Water Stains

[Daggrim]

I was shocked when I found dark brown spots on numerous pieces of leather I'd dyed with Fiebings Oil Dye, in Saddle Tan. I'd left them by an open window, and they got a few rain sprinkles on them the day before. They were dry, and had become permanent stains. I tried wetting some of the peices with water, and it permanently stained them a medium brown, after a couple days of drying.

Any ideas what happened? This would have been a disaster if I'd sold a tan helmet to someone at a Renaissance Faire, and it'd gotten some raindrops on it.

Doug

[terrymac]

The dye will not provide any protection against water! You need to apply another finish, and Tandy sells different varities depening on the type finish you want. A lot of saddle makers will finish with Neatlac or its replacement, Clearlac, and then put a coat of Tan Kote on. Leather with just a dye finish is just begging to be stained or water marked.

Terry

[Daggrim]

Oh, ok. I've been using Aussie Leather Balm, but not as a water protector. I've stopped using Atom Wax as a second coat, as it also water spots. I just recently started applying Resolene, but I just don't know if that's equivalent to Clearlac and Tan Kote. What do you think? Every time I try to find a solution to water spotting, I find a half dozen different answers, and I just can;t afford to go out and buy some of everything I read about. If saddle makers use it, then it sounds perfect for my helmets. I like some shine, but not a crystal bright shine. Thanks for the answer. I suppose I missed some of the simpler basics when I started making the helmets. I've sold many of them, and kinda cringe when I think of what some of them might look like by now.

Doug

The dye will not provide any protection against water! You need to apply another finish, and Tandy sells different varities depening on the type finish you want. A lot of saddle makers will finish with Neatlac or its replacement, Clearlac, and then put a coat of Tan Kote on. Leather with just a dye finish is just begging to be stained or water marked.

Terry

[terrymac]

Clear Lac is a clear finish that will do a pretty good job of closing pores, but not completely. Resolene and TanKote are two different products and I have not used any Resolene.. Go to the Fieblings' website and I believe both are there. Hope that helps.

[ferret]

Only thing I've found that realy waterproofs leather is liberal amounts of dubbin applied frequently. Not sure if it would be suitable for armour though as it does soften the leather.

[MADMAX22]

Clear lac (old school neat lac) provide pretty good water protection.

What I do for my more natural looking projects that I want a mellow sheen on is after dying use a thin coat of neats foot oil, then after that drys I have been using sno-seal which requires occasional reapplying but does pretty darn good to repel water. Others that are similer in style to sno-seal are montanas pitch blend, bees natural, picards leather dressing .... and some more I have forgotten about. These all seem to work really well.

I have also made my own with bees wax, parafin wax, and neats foot oil. It makes a whitish paste similer to very hard butter in consistency but when you rub it in it goes clear and soaks in pretty good. This seems to provide pretty good protection. It will feel kind of waxy for a little bit so putting it somewhere warm helps.

If you use these in light coats they dont soften the leather much if any after they are dry. The thing I like about them is they offer protection but keeps a natural feel and look to the leather and can be reapplied when necessary without having to strip the finish off or anything. Oh and its easy to apply without worrying about streaking or anything.

[Daggrim]

I did some experiments again. My original experiments with waterproofing had inconclusive results, but this time around, I'd have to give Sno Seal a ten out of ten, and Resolene a 6 out of ten. Then Fiebings spray on rain repellent a 3. I read up some on Tan Kote, and some others, but I didn't see where they were considered to be used as a water repellent coating. I also tried some plain Neet's Foot, and some olive oil, but they were not very good without a top coat of something else.. Thanks for all the replies.

Doug