LloydtownLeather

Thanks for the tip, Tom. That sounds like an excellent way to approach it. I will give that a try!

Well, I'm afraid oiling the leather did not work out so good. (pic attached) The leather soaked up oil like a sponge, but when it dried, it shrank so much that it ripped the pockets right off (it is a gospel cover and the pockets were for the covers of the book.) It did not disguise the stain at all either. I was confused about the answers that suggested that the wood caused the staining because the wood was not touching the leather - I had paper between the leather and the wood. Now, a friend who used to work in the printing biz has told me it may well have caused by the bleach in the paper towel! That would make more sense, since I have never had issues with leather being affected by molding it around wood, etc., and the effect only happened where the paper was. Well, next time I will just put another piece of leather between the weight and the piece I am trying to dry flat. As you can see in the pic, I am working on gluing a different cover on top of the botched front piece, but I will still have to rewet the botched cover and see if I can get it to fit the book again. Wish me luck with that!

Plain white paper towel...

No, it is not possible that I put on any glues, dyes, or finishes other than those used intentionally and previously listed, unless it could have come from the white papers towel. I think the only possibilities are related to the deglazer, something in the leather that I bought, or something to do with uneven, slow drying.

Naw, it is a thick shoulder from Tandy. Certainly wouldn't say it was greasy... Thanks for the tip re being able to find the Oxalic acid at the pharmacy!

Extemely grateful for your replies Pete, Bob, and Northmount. Thank you gentlemen!! I think Pete is on to something with the Deglazer. This was the first time that I used it aggressively having seen it recommended so many times elsewhere. The piece took days to dry out as it is very thick leather. I could not leave it without something on top to keep it flat because it wanted to warp so much. So when it was half dry, I put some clean papertowel and wood on top of it. When I looked it is next, was when I first saw the marks. I tried Feibings pro oil tan dye on this, for the first time, as I usually use the EcoFlo Pro stuff, but I found that their Tan ws SO orange... I wanted a much lighter look. Alas, the Feibings is a lot darker than I would like too, even though I thinned it a little with the Feibings thinner. I definately think the neatsfoot oil is worth a shot, but I am wondering, is there any way to lighten the dye, or at least to prevent going darker in the next application? I have read some mentions of "bleaching". Is this what the oxalic acid is? Would that work? Is it correct I would find it in the paint dept of the hardware store?

Can anyone help me out? This issue keeps coming up for me in my dye-jobs. The leather is from Tandy, it has been well cased and then dried. I used Feibings Deglazer before dying. Usually there is a tiny spot or two like this that I may be able to scrape off with a knife before dying, but this one is just a mess... I can see these paint-like marks faintly before dying, but then when I apply dye, it really brings it out because these spots do not absorb dye! I can't clean it off without damaging the leather, and resoaking the leather does not seem to help either. What IS this and what can I do about it, either before I dye - or now.... HELP!??