GuitarLeatherDopeFiend

Tom, thank you for going out of your way to try to find it! I found a write up, between it and trial and error, I think I can figure it out!

That's a good idea, thanks!

Hi I am wondering if anyone has a general pattern for making a pair of fine gloves, not work gloves? Thank you!

I am planning on restoring a nice couch, the dye is just a little sun faded, but it is turning into quite the project. The couch is semi aniline which resulted in the following disaster; I had ordered "custom matched leather dye" from leatherworldtech, which because it is semi aniline, they sent leather paint instead of dye, which wasn't made clear by the label or communication, and was not color matched by any means. Unfortunately I didn't realize this until I had sprayed the entire couch, and had to remove the leather paint. To be fair, the paint did look decent, but I didn't want to paint such a nice couch, I wanted to re-dye it. They are going to make it right and send actual dye, but I need to remove the top coat with fiebing's deglazer to apply it. My question is, what is a good leather finish for furniture once the dye is applied? Any tips/tricks from anyone who has done this before? Thanks in advance, I appreciate the knowledge that is openly shared on this forum!

Ah, antique before sealer, I might just have to give that one a go. Nice, a good tight fit makes it so much more satisfying to go through all that work!

PREMIUM!

Looks really good, very clean work! I like the color how it's such a rich dark brown, I almost always get a red brown color, for whatever reason I have a hard time getting a deep chocolaty brown like this. Great job, how's the fit? That's my favorite part of making sheaths, getting a nice tight friction fit.

Awesome craftsmanship!

I imagine it would, the article was specifically about olive oil stains but I think the same concept applies. The corn starch should be even more absorbent than the leather, soaking up the oil. You really have to rub it in, I think this brings the oil to the surface so it can be extracted. I have a bunch of neatsfoot that I don't mind wasting, I ended up not liking neatsfoot so well because it feels too greasy to me, and I don't like the feel it gave my projects when I used it. So I'll over oil a scrap with neatsfoot and try the cornstarch trick and post the results in this thread. To me, olive oil is the way to go because it's lighter (as in less greasy) and it doesn't darken the leather as much. Plus it smells delicious, especially on a piece of Hermann Oak!

Thanks Koreric, I love the Kudu too, it's one of my favorite leathers i've worked with, it's VERY hard to skive thinner though. I enjoy doing the sunburst, I wasn't very good at it the first few I did, but I get a little bit better each time. Thank you YinTx, The kudu I have is very oily, some pieces moreso than others, but I have never been able to actually squeeze oil out. I've used it on several wallets, and never had any issues with color or oil bleeding onto clothing or wallet contents, although I live in western washington so I don't have to worry about heat making it bleed through. In my experience the oils and waxes make for a beautiful burnish and patina with use, the feel of the leather completely changes and becomes shiny and much smoother as the years go on. I picked up a trick on the internet in search of a cure for an olive oil stain, one spot had soaked up way too much oil and I thought the piece I was working on was ruined. It turns out you can put a small amount of corn starch on the oil stain and rub it, the corn startch starts to absorb the oil and pulls it out of the leather, I wonder if you could use this trick on your Kudu to pull out some of the oil so that you could use it on a wallet?

Thanks bikermutt, I was really happy with how this one came out, it should be a patina champ! I think I'll make myself one like this.

That's awesome!

Sounds like too much of a hassle to remove the finish, I think I'll take your advice and use a good deal of it for prototyping bags and other projects I have yet to tackle due to fear of wasting leather/money. It's free and there's lots of it to learn with!

Just finished this bifold recently and shipped it out to a great return customer in TN, I failed to get finished pictures, but this is just before gluing up the two halves and sewing them together. The outside is Hermann Oak veg tan that I "sunbursted" with a spray gun, the interior is Horween Kudu that I got from Nstar a long time ago, and the lighter colored card slots are Horween Dublin English Tan, there are also "Hidden pockets" and a black pigskin lining for the billfold. Saddle stitched with bronze colored Fil Au Chinois Lin Cable. Came in a little thicker than I had hoped at 9/16" when folded. Nevermind that my hand looks like a shelled lobster claw. Critiques welcome!

Looks great! Love Dublin, such a great leather, just used it for the first time recently!

Matt S. your reply was extremely informative, I researched refinished split and found a lot of fascinating info on the subject that I didn't know before, thanks for your reply! With my newfound knowledge in mind I scratched and scraped the leather with my fingernail in the same less than 1" square spot for about ten minutes, barely getting the color to fade or wear through. Then I cut the leather diagonally (like skiving an edge) and did the same thing, and couldn't get any separation of layers, so I think it is actual top grain leather. The new couch is admittedly much finer leather with a much better feel, but I feel like this stuff is useable. No offense taken if so, but does this leather look crap to you?

LOL

Wow, absolutely stunning work! I love to see leatherwork pushed to the point of realism that you've achieved!

