Colt W Knight

Paints, dyes, and stains are essentially made up of 1)pigment 2) binders and 3)thinner Pigments are the colors binders fix the pigment into place thinners are what hold the pigment and binders in solution Dyes and stains typically do have any kind of chemical curing that fixes them into place. Dyes are typically alcohol or water based, and the water absorbs into the substrate and carry the dye with them. Stains do not penetrate as much, and sit on the surface. Paints and clears come in water based, spirit based(alcohol), lacquer bases ( uses acetone as a thinner) and oil based ( uses mineral spirits as a thinner). Some of these finishes have chemicals in them that make them cure chemically. Some finishes ( like lacquer or shellac) are evaporative finishes. They do not cure chemically. The thinner simply evaporates. Evaporative finishes can be stripped or recoated easily because the thinner in the new finish reactivates the old finish and makes it go into solution again. This is why wiping on a lot a leather finishes will result in streaking or smearing.

Wiping on a clear coat you will almost always have problems with smearing or smudging. The safest way to approach it is to apply your stains and dyes, let it dry thoroughly ( about a day) then spray on light coats of the clear. If you are using Tandy brand leather finishes - In my opinion the vast majority of them suck. The antique gels are okay. I like to use Fiebings for dyes and I use water based acrylic paints to add color other than black or brown. I use an air brush to apply dyes and clear coats. Eliminates the extra darkening from dauber application of dye and prevents smearing and smudging when applying the clear. If you are applying a water based stain or dye - a water based clear coat will dissolve the stain or dye. Always test on scrap to get an idea how a combo of products will work. Acrylic Resolene works just fine, but it will work a lot better if you thin it 50/50 with water and spray it on. You will struggle just wiping it on. I use Mop n glo, which is very similar to acrylic resolene.

Wipe another coat of antique on top of the super shene to see if that helps. How thick did you apply the clear coat?

I airbrush dyes, acrylic paints, and clears through my airbrush. I use mop n glo as my clear coat because its cheap and very similar to acrylic resolene. Yes you can spray resolene through an airbrush, just cut it with water.

When I use antiques, I give them a light wipe with a damp cloth with saddle soap. That removes the build up from the high areas and leaves the antique in the crevices, tool marks, etc. The only way I have found to clear coat waterbased products without getting any smearing, splotching, diluting, etc. is to apply the clear with an air brush. Once you go air brush, you never go back to wiping on clear coat. You get nice thin and even coats with no smearing.

Ive got the one pictured on the Weaver website - Tandy also sells it as their "premium" or "deluxe" model groover. The grooving bit was dull as hell - and it needs constant sharpening. The allen head that holds the bit in stripped out on mine, and I had to improvise buy using a larger allen wrench to switch between the marking and grooving tool. I wish the edge guide was longer. Super easy to get off track. In short, I will be upgrading soon.

Glue mine out flat.

I don't have any trouble sharpening things.

Youll be able to get some sewing done on that machine, for sure.

I need to make quite a lot of GPS tracking collars for cattle, and I have worn out all my inexpensive punches on the last set I built. I have a few Weaver Master Punches ( strap end and oblong) that work great, but I am curious about new C. S. Osborne punches. They are a little cheaper than the Weaver punches. How does the quality of the two compare? I need a 2" english point punch, a 1 1/2" oblong punch and some hole punches.

That is a nice strap.

I have had less than stellar performance with water based contact cement, so I stick with Weldwood original or Weldwood Gel contact cement now. The benefits are it works great, available at all our local hardware stores, and is cheap compared to anything marketed as leather contact cement. Th cons are that it has a strong odor, and I have to be super careful not to to get it everywhere.

I always clean my leather with a good dose of saddle soap during the casing process. If you are not tooling your leather, you wont be going through the casing process, but I would still recommend wiping your leather down with a damp rag and saddle soap. You will be amazed at the crud that comes off new leather. Plus, it will remove any oils that can muck up your dye job. Plus the saddle soap serves as a leather conditioner.

+1 on the airbrush, only way Ive found to apply waterbased products without smearing. I use Mop N Glo instead of resolene. I spray it on full strength for high gloss, and cut it with water for a more satin sheen

Have you tried Hide House in Napa, CA?

If the router bit caught the leather just right, it would wrap the leather around the bit and all hell would break loose quicker than you can bat an eye.

I haven't had any trouble spraying full strength Fiebings leather dye. I will try to do a video and show how I do a sunburst finish.

I use a brush and contact cement. No squeeze out because the glue is dry and tacky when the pieces go together. Apply pressure with a roller, and its ready to sew. If I need to protect a portion of the leather. I put down masking tape.

Thanks Bob

Here ya go Bottom is full strength light brown fiebings dye applied with a dauber the rest is 3 parts alcohol and 1 part light brown fiebings dye. When the coats were wet, you could really tell the difference between 1, 2, 3, and 4 coats applied with the airbrush. As the dye dried and absorbed into the leather, the difference between 2 and 3 coats was nearly unnoticeable.

I actually used the airbrush on a real project. The airbrush is so much cleaner and easier to use. Plus, It uses a lot less dye. I think these bursted edges came out well

Everything was done on the 206. It feeds heavy cloth, felt, garment leather, vinyl, and veg tan leather without any problems. It doesn't feed thin linen type cloth well, but mine has had the serrations on the feet ground smooth to prevent marking on veg tan leather, so I bet with standard feet it would work just fine.

I made these on my Consew 206 RB - Yes a Cylinder arm would be preferably, but you make do with what you got. My consew will sew with thread as large as #138 and will sew almost 3/8" thick. It will sew through 10 ounce leather without a problem, especially chrome tanned stuff.

Yes you can use Chicago screws. I don't like to use Chicago screws unless the leather is a little thicker than the chicago screw because they wont hold the leather together tightly and the screws will come apart without any loctite or glue. If you glue them, you pretty much need to cut them off or grip them with pliers or vice grips.