MVm

Ian Atkinson from Leodis Leather made a video in 2011 comparing 8 popular finishes. Vid Link here. Color, Waterproofing and the scent each finish left on the leather were covered in detail, among other things. The finishes were: Neatsfoot Fiebing's Carnauba Gum Tragacanth Nikwax Kiwi Aquastop Aerosol Fiebing's Acrylic Leather Sheen Fiebing's Tan Kote Fiebing's Acrylic Resolene His informative, and very helpful videos tend to be long-form; you can benefit from this particular offering by jumping around. You can also skip to Overall comparison at 37:00.

Thanks, bikermutt07! I think it's a good start. Appreciate it, Dwight and Mattsbagger. I'm definitely going to move away from plywood/MDF, and give the leather a little more room in the press! Good call on simplifying the wetting, OLDNSLOW; I don't know what I'm doing there, and it's ended up being an additional step with ambiguous results (largely due to my inexperience). Switching to a synthetic is an interesting idea. I'll be trying a Delrin mold soon!

Hi there, everyone, I recently completed my first mold, made to form a simple rectangle with radiused corners out of 8oz. veg. tanned leather, and have some questions concerning how to improve the process. For starters, I'd like to adjust the mold. The mold base and presser piece are a mix of CNC'd plywood, and stacked laser cut MDF pieces. I've attached a section view of the mold. Do I need to include the lower radius on the buck--beyond the leather--or would it be best to minimize or eliminate it altogether? My reasoning was that it would help spread out the leather while pressed, but I'm a novice at this sort of thing! When designing the mold, I left hardly any clearance for the leather/buck/presser piece. This tight tolerance made it rather difficult to press. Additionally, I neglected to seal the plywood buck, and noticed that the individual ply layers were pressed into the leather. The ply was sanded smooth before use, so I assume that the individual ply layers swelled, creating these distinct layers. My guess is that a combination of the untreated wood and tight fit led to this pattern. I've attached a picture showing one of the corners, with the plywood pattern. I plan on adding some clearance between the buck and presser piece; would 1/16" be sufficient? 1/8"? From now on, these molds will be sealed with clear urethane. Is there something better to use for this purpose? One last thing-- my second and third pulls show a bit of a curve around the edges of the leather, bowing inwards. It's more pronounced in the photo, but it's there nonetheless. My process for the three is below: #1 - Soaked in cool water for 20 minutes, pressed, left to dry in mold for 2 days #2 - Soaked in cool water ~5 minutes, dipped in hot water for ~30 seconds. Left to dry in mold for ~24 hours. #3 - Soaked in cool water ~10 minutes, dipped in warm water for 1 minute. Left to dry in mold for ~24 hours. Could this bow be caused by pulling the leather too soon? Or, could it be something else entirely? Any help is greatly appreciated!