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MerlB

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Posts posted by MerlB

  2. Posted · Report reply

    I guess the thread is heavily waxed and the stitching holes have not been sealed so the wax from the thread now picks up the color.

    I've got the same problem and so far dont have a solution for it. However I've started to seal off my projects with fiebings leather sheen as the last protection layer instead of carnauba cream only and I do think that helps. Only tried that new approach with black thread so far, so not yet sure. One of the next projects will be black with white thread, though, so I'll see then.

    If sealing with leather sheen doesnt help, though, I will try to melt off the wax a bit with a hair dryer before sewing.

  3. Posted · Report reply

    Sounds like a strange question from an archer...

    Basically there's two ways to protect the fingers, gloves and tabs. Archery gloves usually only have three fingers, so thumb and little finger stay free. Some are real gloves, others only cover the finger tips. Tabs are basically a small piece of leather, that again covers the three middle fingers. These too come in various forms.

    If you do not have any experience in this area I'd suggest you check out 3riversarchery.com or lancasterarchery.

  6. Posted · Report reply

    Here is a little demo I did for you after my last post.Again I use 100% Pure Neatsfoot Oil. When I was first learning leather back in the early 70's I was told by an experienced leatherworker to never use the compound as it was a petroleum product and not good for leather. I do know if it will hurt the leather or if it will darken the leather more or less then 100% Pure Neatsfoot Oil. I just know I have never used the compound and I am usually happy with the results of using the Pure Neatsfoot. The first picture is of a piece of scrap leather as I got it out of my scrap box. The second picture is the same piece imeaditely after a finger tip aplication of 100% Pure Neatsfoot oil, the third picture is the same piece 4 hours after the application of the 100% Neatsfoot oil. You can see that it has returned almost to the same color it was before the oil was applied. I do a lot of western holsters and belts and many are left natural or are suntanned after the appliction of Neatsfoot oil, but they all get 100% Neatsfoot oil and I do not usually have a problem with them being to dark. Having said that I do notice when I use horse that the oil will darken itmore. What type of leather are you using?

    Thanks a lot for the photos! A really nice demonstration. I use veg tanned cow leather 3.5mm thick, no idea what that is in oz... 7/8oz I think.

  9. Posted · Report reply

    Thank you all for the tips!

    I've tried the sponge, and it works much better than the original brush in distributing the oil evenly.

    However I dont think I like neatsfoot oil much. For one thing I had hopes, that treating the dyed leather with neatsfoot would soften it up again since the oil dye makes the leather pretty hard. This does not seem to be the case though.

    Then the oil darkens the leather very much. Too much for my liking. And third the oil seems to penetrate more at the edges, so around the borders and along stitchholes it becomes even darker. It does not look too displeasing but it certainly was not the look I was after, either... The pieces in the middle and on the right have gotten a single treatment with neatsfoot oil, the left scrap piece is dyed with Fiebings Spanish Brown Professional Oil Dye diluted 5:1 with denatured alcohol.

    post-49201-0-00977900-1406313758_thumb.j

  10. Posted · Report reply

    When the flesh side is visible I usually dye it the same way as the front. Then comes a thick layer of Traganth burnished with a folding tool. On am guards (mainly doing archery equipment) or other item, where the flesh side comes in direct contact with skin or clothing I also apply a layer of carnauba cream and leather sheen. This will prevent the dyed leather from bleeding color.

  12. Posted · Edited by MerlB · Report reply

    Hi all,

    I am still fairly new to leather craft, so please excuse if this sounds like a dumb question to you...

    I recently bought a big can of Fiebing's Neatsfoot oil, as I have read in many posts, that people like to apply this stuff for various reasons. My main goal by using the oil would be to get the leather soft and flexible again as dying with Fiebing's tends to stiffen the leather quite a bit (I only use Fiebings Professional Oil Dye as thats pretty much what you can get at affordable prices here in Germany so dont bother recommending other dyes ;) ).

    The big can comes with a built in brush, so my first attempts were applying the oil with this brush. However I ended up with my leather being soaked in oil in some areas and not enough oil in others and it is pretty uneven all in all.

    Instead of wasting a lot of time and material I thought I'll better ask here for some advise in using neatsfoot oil.

    So far I have applied the oil first and dyed afterwards, but while searching the forum for similar threads I figured that many only apply the oil after dying.

    So, question: how do you apply neatsfoot oil to get an even coverage and do you apply the oil first and dye afterwards or better the other way round?

    Thanks a lot!

    Cheers,

    Nils

  13. Posted · Report reply

    This is just a guess as I have no idea myself. But the form of the crease looks a lot like the heel of a womans shoe. I could imagine this is some sort of amboss, where the heel is put in that thing and then could be savely hammered or nailed down...

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