stingray4540

Nice! Do you hold it at vacuum for a certain amount of time, like until the leather dries? Or just vac it and release? If the former, does the vac pump run the whole time, or do you pump air out and turn it off and it holds the vacuum?

Put the container in a pot of water on the stove. Pull it out and shake it up every once in a while until it is all one consistancy again. Then you're GTG. I just had to do this yesterday.

I see, so the idea is to maintain the top layer, so the lacquer finish never gets too exposed to wear?

I was thinking more along the lines of it being backup to the finish, since it's only water "resistant", and may wear off over time? I was planning on using it as the last layer as well. Idk, maybe it won't work? Maybe it will? My biggest concern is that dye and lacquer won't adhere to yhe wax.

I'm still trying to nail down a good process myself, so take this with a grain of salt, as it is only from my research on this website and not actual experience. It seems the "best" way is to Carve Oil Dye Finish Optional: antique, then one more finish coat. I have some projects that are coming to this step, so I plan to experiment with that process on some scrap. My only concern is that the oil before dye will affect the color. I may also substitute the oil for an oil/wax mixture I use to better waterproof the leather, but I am not sure how the Finish(resolene or lacquer) will adhere to the wax/oil. Looks like I have some experimenting to do...

Very nice! I can't even imagine how difficult that must be. Out of curiosity, what kind of finish do you use on such a high wear item like those?!

Awesome collar, but be carefull taking it to the dog park! I did a tooled collar for my dog, and... well... you can't hardly tell there is any tooling there anymore. But, she does like to wrestle with other dogs, so if yours is more of a fetcher, it might be ok...

Ok, Mr. cup is half full... The thing is, this piece is actually trim for a quiver, so in order to "enjoy the brown one as is" I'd have to make a whole quiver to go with it. I'll probably try the denatured alcohol route and if it works, it works. If not, then I'll just start over. Just not looking forward to doing all that cutting and beveling over again. Neither is my wife...

Well, that's pretty much what I figured. I don't much care for the look of acrylics, so it looks like I'm just going to have to start from scratch. **Sigh** That being said, is there any way of stripping resolene from leather? If I could do that, I could re-stain it maybe?

Well, I have a piece that I dyed(eco-flo, I know...) brown for the background, and left the carving pattern natural. I was going to apply resolene as a resist, then apply and wipe off black antique just to make it pop. So, instead of spraying the resolene like I know I should have, I applied it with a sponge brush. Needless to say, I think it lifted some of the stain from the background and added it to the unstained pattern. Now the whole thing looks nearly the same color. I'm so pissed right now I could jump off a bridge. I feel like I just threw away several days of my life. My only thought to save it, is to dye the pattern red, leaving the background the original brown. So my question is: Can I use red dye over the resolene? Or did I just completely ruin several days of work?

Well, I finally finished that dog collar. I decided to finish it with resolene and top it with some wax. The eco flo survived the finish coats, phew! We'll see how it holds up. This being only my second tooling project, I'm still learning a lot as I go. I especially learned a lot after doing the first side. The second side came out a lot better after I sharpened my swivel knife and made the cuts deeper. I do need a smaller beveler, as some of those small spaces between the knots are near impossible to bevel cleanly. Anyways, here are some crappy cell pictures, and a vanity shot just for fun. Let me know what you guys think. And, feel free to offer constructive criticism, whether it's about the tooling or just my choice of colors.

If you try the drill method, but don't have a press, the following has worked for me. Mark where you want your holes to go on both sides. Then, drill only halfway through from one side, flip it over and connect the hole from the other side. Doing it this way, you won't get wonky holes. Of course, if you have a drill press that would be ideal.

Oh, ok, I get what you're saying. I'm making it double layered, so there will be no flesh side. What don't you like about the eco flo?

Burnish the back? What do you mean? P.S. Sorry about the text color on my original post. It appears you can't edit the first post in a thread? Bummer.

Personally, I've always liked a wax/oil finish on leather. It keeps it waterproof, and leaves it feeling natural. But, it darkens the leather a lot, and I've only used it on stuff that wasn't dyed. This dog collar is going to be my first tooling project that I plan to dye, so I don't want to alter the colors. However, being that it's going to be on a dog that will play with other dogs, get rained on, etc. I need to seal/protect it with something that will be flexible, waterproof, not rub/flake off, and not alter/smear the colors. Am I limited to resolene and Tan Kote? I used resolene once and didn't really care for it. The dyes bled through it, and it really didn't seam to absorb into the leather much, like it would easily come off. I have some Lacquer for wood finishing that I read was a good finish for leather projects. So, what do you guys suggest?! What are you holster and motorcycle seat makers using? FYI: I'm using water based eco flo