Old Chief

Cyberthrasher: I used the Bick 4 prior to the RTC finish. I let it dry overnight. I anticipated this problem because thats sort of what happened on my practice straps when I used the neatsfoot oil. In that case, I followed the directions on the RTC bottle and applied the RTC only after 3 hours of the oil drying. It was obviously still wet. That's why, this time, I let the RTC dry overnight twice before antiquing. I think you might be right about the Bick 4. I have some of the Bee Natural Leahtercare #1 Saddle Oil on order and might try their process again. Or, I might just look for a better way to antique. By the way, I have been using a 32 oz BearMaul and love it. I am going to order a lighter one for my border work. Thanks for your input.

I am building a picture frame using 4 straps laced together at the 45 degree corners. I tooled in an arrowhead design using a basketweave tool. I wanted to use an antique finish so I started with two practice straps before moving to the actual project. After tooling I conditioned the practice strips with Fiebing’s Neatsfoot Oil Compound which immediately darkened the leather. After an overnight dry I followed the directions on the Bee Natural RTC bottle for antiquing. I applied another coat of Neatsfoot oil, I didn’t have any Leathercare #1 Saddle Oil, let it set for 3 hours followed by a coat of RTC as a resist on ½ of each practice strap, let it dry for one hour and applied Fiebing’s Antique Finish; Medium Brown on one strap and Mahogany on the other. The finish immediately combined with the RTC and uniformly stained the leather. There was no resisting on the raised areas and no amount of buffing could bring the stain off. I could not tell where I had applied the RTC compared to the area with no treatment. This was not the look I wanted so after reading some of the other posts I modified the sequence on the actual straps used for the project. I wanted to keep the leather as natural as possible before antiquing so after tooling I treated the 4 straps with Bickmore Bick 4 as it is the only conditioner I have found that will not darken the leather. The problem with Bick 4 is that it goes on like lotion and builds up a residue in the deeply tooled areas. After drying I had to take a brush to remove the residue. The second coat of Bick 4 soaked in much better and left very little residue. As I had read on other posts, I applied the RTC and allowed it to dry overnight. RTC is very watery and soaks into the deep cuts as well as the raised areas. I applied a second coat of RTC and allowed it to dry for 2 days. I applied the Antique Finish which seemed to work as it should until removing the finish from the raised areas. As I wiped the finish off, the RTC also came off in some of the raised areas. It peeled off the leather in thin sheets just like sunburned skin. I got the antique look but it looks old and weathered with still too much staining on the raised areas. It looks more like a bad job of staining than a good job of antiquing. Has anyone else had similar problems with RTC?