ChuckBurrows

On thing to be sure to do when making this is: 1) Use a closed container with only a small vent hole - it's acid fumes that aids greatly in completely dissolving the iron 2) Once all the iron that can be dissolved is dissolved (you can always add a bit more vinegar too if need be) - open the container for a day or two to vent off as much of the remaining gasses as possible 3) Strain and bottle it up To get rid of the odor not only use the baking soad wash, but after hang in front of a fan or outside in the fresh air...than I like to apply some Montana Pitchblend - this contains pine rosin and thus leaves a good odor behind....

Didn't think you did...and I fully understand about space saving - you can use Ferric Nitrate - available in crystal form http://secure.sciencecompany.com/Ferric-Nitrate-100g-P6384.aspx - mix 10:1 with distilled water - 10 parts water to one part crystal start there and experiment to get the right mix, but the vinegar black is still IMO the best for leather overall with less potential problems......

Ferrous sulphate will do the job but it is NOT good for the leather...the sulphate form of iron increases the risk for what is known as red rot many fold.... Not all iron in solution is the same....use what you like but beware of the problems or potential problems....what may be safely used on wood is as noted in that article is not necessarily safe to use on leather or recommended.......and if all he's getting is a "filthy black mess" he did something wrong and vinegar black never goes off after a few days as he stated the ferrous sulphate mix does.... and whay folks today are in such a goldarned hurry still escapes me.......

Thanks all - your comments are much appreciated and my hope is that my "showing of"" will help inspire others to achieve their goals and dreams. History buff - been there and done that! Now a days though I prefer the comfort of a nice warm lodger of cabin - just like the old timers the rheumatis has set in and being cold and wet is not as much fun! The wayback machine yeah! - the Rocky & Bullwinkle just started up on Boomerang I think it is and I've been recording them - love that Professor dog dude! .... Jack nice to see you're still around - hope ya'll in Texas are surviving all that cold and "snow"! Not much snow here, but plenty cold - 25°f below zero here a couple weeks ago and 15°F just a day or two ago........ Kate - I love the history part of it all. I've done Medieval (SCA - I started in 1969, but dropped out back in the mid-90's), Renaissance, and cowboy, but my first love is the pre-1850 American Frontier and that's where I'm pretty much staying at from now on......

The first mountain men came from the east and this set was inspired by those early trappers such as Forest Hancock and Joseph Dickson who went up the Missouri River in 1807 with John Colter, Thomas James who went west with the Lisa expedition, last but far from least Hoback, Reznor, and Edward Robinson who guided the Wilson Price Hunt Expedition of 1811 (Robinson is my kind of frontiersman - he was born in 1745, lost his hair in Kentucky, and his life in Rocky Mountains at age 66). The pouch is based on a pic of an original I found on line, but did not note where I got it – Oh Well! The whole set is intended to be my idea of what one of these earliest of mountaineers might have carried during those early years. My version is patterned after that original. It is made from alum tawed sheepskin (I love this stuff!) rather than cowhide like the original, but does have a dark blue plaid wool liner similar to the original. Size is 8.5" wide by 7.5" tall. It has a small exterior pocket for storing greased patches, and a short fringed welt. It has a brain tan buckskin repair along one edge seam, both inside and outside, an inner pocket of brain tan as a later addition, and the strap of bark tan cowhide harness leather is also intended to represent a later replacement - the adjustment buckle is a saddle buckle of the era. On the back is a strap with a bone button that can be tucked under the waist belt or sash to keep the bag from swinging away from one’s body. The flap is closed with a hand made domed brass button. The bit of beadwork is done with blue pound beads similar in color to many originals of the era and is intended to represent what one of the early mountaineers paramours may have added to “fancy” things up a bit – east meets west…. The horn is an original SW Virginia horn (circa 1850’s?) that I got from Capt Mike in a trade. I repaired the small cracks along the butt with a bit of pitch and then covered it over with deer rawhide. I then added an iron ring for the bark tan cowhide harness strap at both ends and can be used alone or attached to the patch strap via a couple of small braintan thongs. The horn can be used alone or attached to the patch strap via a couple of small braintan thongs. The strap is adjustable via the two braintan buckskin thongs on each end. Mated up to the horn are a 70gr antler powder measure and a simple iron touchhole pick attached to the horn via a fine link iron chain, which came off some old (circa 1880’s) harness - the pick and measuer fit into a small pocket on the back of the bag's strap. The whole set was given a patina of age – used but not abused………….

Thanks all! As for my site - don't know why you're getting that except that Google needs to clean their cache or something since the pages they were reporting don;t even exist on the site anymore - it is the only place reporting problems that I found anyway. The site did get hacked back in Aug 2010 and it has been fixed, but some how Google is showing pages that either no longer exist or were fixed as being "bad". I spent several hours checking it out and based on several browsers and malware notification "engines" (including Virus Totals http://www.virustotal.com/url-scan/report.html?id=4ebf0b909cadd9c6d402ea35090ae2be-1296549264 and AVG) there is no problem - go figure???

