HoosierQ

This is inspired by a Hopi Bear fetish. My link

Has anybody ever used Obenauf's Heavy Duty Leather Protectant or Leather Oil? This sounds like the best stuff since chrome tanning. It is sold by a place called Knives Ship Free. It is kind of pricy but sounds good. Always looking for new products. Any experience out there? My linkhttp://www.knivesshipfree.com/Leather-Care

Well regarding Dap Weldwood. I have it and use it. It has some drawbacks. It is much thinner than Barge and seeps through holes if pre-punched a lot quicker than Barge. It also almost always requires two coats and the requisite 20 minute drying time for each coat. Once stuck together, the bond takes MUCH longer than Barge to set up properly. In fact, it was the guys at Tandy that recommended Weldwood to me. So it is a common product. Its formulation is much like Barge's in that it has Toluene. I will say that there are also a lot of similarities in that it comes off with Acetone easily and nothing that I have put together with Weldwood has come apart...so that's good. Bottom line: It works. I was just so spoiled when I first tried Barge that I'm...well...spoiled.

The Blue label Barge Cement (still called All-Purpose Cement) can be found at Tandy Leather and at Ace Hardware.

I have had great results with the original, yellow labeled Barge Cement. All I can get is the new Blue labeled stuff (sans Toluene). So far it has worked pretty well in terms of sticking but it is a different consistency and takes a second coat more often than the original. The sad thing is that I just found the original about 18 months ago. At any rate, is the Blue labeled stuff all we're going to be able to get? Does it work well for you all that use it? Does it work as well as the yellow label? Thanks.

A buddy gave me a can of Neat Lac. The label lacked a bar code and other indications of modenity so it's pretty darned old. I am new to Neat Lac so I don't know what it should look like but it was pretty yellow. I tried it anyway and WOW, what a nice finish. I liked the way it soaked in. I have struggled with finishes and like Sno-Seal the best but am by no means sold on it for other than its water proof qualities...it is sticky. Anyway, this ancient Neat Lac worked well for me on my first attempt with the product. I'd say age is not an indicator. The cap was screwed on so tight I hade to use slip joint pliers to open it so it was sealed up nice and tight.

Duh, I just found the forum for finishes and there is a wealth of information there.

Everyone. I am new here and hope to learn. I do a few leather projects with vegetable tanned leather. Holsters, knife sheaths, and other things. I tool some of them. What are good finishes to give vegetable tanned tooling leather a good, reasonably water proof finish? Of course that leather soaks up water like a sponge and I want to be able to use things outdoors. I have used vegetable oil (soybean) - results so-so. I like beeswax-based Sno-Seal. That really soaks in, is color fast, and buffs up nice. However, it is very sticky and if a item is a little too tight, it really glues the thing in there...sort of defeats the purpose. I just inherited a can of Neat Lac and I like the way that works but I just used it for the first time recently so I have no experience there. I have been tempted to try Lexol but that's expensive and I have not tried it yet. I have tried Armour All Leather Care on test pieces and it works nice but it drys kind of waxy...waxier than the Sno-Seal is after a good buffing...but you can't buff the inside of a piece. So, I am a newbie and I am looking to learn. Finishes are a real mystery to me and the folks down at Tandy are helpful but they seem to like everything and thus I am not sure I am getting a good objective piece of advice. Thanks for commenting.