Indy

So far it seems to wash out with regular water well. I think I will keep washing it till no more sticky residue comes off. What ever remains which does not come off from water, should be fine for outdoor use. I agree with rather not going for acetone or similar as I used several layers of regular Tandy leather dyes. I am all in for all sorts of beeswax balms. I use pecards right know, but I have been very keen on B&E Beeswax Balm. However, I never dared to seal off a floral carving with antique finish on it, if I wanted to have strong contrasts. I am afraid during the cleaning, the antique finish will come off as well and needs to be redone. No more Tan Kote for this project, that's for sure.

thanks for your input. Thats basically the same conclusion I made in the end. Since everything is in there already, I only have the option to put another coat of something on it. Since This should be the very last layer (this time for real), I am considering acrylic resolen by Tandy. Alternatively, I could try to wash out the Tan Kote first. What's your thought to that?

Hi guys, I am on this board since a long time and decided recently to become a bit more active again, as my leather work becomes more frequent again I am working on a larger archery set right now. I work with veg. cow, Tandy leather dyes, neatsfoot oil, 1/2 antique finish 1/2 Tan Kote, Tan Kote, edge kote, leather sheen, acrylic Resolene and pecards. This is the first time I ever worked with Tan Kote, so I believe my problem is routed with this residue mainly. The problem I have mainly emerges at the flesh side of the leather, this has been dyed with black Tandy leather dye, I put on apprx. 4 thick coats of Tan Kote. After that, I added neatsfoot oil (from both sides). As this has been proved to not be enough on the grain side as a water repellant basis, I also added one coat of leather sheen. Now I did the water test, holding it under a gently stream of tabea water. black paint came off immediately , the whole area which has been hoisted with water turned grayish, relieving a sticky, moist residue. personally, I hate surface sealing which are too shiny, but naturally, I can't have it that my customer will be drenched in black leather dye once he enters the rain. My personal next step would be to give another 24 hours of rest to the project and then add acrylic Resolene to the back and the edges to make them waterproof. As such a thing NEVER happened to me before, I believe the problem is routed in the Tan Kote. I would be very happy if someone has an idea of what is the actually problem here and how I can solve the issue.

unfortunaly the belt need to be at least 5cm (2") wide, so tapering the belt won't work. Thank you for the links, that might do the job

I had a few inquirys for broad gunbelts which shall be 5cm (approx. 2") in width. I am especcialy looking for blank, clipped corner buckles. I couldn't find any at tandy nor on ebay or the central European online stores I am familiar with. Anybody of you who knows where to get them? Can't be that hard, I suppose?

Hi there, I got an inquiry for a pair of saddle bags for a continental saddle. The saddle bags are not going to be very fancy in optic, they just need to match the saddle nice. Since it is my first project for western equistrian I could use some tipps and hints from you guys. Here is the saddle back itself: - how should the bags be made to tie them onto the saddle properly? Do I need to unscrew the conchos in the back to install some heavy laces? - the collour should be of the same collour. Do I need to seal the bags in a speccial way or am I fine with a treatment of oilive oil and leather bees wax balm? - what else do I need to consider? Any thoughts of riders or saddle makers would be of great help! thank you

Hi guys, a friend of mine gave me a large piece of beeswax. Since I use a lot of bees wax leather balm and started with carnuba balm aswell, I'd like to make my own stuff for conditioning leather and top coats. Can you recomend any recipe? I made some plaiting soap for bullwhips before, but that stuff isn't quit what I need, though I liked the fat in it. I also just started with olive oil to soften up the leather which turns out great. Is it of any good to mix wax, oil and a little bit of fat aswell?

guys, thank you a lot for all the info, that was quit a bit allready.I will wait now until all my liquids arrive at my doorstep and will play a little arround with the eco flo and my remaining Fiebings antique stain and fool around with your described sealing methods. I let you know how it goes

oops, allready ordered a qrt. gallon Could you describe what happened? Does it work with satin sheen spray aswell?

leather sheen spray sounds good to me, I think I'm going to give it a try. I'm was just looking through tandy's liquids section and realized that they don't sell "antique stain" any longer. I guess eco-flo is more or less the same, isn't it?

allready tried. still too shiny

very nice and lifelike brandwork, even the antlers look grown!

just saw your reply, sorry for answering so late. Right know I'm good with seats, but I might come back to you if I saddle up the next steel horse thank you

I just wanted to place an order at tandy leather UK when I realized that it is stated there that they can't ship me leather dyes to Austria. I really want to order many quarter bottles of collour this time but every retailer here in Austria and in germany is at least 3 times more expensive than ordering straight at tendys. Does anyone of you know how to deal with this issue? thank you, Daniel

