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@ArkieNewbie That is great. How do you apply it? Chrome tanned leather will not get burnished so do you just apply it all over and let it dry? Do you dilute it?

Once I decide to start tooling, which I do not as yet have the courage to do, I will buy a good swivel knife. Until then, investigate so that when I am ready, I know which I want to buy. Thank you for all the information and insight, @Gezzer, @bruce johnson, @Burkhardt

My barrette, post-antiquing and then, after burnishing with Tokonole. Used an old denim cloth to burnish. This is just to wear at home, so just rough work. Burnishes very well. Now I wear this daily and see how the Tokonole stands up to daily use, conure nibbling, etc. This is burnished with the Tokonole. This is prior to burnishing.

Beautiful work! I love the camera case, purses and that light blue watch strap. The colors are beautiful.

@bruce johnson thank you. I wondered. I like to collect as much information as I can before I need to make any purchases.

@Handstitched you are right - all the information is usually on the containers themselves. And the type of adhesive used is often personal preferences as well. and availability. @fredk another informative thread where everyone contributes? Why not? With personal preferences and experience more valuable information will be available. I don't much use adhesives except gorilla glue, so will leave that to those who do use glues more frequently. @Ornyal for the information search online, either look at the information put out by the manufacturers themselves or scientific articles. The rest is usually the "me knows best" types or companies trying to promote their own products, all to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Come to think of it, your questions are so in depth. When you find the answers, why don't you share your research here so that the next person will have somewhere to refer?

@Burkhardt No idea. I have not yet started tooling seriously. Just tinkered with a cheap one I got in an Amazon set. So wondered about this brand.

The same happens for me too - when I get Tokonole on the grain side, but that is wen it is not burnished. I plan to burnish a barrette with it. @Ornyal says it works for him.

Are Paasche swivel knives any good? I looked for information online and here, could not find any. I would appreciate any information.

@Littlef that is exactly what I do on the flesh side too, only I dilute the Tokonole. I learnt that from an East Asian site where they do the same in handbags. So it is very probable that it does not peel if done that way. I have never burnished the grain side with Tokonole though. If it works, that is great. There is always something new to learn. On the grain side, do you use the glass burnisher as well?

Experience and Google. You will get the answers to all your questions there.

@Littlef leatherwork is a new hobby for me too - less than a year! But I noticed that Tokonole dries into a plastic layer only because I take it in a bowl and then forget about it while doing other things! Burnishing the Tokonole on the grain side might prevent peeling. After all, in the bowl, it just stays there, with the water content evaporating. When burnished, it might be different, with that change in temperature. After all, Tokonole is used for edge burnishing and I have not heard of it peeling off edges. Certainly the edges that I burnish with it, are still intact, though that is neither here nor there, since all were made in the last 9 months.

@fredk Thank you. I am rather pleased with it. I am trying to get it to the color of skin with oils. In the thread about the effects of different oils on leather, I noticed that coconut oil darkens leather even more than neatsfoot oil. I don't know whether the effect is long term or not - in the experiment, it has remained dark for over 2 weeks now. The smell disappears within a couple of days as well. The leather I have used is very pale, looks anaemic. Now with the coconut oil, it looks realistic. When I send it to m y daughter, she will only have to apply the blood and gore. A word of caution to anyone making this hand: Make the rim of leather on the outside of the punched holes as wide as you can; even cut outside the lines if possible. There are places where the thread is passed through one punched hole three or more times and sometimes, it can't take the pressure of being pulled tight and the leather edge tears. Not fun, let me tell you.

The hand is half done. This is how it looks now. There are some mistakes I allowed to remain instead of correcting.. more authentic I thought. I will probably be able to complete it tomorrow. I will put up a pic of that too.

I'm using the information I gathered from our experiment already. Seeing that coconut oil darkened leather the most and dried and hardened the leather slightly, I applied it on the 'hand' that I am making. The leather that Tandy provided was very pale and quite soft and I wanted the hand a little stiffer. Hopefully, this works. It already looks more human.. the color is much more life-life. The smell of the oil will disappear in a couple of days, leaving behind, I expect, a stiffer, darker leather.

Instead of a vague description of 'very' or 'medium', or 'slight' I am making a scale of 1-5, for all descriptions.

Tokonole is used to flatten the flesh side of leather, if the flesh side is too rough. That is done with at least 50% diluted Tokonole though. If you let Tokonole dry in a bowl, as I sometimes do inadvertently, it forms a plastic layer that I can peel off. So peeling might become an issue, if you applied a significant amount, undiluted.

I missed last Sunday and decided to move to this week-end directly. This is what I observed: Mineral oil – darkens a little, remains smooth, does not curve in any of the sites. Mink oil - Slight darkening, slightly dry, slight curvature with drying, not always smooth. Neatsfoot oil – significant darkening everywhere, maintains flat, smooth, soft texture except when exposed to continuous changing environment in the car. Coconut oil – smell disappeared within 2 days of application; darkened the leather the most everywhere; slight dryness everywhere. At this point, mineral oil has the best effect. It darkens very slightly, remains smooth, does not significantly soften or harden the leather or deform it in any way. Mink oil also does not darken very much but dries the leather slightly. Neatsfoot oil darkens as expected but the leather remains smooth and flat for the most part. Coconut oil darkens the most but also dries the leather. There is no fungus or any type of damage to the leathers at this point. That is my report for this week. I had planned on adding Vaseline but could not find it. I will look for it this week.

@fredk I did not think of that. I don't usually do any of this Halloween stuff other than pass out the sweets. Will look for this tomorrow. Thank you for the tip.

....the third is looking for them Actually, that is the first!

Me too!

LOL. That is another one like the madness thing... hair on the palm is the 2nd sign of madness...

@billybopp I should look at it. It is so long and I bought a class at Tandy... so got all the instructions there. Thank you for giving me that specific time so I don't have to go through it all!

@billybopp that's so true! But never fear, I will find it when looking for something else, then say, "Oh!. Here it is. I will remember next time I need it!" I never do. @toxo familiar. Need tea leaves for 2 weeks now and forget every time. Make do with tea bags which I dislike. