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Yaakovjt

Dodgy Finishing Aka Leather Conditioner

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Hey, i recently made a tote bag for my sister out of veg tanned leather, i applied one coat of tandy satin sealer, and then a coat of a leather conditioner, as you can see in the photo the finish is streaky and looks horrible. Any ideas as to why this happened and how to fix it, i applied it with a soft cloth, evenly and liberally. Any replies would be appreciated. Thanks.

post-54129-0-89322500-1437218434_thumb.j

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Did you dye it first? With what? What sealer? Satin SHEEN is not a real sealer. What conditioner? All products do not play well together. Tandy has a chart somewhere of what works with what...

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Gday Tom,

Thanks for the reply! No didnt dye it just put on the eco flo satin shene, left that on there for a couple of months and then added an australian made leather conditioner by B.K Smith, "australian leather conditioner" after the brand name. It has happened when ive applied it directly to veg tanned leather as well. Im guessing its just the product? Lol so much to learn, and its a shame when you make something that takes forever and it turns out like that.

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Well, I've never experienced this exactly, but I use a totally different technique and process. Well.. I lied... I did see something similar years ago when I was experimenting with stuff. I applied some mink oil to a piece of raw leather. It sort of looked this way, if I remember correctly, and all I could figure is that I was applying it unevenly. I never did figure out how to do it properly. As I would try to even it out, it would get darker and darker.

I'd take some scraps and try applying the conditioner using different techniques and applicators.. maybe clip some sheeps wool short, or a soft rag or one of those wax applicator pads they use for car wax.

Hopefully, someone with more experience than me will pipe in and be able to shed some light on it.

As for the Satin Sheen... it is water based and most folks shy away from it.. not all.. but a lot. From all I've ever read here and elsewhere, Resolene, or acrylic floor wax diluted 50/50 with water is the preferred product.

I found the reference guide from Tandy. It's a free download and I'm attaching it here. But it's not actually the one I was thinking of. But it might give you an idea of what's compatible... If I find the more extensive one, I'll let you know. It might be in one of the coloring and dying books I read back when.

Later

Eco-Flo-Leathercrraft-Dyeing-Finishing-Guide.pdf

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Hey thanks for the tips, ill try experimenting with different applicators, somethings got to work, youd think if the sell the product then it should of been tested before it went on the market. I think your right about the darkening, when i applied the satin sheen the veg tan still had that beautiful colour but now its a shade darker, if i put more on to even it out then it will be darker again, my wallet turned out the same after using the conditioner, it looks nice now but its very dark. Im going to try and find some resoline, does tandy sell it? How do you normally finish your leather goods? Is the resolene meant to finish the leather or also conditions it? Ive downloaded the pdf ill check it out shortly, ☺ thanks for taking the time to upload it. Peace

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Tandy carries it. But after the suggestion from many on these forums, I have just switched to acrylic floor polish (without cleaners or ammonia) diluted 50/50 with water. I actually like it better than the resolene. I apply it with a soft rag. But others apply it with foam brushes, trimmed shearling and other applicators,

If you do a search here for Resolene or floor wax, you will find a ton of threads on how to use it or apply it.

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I have done this before and it's a total bummer. Since then, I always test things either on a separate piece of leather from the same hide or on a small section of the project. I learned that lesson the hard way. I used the satin sheen, too. I still use it for some projects but you have to use multiple coats for it to really resist streakiness after conditioners (I use Aussie). When I first messed up, I used deglazer twice to help strip the satin sheen off which actually helped get rid of some streakiness and then I dyed it a darker color and refinished it with resolene. I can't find any pictures but it ended up looking pretty good.

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