Hi I have a ton of this burgundy/plum colored upholstry leather, and I'm wondering what I can use it for. My family got a new couch and were gonna throw the old one away because the seats were really trashed, but the rest of the leather was in good shape, so being the wierdo I am, I disassembled the couch and salvaged most of the leather. It's all pretty thin, about 2.5 to 3 oz, some as thin as 1.5 to 2 oz. I'm not sure what animal the leather is from either. Even though it's quite thin, it has quite a lot of strength to it. I'm hoping someone can shed some light on some good uses for this leather. So far I've used it for a bifold wallet interior, which worked pretty good, I'm hoping to hear it might work well for a purse or women's clutch wallet or something? I'm not crazy about the finish that's on it either, it's just very shiny and doesn't have the best feel, I'm wondering if I can strip the finish and use something more satin, with a better feel? Thanks in advance for any input on how to use this leather!

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and help! ChriJ that's exactly what I want to do, sandwich the padding so it's not exposed. Johanna, that might work pretty well, is batting very fibrous? I need something that won't fray, because I want it to be just behind the line of stitching, so you don't see the padding on the edges. Colt W Knight, your comment makes me really glad that I posted this question, I almost just went with the neoprene, thanks a ton! Thanks for all the good links, that wool felt looks like a pretty good option, do you think that an extra layer or two of it would help compensate for the difference in squishiness between this pigskin and your deerskin? Thanks again everyone, I really appreciate it!

Hi there, and thanks for taking the time to help me out! I'm looking at making my first (Padded) guitar strap, just as a display piece to let my customers know that padding is an option. I've got the strap made, stitching spacing marked with a pricking iron, and a great chrome free pigskin lining cut and ready to sew on. My problem? I can not, for the life of me, find a suitable form of padding! I've spent hours on the internet looking for a suitable padding, foam, sponge neoprene, wool, memory foam, etc, nothing seems right. I've seen loads of padded guitar straps that look great, that have some form of cut-able foam stitched on under a lining, but I can't get a straight answer out of anybody! What I want is a single piece of padding that I can cut to shape, and stitch on, that will retain it's "sponginess or bounce-back" over extended use. The best thing I've seen so far is 1/8" thick sponge neoprene, my concern though, is that it will smell bad and absorb odors, defeating the smell of leathery goodness. If anyone can speak from experience on a good form of padding, I would really appreciate your expertise! Thank you!

Thank you JLS and Chief for such quick and helpful responses! Chief, your video was very helpful, thank you for taking the time to post such helpful videos. So I think I will go off your dimensions, and maybe order a template somewhere down the line. It looked to me like you punched a total of five holes on the bottom piece, about three inches apart, is that correct? I want to thank you both again, every time I have asked for help on this forum, I've been met with extremely promt and helpful replies from pros looking to help beginners and intermediates like myself, so thank you for giving back to the trade, rather than leaving me in the dust! Thanks, and much respect! -Aaron

Hello, and thanks in advance for any help! So, my aunt and her husband have asked me to make a rifle sling for a Christmas present for my Grandma, because she just got a new rifle. But I have never made a rifle sling before, I've had many requests, but I've never been able to find a standard pattern or dimensions on the internet, I could only find out how many different styles there are, and ended up with far more questions than answers. I know I want to make a simple adjustable strap about 2" wide with a taper at the ends, and that's about it. I'm not sure if it consists of two pieces, or just one long one, but the longest leather straps I have available are roughly 3', as I have already cut my hide to get a maximum yield of guitar straps. Will this be long enough, or will I have to order a long pre-cut strap for this project? A list of the hardware required and a "standard" length for the strap(s) would be awesome, and very much appreciated! Thanks again in advance! -Aaron

Really cool, and very well done!

I know this is a super old thread, but I have a question about for (JustKate -> a.k.a. CitizenKate) the dying/antiquing section of this thread. I liked the idea of mixing in a bit of spirit dye in with the fiebing's antique paste, because I just tried fiebings antique finish paste for the first time yesterday, and it does an awesome job of the antiquing effect, but barely put any color on the untooled leather, so I had to go over it with a bottle of eco flo antique to get the color I wanted, but still couldn't get very even coverage. My question(s) are, will the spirit dye/ antique paste mixture penetrate a resist like super shene or wyoshene when doing sheridan style carving, (or any style using a resist), Or is the spirit dye diluted enough that the resist is still effective? My other question is - Is fiebings antique finish paste even intended for coloring leather? Or are you meant to dye the leather the desired color before antiquing? Last question, - Do you have a preference between fiebing's antique finish paste, and fiebing's antique leather stain? I tried to research what most people preferred before buying one of them, and people seemed to prefer the finish paste, so that's what I got. Thank you in advance, and thank you for the great tutorial! Great work!!!