anhurset

If your acrylics are sitting on the surface and obscuring the grain then you're either not thinning them, or not thinning them enough. You should by thinning your acrylics roughly 1:1 with water. Feibings dyes can also be thinned (with denatured alchohol) to lighten/brighten them up.

I've had a lot of experience with hornware over the years and have never found a need to line horn vesels, all they really need is a very good scrubbing and (if you're paranoid) a bit of a soak with diluted bleach. 2:1, water to bleach is more than strong enough to kill anything a thorough cleaning missed. As for the exterior finish, in my opinion nothing is more attractive than a nice hand polished finish. Hand sand to around 600 grit, alternating direction as you change grit, buff with 00 steel wool, followed with 0000 steel wool. If it's not shiny enough for you hit it with some neutral shoe polish and buff it up.

I don't have extensive experience with waxed leather drinking vessels, but I have spent a lot of time repairing wax lined horn vesels (for the most part a completely unnecessary step in hornware construction). Wax on horn seems to hold up well to most beverages, water, beers, etc, but without fail carbonated drinks and hard liquor seem to be the death of it and I'm willing to bet they'll do the same to waxed leather.

I'll second the walnuts. I made my first batch of walnut dye around five years ago and after a bit of experimentation I tucked the store bought dye away and haven't touched it since. The walnut dye is period correct and can give a hue range that's almost impossible to believe, you can get a light tan to an almost black simply by varying the soak time and dilutution level. The recipe is simple, fill a bucket with fallen walnuts (its better if they're starting to turn brown), cover with water, top loosely with a lid and let set for a minimum of two weeks or untill the husks become squishy and easy to remove. At this point you can either leave the husks on or remove them, I prefer to husk the nuts as it exposes more surface area, place husks and nuts in a cloth sack (an old pillow case works well) place in a pot, top off with the soaking liquid and get the pot boiling. Reduce to a simmer for 3-4 hours, you'll want to reduce the liquid a bit, but try not to reduce much past the 50% mark, top off with water as needed. Let cool and decant (if you kept everything in the cloth bag then straining shouldn't be needed) and add one cup of rubbing alcohol per two quarts dye to stave off mold. Check color intensity by submerging a piece of scrap leather for 30 minutes, let it fully dry and oil it well, if it comes out much lighter than a rich chocolate brown you can add some steel wool to the dye to darken it up, the amount of steel wool depends on the quantity of dye, I use 1/4 pad per 5 gallons. The color intensity can be altered by varying the soak time, by diluting with water or by brushing it on (I use foam brushes) instead of submerging. Some people suggest cooking out the alcohol before using, but I've yet to find that a necessary step.

Scroll about 2/3 of the way down this page http://www.victorian-embroidery-and-crafts.com/chain_stitch_variations.html to the section labeled "broad chain stitch", the left hand example is the easiest to use with leather

Vinegaroon does not react well with pre oiling, I've found that pre oiling reacts as a selective resist with vinegaroon, resulting in a mottled or spalted look. If I have to oil a piece, I wait a minimum of 72 hours before using vinegaroon on it.

When I was younger my father had a pair of boots that had developed that patina, it came from years of using cordovan polish on brown leather.

Well, it will get darker to a point, your belt will not turn into a light sucking void of utter blackness ;p

I only boost the tannins when I have to, I don't like adding another step to the dyeing process if I can help it. It shouldn't hurt to repeat, it might help, it might not.

It might be salvageable, no piece is lost until all options are exhausted. Soak it for a couple of hours in some strong tea, that will bump up the tannins up, and dip it in the vinegaroon again for 5-10 minutes. Try to put the vinegaroon somewhere "room temperature" a few hours before you use it, you'll get a much better reaction that way.

It works better when its warmer also. My dye station is in an unheated/uncooled kitchen, in the summer I get great results from my vinegaroon with a one minute soak, in the winter it can take up to ten minutes to get the same depth of color.

I want to thank everyone for the links, you've all been a big help.

Thanks all! I had Ohio Travel Bag and Hardware Elf bookmarked but had completely forgotten about them, I think I'll be trying them next. Are ALD's prices reasonable on their veg tan? I'm looking for something around $7/sq ft for 7-8 oz. I've been having issues with the quality of leather I get from ZW and have been considering trying Wicket and Craig's offerings, but if ALD's prices are comparable I might try them.

I've been using Zack White for a little over a year now, I started oredering from them because their prices were great and the shipping from N.C to Tn was fast and for the most part cheap. My experience with them has not been great though, without fail if I order from them there will be something wrong with what I receive, either something doesn't match the discription, was out of stock even though it was listed as in stock, or worse yet, they simply send the wrong item. Mainly I'm looking for a hardware supplier with reasonable prices and stable stock. I figured I would see if anyone had suggestions, so far I've used Tandy, Hide House, Zack White and Siegel of California. I've avoided Springfield so far because their hardware prices are a bit steep for my tastes and, based on what others here have said, they seem to have developed speed issues when it comes to getting orders out the door. Any suggestions are welcome, online shops would be best though.

Hello all, long time lurker here, decided it was finally time to jump into the pool. I've been working with leather for 20+ years, I started out doing gear for Colonial American living history events. I now mostly do gear for Steampunk and Renfest enthusiasts, though, from time to time, I still do some work for reenactors.