Hi guys, I don't know if that has been discussed here before, just couldn't find a post about it. Last month I made more than 40 bags, pouches and large seamans bags. They really needed to look well used and beaten up,so I colloured them all differently, edge shaded them and some of them I antiqued with both "Fiebings Antique finish" and "Fiebings antique stains". I know these products look both great once there on the project, but do require 2 coats of resoleene that they will really stay on and be water repellent. Resoleene is mostly way to shiny for my taste and often washes away the antique stains while applyed (which is why I'm thinking of doing that by spraying it onto it, is that any good?) So, here is the actuall question: Is there a way to get antique stains and finish water resistant AND matt, no matter if the project is carved or not? Products I tried that didn't passed the water test: Fiebings antique finish without anything (looked quit matt, but wasn't water resistant at all) Fiebings antique finish with bees wax dressing (looked not bad, but didn't last) Fiebings antique finish with leather oil (left a waxy surface) Fiebings antique stain without anything (looked very nice, even and matt, but didn't stayed on) Fiebings antique stain with leather oil (brilliant looking surface, a little waxy, collour doesn't stays on properly) Fiebings antique stain with bees wax dressing (allmost the same result as with antique finish and bees wax dressing) Products I tried that passed the water test: Fiebings antique finish with resoleene (after 2 coats the project antique collour stays on and the product is water repellent, but extremly shiny) Fiebings antique stain with resoleene (see above) I'd love to read how you do your antique jobs and if somebody nows a good method/product that might work for me or even got a good reciep for making your own antique stains that will stay matt and are water resistant

I actually really am. I was hoping to do a chopper seat since about 4 years or so. Making one like this at last was quit a premiere I was looking for, though I wished he requested a more fancy carving and I would have done the sew line different, but that's just open to the next seat, I say

Thank you. The passengers seat will be in my workshop in fall when the biking periode is over for.Till that the seat will be seen by many people, so I'm looking forward to get some calls

Well, my very first motorcycle seat for a honda chopper is finished now and hit the road today for the first time. Some work steps went easyer as expected, some where hard as hell (especcialy the wet forming on the heavy seat piece) after collouring and antiquing the job I sealed it with 3 coats of resoleene. I hope that was any good? Here are some pictures, unfortunally I didn't made very good detail shots of it so far. I will borrow the seat in April do make some more. I'd love to get some comments from you guys here

well, I figured out that the 1/8" lace is just right myself allready, but I really need some advice about the oil dye block dying and sealing if that really stand some years of abuse? anyone?

sold, thank you

I finnaly have the first chopper seat to cover lieing in my workshop. That's something I wanted to do for ages. So here is the seat, attached to the bike as it looks right know (see below) I tried my hands on a bicyle seat before, but I wasn't quit happy since the holes didn't matched up very nice and I realized that the heringbonde braid isn't the way to go for me. However the result looked good in apperance to me, this is how it came out (see below) So here are my plans for the chopper seat: - drawing the sewing pattern on the original pattern and cut it off for original size pattern - 3 pieces of leather, one top piece, one back and side piece, one frontpiece - simple Tau carved on top - walnut oil dye for edge shading, fiebing's dark brown for the whole pieces, then one coat fiebings acrylic resolene finish and a second one on the whole seat when finished and attached to the seat - mexican braid in black, using 1/8" precut roolace. The seems should rund along the back and down the leg of the biker when seated, disapearing under the seat and coming to surface again on the front, running along the top. - the new cover will be wetfolded over the the edges of the seat and then stapled I spend about 2 hours reading post in here and there where many useful hints to that subject. However, since it is my first motorcyle seat I want it to become a real top piece which might bring me more customers aswell. There are a few things to be done I'm not quit certain about, such as: - is block dyed oil dye sun light prooved or is it just a matter of correct sealing? - is my idea of sealing the seat in the discribed way any good or should I try something else? The seat will see daily action, most likely in every weather from Spring to fall - is 1/8" laced mexican braid broad enough for a large seat and strong enough or should I use wider lace and cut it my own? - is it better to end the braiding at the outside or the insideof the seat? - do I need to be careful when stapeling the leather? What should I keep in mind so that my project won't be ruined at last? As I said, I'm really looking forward to make it as good as it can gets, so I'd be very happy for every advice you could give me

just tried it out. Worked simple, fast and well! Thank you!

I'm using round brass lacing needle with a dimond point and a wind end for screwing in the pointed leather lace. It happened to me the 3rd time now that the lace broke just after the wind ends, so there is no more excess leather left to unscrew it from the needle. I tried to work it out again with a round awl but didn't had any sucess. How did I managed to get it out the other 2 times? hat was quit easy, I put the problem a side and bought bought a new one each time it happened I was thinking of cook it out in water but didn't gave that a try yet since I fear that the leather will stick to it ven more afzerwards. Does anyone of you folks know a proper method of solving this?

seems like a very good contact, I will write him soon. thank you for this one!

Hi all, I'm planing to go to Canada again for a year to work and travel in 2012. I would love to work in the leatherbuiseness aswell at this time. For that reason, I'm allready searching for leatherworkers who are making any kind of leather products, especcialy for saddlemakers. All I want for now is getting some adresses and contacts I could write to or just to drive by for a quick hello and a little leather conversation if I come in their arrea. Of course the best case would be finding some people from this board whom are Canadians and could think of getting together in one or another way. If you have a leather buiseness running, you could need some help every now and then or now such a person, please contact me at Indy@lederhandwerk.net I would be very thankful for any help!