Roger J

I've got a woodturning buddy that uses these oils on wooden items that will come into contact with food (non-toxic and water/alcohol resistant). Anyone here ever try either of them on leather? Or has there been historical evidence of their use on leather? Just curious.

BP smell is faint and not unpleasant, but if you are making biker gear it might not be very appropriate With cornstarch, I'd be afraid of attracting critters looking for a snack.

Update...things that were tried 1)tried stuffing and wrapping sheath with tissue paper, tightly binding the whole in packing tape and put it in the oven with only the light on (maintains temperature of about 40*C) for two days, worked a little but not much 2)completely covered the sheath with a ton of baby powder and repeated the technique above. Worked much better this time as the talc was stuck onto the oil. After brushing, and wiping it down, it was evident that there was still quite a bit of oil to remove. 3)finally added a bit of dish-washing detergent to some lukewarm water in the sink and submerged the sheath and gently rubbed it with a rag. After two minutes the water became brownish-orange. I drained the sink and immediately repeated the operation two other times, for only a couple of minutes each. Then I patted it dry and hung it in the oven (just with the light on). It now feels a bit dry, but I'll wait a few weeks to see if any more oil rises to the surface. Anyways, so-far-so-good, I'm really happy with the results. PS...although the baby powder was washed off, one can still smell it and the leather feels silky smooth, but perhaps that will dissipate in the next few weeks

Thanks eletrathon. I think the weep term I used was a bit too strong. I'm thinking of perhaps sprinkling some talcum powder over it and letting it sit for a few days then gently brushing it off and wiping it down with a slightly damp cloth...would be OK?

Thanks, I'll give it a shot this weekend.

Last winter I made an axe sheath from veg tan leather and finished it with a mixture of wax and neatsfoot oil. All was fine, it had a nice dry waxy feel to it. *** Now comes the July heat, and the finish just feels greasy as heck and stains cloth an orangy-tan color. I've hung it out in the sun each day this week and wiped it down every evening. The cloth staining has decreased, but it is still there. *** Is there something else I could do to draw out the excess oil, or is it just the nature of the beast?

Thanks guys. Bandsaw: not a bad idea as the blade goes only in one direction and they do make 1/8" blades with 32 TPI. All I have right now are 1/2" 3TPI rip blades...it would be a bit rough. Coping saw: I had thought the back and forth movement of the blade might give a ragged edge to the leather. I'll see if I can adapt some ultra fine scrollsaw blades to fit my coping saw. Might end up doing that, but it would feel kinda weird, like asking a chef for his secret recipe.

Quite a mouthful I know, but this picture should help clear things up: Notice that the leather of lid and body is cut at an angle to "lock" in place when closed. I'm guessing that they probably use some type of press, and I don't think I could do this cleanly with just a knife. Is there a special technique or affordable tool that would help one accomplish this?

Thanks for that Marine MP I do get technically nerdy about some things at time, not too concerned right now cause I'm just experimenting with scraps.

Thanks Kate (Wiz mentioned that )

Hi Matt, I'm really new to all of this and was not familiar with Will Ghormley nor Sedgewicks. After Googling, seems the first mentioned is is an old hand custom pro and the second is a well known English tannery. All I've read previously seems to point to the necessity of a baking soda bath to "neutralize" the acid, or else bad things will happen...I blindly assumed the leather would just fall apart, but have not seen any pictures of this anywhere. Anyone have pictures of "non-neutralized" vinegarooned leather gone bad OR surviving well without it for several years or decades?

BUMP OK then, has anyone heard of how they did this?

The site below says to avoid neutral shoe polish on cordovan shoes as it might leave a white film. Maybe it could give you guys the effect you are looking for. scroll down to tip #8 http://www.nushoe.com/shoe-care-tips.html

Hi Ken, So I guess the issue, as Wiz first pointed out, is the size of the pictures people upload. I'll look into some firefox add-ons to see if one will solve the problem.

Hi Wiz, I'm using a PC laptop, 15.6" screen, and the resolution is set to maximum (1366 X 768). The ctrl functions work fine, but would be nice if it would just resize automatically. Just wondering it its just me that has this problem. Hi TR, Just tried your trick and it worked, now to figure out where it got saved to