Dyes, Antiques, Stains, Glues, Waxes, Finishes and Conditioners.
The chemical department. Coloring and accenting your work, protecting it from the elements and ravages of time, care and maintainance of leather, and preservation and restoration of old leather.
2,962 topics in this forum
-
- 7 followers
- 28 replies
- 34.5k views
I have heard many different peoples steps in finishing a project. Some swear by this or that and others wont do this before they do that. I think if everyone was to post their own process it would help not only me but MANY people in this forum. So lets start with antiquing. How do you get that "perfect" finish, what products, and what tools(wool,dauber,ect.) Lets hear it. I know some of you old timers have to have some tried and true ways that you will do every time and I would love to hear them!!! I want detailed descriptions so that they will be easy to follow for me and others. Thanks alot and I hope this will help everyone!!!!! Phillip Sims
Last reply by ThisIsMyFirstRodeo, -
-
-
- 7 followers
- 323 replies
- 75.9k views
Why do so many people say mineral oil is bad for leather? Online, there are so many sites, none of which are actual chemists or experts, who go on about how bad mineral oil is for leather. But if mineral oil is fine for baby skin, surely it is good for leather as well. Johnson's baby oil is just perfumed mineral oil and has been used for decades.. Then people say 'petrolatum ( petroleum jelly) and petroleum products are bad for leather - we would not apply it on our skin and should not on leather. Hmm. My mother used pure petroleum jelly (Vaseline) on her skin nightly as a young girl and had skin that looked barely 45 when she was 80. The beautiful skin is…
Last reply by SUP, -
- 11 followers
- 99 replies
- 95.3k views
Having spent a good deal of time researching and reading forums, to include this one, I have found that there are plenty of threads on making leather conditioners , but not many actual recipes. People act like it's a secret or are elusive in what ingredients and ratios they use. It's not a secret, I never understood why people act like its some kind of proprietary info on how they make conditioner. It's not like most/any of them are trying to sell it to make a living or anything. Plus its not rocket science. If one looks at most commercial products Material Safety Data Sheets ( MSDS), you can find out what the ingredients are and sometimes even the % of each. A little b…
Last reply by Deeeeeee, -
- 20 replies
- 14.8k views
I got a chance to use latex rubber as a dye mask on my powercat clock project (yes, I'm finally getting some more work done on it), and decided to snap some photos as I worked so you could see how well this latex rubber works as a dye mask. If you like to spray on your dyes, this seems to be a fairly trouble-free way of keeping the dye off the areas of your project where you don't want it. PLEASE NOTE: Putting this latex product on leather may affect how the leather is able to absorb dye after the latex is removed. It has also been known to cause some discoloration of some leathers. (I haven't had this problem with the leather I use, but some people have reported this…
Last reply by paloma, -
- 1 follower
- 1 reply
- 130 views
Hello, I got a used leather purse; soft leather, pink in colour. I used the honey leather cleaner and then next day used the honey leather conditioner. I accidentally got some large spots (size of palm) with too much conditioner and its been 2 days. The spot is very noticeable. Looks greasy/wet. Not sure if I should used the cleaner on the spot that it not absorbing the conditioner and start again. Thanks
Last reply by AlZilla, -
- 3 followers
- 6 replies
- 1.5k views
Right then, never thought such a request would happen here, but seems it has. A regular customer of mine has bought an old John Deere tractor. He wants / needs a place to store a soft bound wee book. Seems there might have been one on the tractor previously, as there are two holes on the right hand rear fender. Regardless, he was not after anything stunning, but when he brought the tractor round the shop so I could do measurements, I mentioned doing it in John Deere green with yellow stitching. Aye, he was sold! I've been on experimenting to get the proper green, but cannae get there. I've been mixing Pro Dye green with yellow and with spirits to find the …
Last reply by AlZilla, -
- 5 followers
- 7 replies
- 706 views
Hey all, Ok, at least it’s not a completely noob question this time… I’m using weldwood as my contact cement, and as I reach the bottom of the can, it seems like it is much more viscous and more difficult to use for small/delicate/detail places. I’m sure that this is from not having stirred the can enough when it was full, but it is the first canned cement I have used (previously used the squeeze tubes of Barge). Learning curve and all… Anyway, is there a way to thin the cement to a more desirable/usable viscosity? TIA for the advice, and may you never burn your bacon! 😉 — AZR
Last reply by dikman, -
- 1 follower
- 7 replies
- 694 views
I use 100% of Fiebings products for dying, staining and finishing leather, I don't use any other - although it's more expensive than others that I've tried, but it's the only one I'm satisfied with so far. This is not a commercial for Fiebing's, I'm just explaining myself. I use Fiebing's Pro Dye to dye the leatherwork (then applying acrylic resolene with airbrush. I dip-dye belts and for everything else I use airbrush. But after dying (mostly after dip-dying) belts are very stiff - so I would consider using Fiebing's Neatsfoot Oil and then Resolene - would it work? Would it even be reasonable to use Resolene after Neatsfoot oil? And another question: Aft…
.thumb.jpg.6e903dd66163ad5672f00f144058c571.jpg)
Last reply by Northmount, -
- 2 followers
- 5 replies
- 414 views
Note to self: Just don’t. Basically my experience was from attempting to spray a 50% dilution. The resist started gumming up into the “white glue”-type sludge, clogging the nozzle. Another sign of a mistake is the freeze warning on the side of the bottle. And the propellant in the cartridge is well below freezing as it’s released. I was doing my best to use short bursts to prevent the nozzle from freezing over, but who knows how successful that was. At least I’m only down a cartridge and some time, though what did spray seemed to lay down surprisingly even. Perhaps an airbrush is still a possibility for application, but definitely not with the Preval system. (I…
Last reply by kgg, -
- 1 follower
- 3 replies
- 242 views
Ok, simple question (maybe)… Does water- vs oil-based dye affect how you use NFO? Is the typical oil/water separation even a concern? Ive been watching some videos from the University of YouTube, and I’ve noticed that they’re all using Fiebings Pro, and not water-based (I prefer the Pro dye myself, but I happen to have a water-based dye for this project), and I don’t want to ruin a piece by lifting or smearing the dye. TIA, AZR
Last reply by TonyV,