Not really - coad aka hand/hard wax comes in a variety of mixes and is a very old traditional wax used especially in shoe/boot making. Black wax is just one mix and IIRC uses asphaltum in the mix for the black color?? check here for more info on the various mixes and how to make it see http://www.thehcc.org/cgi-bin/discus/discus.cgi When it got hard to find I started making my own - I regularly use a mix of the brewer's pitch or collect my own and beeswax - usually about 40/60 mix of rosin/pitch and wax.......when coad is compared to beeswax it locks the thread (linen or hemp) in place much better and also adds mildew/fungus/rot protection that beeswax alone does not

Howdy Ken - thanks for the comments. As for aging - yes I do go into more detail on the holster one. I do have a couple more DVDs in mind (period gun belts and frontier only style sheaths including beadwork) but circumstances have put a hold on them for a while. I am working on setting up some pay-per-view on-line classes ASAP as well, including some webinar types in which I will be "live" to walk the students through the process and also be able to answer questions. Keep an eye on the website for announcements. I'm hoping to set one class up within the month - it won;t be a webinar type yet, but rather more of a chat room/forum tutorial style where in I post the step by step process and then the students can ask questions via typing it in. The first planned class is for a fairly simple aged rawhide covered sheath with some beadwork, tacks, etc. Also here's a link to an article on aging leather that gives some good advice: http://www.wrtcleather.com/1-ckd/tutorials/aging-leather-zurl.jpg

Hang it up in front of a fan or during the summer outside.... usually takes about twenty four hours....

As many if not most know who visit here, my first "love" is the American Frontier West of the 1800's - while guns, knives, and other sharp things and their leather gear is top of my list, I also do other types of frontier gear such as the following pipe bag and breastplate and thought ya'll might enjoy the look see........................There are a couple of WIP hawk heads included though… While this is not an exact copy of any single existing pipe bag, it is based on/inspired by three original So. Cheyenne bags of the mid-1840's. Size of this early period pipe bag is 31" long including the fringe and 6" wide. The beads are early style pound beads and the bag body is made from brain/smoke tan deer hide that has been stained with red ocher and then the whole piece was aged to give it that used but not abused look. Included in one image is a beaded pipe tamper. Such bags began being made in the 1830's and became very popular by the 1860's and later. The haired fringe on the bag is buffalo and that on the tamper is from me own head The breast plate is made of bone hair pipe and is representative of those made and used post 1870, when the bone hair pipes first became widely available. and yes I'm a BIG Monty Python fan....

A how-to courtesy of The LeatherCrafters and Saddlers Journal http://www.wrtcleather.com/1-ckd/tutorials/aging-leather-zurl.jpg to see what it can look like when using these processes see my website for a plethora of examples......

If you want the absolute cleanest hides of all then order backs and not sides in the top grade offered - yes you will pay more but you will be buying the best of the best. While the W & C specials are attractive due to the price, they are not the best of the best. Again order backs from W & C or Herman Oak from anyone of their dealers. YOu might also check with Roger at RJF leather - he offers shoulders and sides pit tanned in Portugal and Euro hides generally are cleaner in general than USA or SA hides. The samples he sent me looked and worked excellently - he will see business from me in the future.

You make it yourself - do a search it's been discussed several times. It's a very old method of blacking leather and it is NOT a dye per se so won't ruboff since it blackens via a chemical reaction between the tannic acid in the leather and the iron in the mix. I' been using it for 40+ years and have posted the "fomula" and how to use it.

I've tried beau coup methods for nickel plated items over the last 40 years and this is the best/easiest method I've found 1) remove any lacquer finish on the part or remove any oils such as on spots 2) Get some Birchwood Casey Super Blue - it's a gun product available at most gunshops or online 3) Dilute the blue with plain ole rubbing alcohol - start out with three parts blue and one part alcohol - adjust as need be 4) Dip/soak the part in the blue until it turns dark (doesn't take long so DO NOT leave for very long) - it can go dark blue/black if left too long, but is easy to lighten back up with 4/0 steel wool 5) After removing from the blue neutralize with baking soda and hot water then rinse well in plain hot water. 6) Let dry or heat to dry - the heat will change the look some - usually to a more grey color 7) Again scrub back with steel wool if need be This process leaves a nice gray/blue patina without pits - if you wish to add pits, etc. then there is a another step whihc can be toxic if not done correctly and with care. Actually using any metal patina chemicals (most are scidic) is potentially toxic so use common sense procedures as needed with any toxic chemical. If yuo take a look at the goods on my website you will see a lot of variations on the nickel plated buckles and spots I regularly use. Also not that the plating on some items such as spots is quite thin and can be removed using chemical aging methods but then actual aged goods will also have the brass showing at times so it's not necessarily a bad thing...... Hope that helps.........

