustic", which explains why sides have marks you wouldn't see in other tannages.

So I'm considering doing nothing to these leathers unless the piece requires paint.

Experiments so far involve sanding up to 400 and using a Barry King 00 round bottom edger on the bottom to cut the fuzzies off. Then maybe some saddle soap, but frankly the natural edges are consistent with Dublin's ethos.

[MonicaJacobson]

Ha, that's a relief to hear you say that. I don't really want to spend more time edging at the moment.

[Nuttish]

You're going along saying "yay me this stuff will burnish up just fine"

And then

[MonicaJacobson]

Yes, EXACTLY. So frustrating. Have you tried paraffin/beeswax on it? I have the paraffin, but keep putting off buying the beeswax...