Dubbin was one of the most commonly used finishes - a mix of tallow, beeswax, and oil in various proportions. There were also blacking finishes. Also I recommend the videos from Eric Myall's (who used to work at Williamsburg) on making 18th Century leather goods - http://backintimeleatherworks.com/images/SalesFlierpdf.pdf The website is no longer working last time I checked, but here are phone numbers that are supposed to be good 757-564-9659 757-532-1970

As noted Easy off is basically lye and that "burns" and thus dries out the surface of the leather giving it crackelure as appears on OLD leather goods. One does need to take care when using it. I would HIGHLY recommend getting Tim Albert's book on 18th Century Pouches - he gives instructions on how to use this method and yes it is widely used by makers of aged goods..... http://store.scurlockpublishing.com/recreatingthe18thcenturyhuntingpouchbytcalbert.aspx For some other info on aging leather see this article......... http://www.wrtcleather.com/1-ckd/tutorials/aging-leather-zurl.jpg hope this helps......

You can buy both my sheaths and holsters direct from my publisher here...... http://centercross.com/cciv/Custom_Knife_Sheaths_with_Chuck_Burrows.htm http://centercross.com/cciv/Frontier_Holsters_with_Chuck_Burrows.htm

1) Weaver Leather sells an oil darkening liquid formulated specifically for what you are asking 2) Many of "Us" old timers made or still make our own oil dyes by adding oil to the regular leather dye - it needs to be mixed very well - when I make it I use an old food blender on high and add a bit of lecithin (availabale at most helath food stores or such like) to help it mix and stay mixed. Usually though I re-blender it before each use in order tomake sure it's mixed. One caveat ANYTIMe you use oil in such a mix or before dying you should use a very good sealer since as the oil dehydrates over time out of the leather it will "carry" the dye particles back to the surface - if not sealed properly rub off WILL occur.....

Strong black coffee makes a decent brown dye - it needs to soak longer in the coffe so I often case with the coffee then tool.......I use the really dark roast and boil it up with about equal amounts of water- 1 can of coffee to 1 can of water - the grounds can be used at least twice and you can also bury the piece in the grounds for a stronger color. Once dry seal like you do any commercial dye.

I do all my tooling first then use the vinegar black - you can also case the leather with the vinegar black and then do your tooling - eiher way works fine..........e

Try adding some more vinegar as well - when the mix turns brown it generally means the iron was not completely dissolved by the acid and then the acid went a weak so the left over iron rusted rather than dissolved. To help dissolve the iron be sure and stir things failry often so the iron gets exposed to the fumes in the container - it's the acid fumes that dissolve the iron into solution, although you can also just disslove the iron in plain waterand use that but it takes much longer to dissolve. Also as noted add some more tannins if need be - this can be done before or after applying the vinegar black - just do them while both are still wet.

Try it - you should be able to paint it on (I often just use a foam brush to paint the whole item rather than dipping). The only problem I can for see is it spreading out over to areas you don't want stained - but then agin I often use it to add "stains" to brown goods and just splatter it on in places and there is usually little spread.

Edit/delete it since it is now sold, there is no edit the post button? - Item is in the Marketplace - Finished Leathergoods - SW Frontier Knife Chuck Name: Chuck Burrows UserName: ChuckBurrows IP Address: 72.171.0.142 Email Address: chuck@wrtcleather.com

Either way, before or after, works as long as there is no drying time in between. Vinegar black works via a chemical reaction between the iron in the vinegar black and the residual tannins (tannic acid) in the leather. By increasing the tannins you increase the ability to react with the iron. The only thing the vinegar does is put the iron into solution, you can also do the same thing with just iron and water (i.e. letting the iron "rust" away completely) but it takes much longer to create the first batch.

This is an 1840’s era SW Belduque style knife (I say style since original belduques were generally integrals, although the iron tang and bolster(s) were often forge welded to the steel blade rather than being formed in one piece –steel was expensive back when). The 8 3/8” blade was handforged by mi compadre Tai Goo with file work on the spine by me. The grip has a pewter bolster and the wood is crotch grain hickory “repaired” with a deer rawhide wrap and decorated with some simple incise carving and brass tacks. Although hickory is not native to the SW it is a wood that would have been available after the opening of the Santa Fe Trade between the US and Mexico in 1821. The beaded sheath is in a southern Plains style and the decoration is based on three originals. The core is heat hardened bark tan leather with a braintan cover. The blue, white, and amber 8/0 pound beads are typical colors used during the early period as is the larger size. Other decoration consists of beaded fringe with tin cones and buffalo hair tufts. Everything was then aged to give it that used but not abused look....... Total Price: $1,200.00 includes shipping and insurance Payment Method: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, PayPal (email: wrtc@wrtclather.com) - call 970-259-8396 to pay by Credit Card, Money Order, Cashiers Check, or Western Union. or use our secure online order form to pay via Credit Card or PayPal: http://www.wrtcleather.com/0-orderform.html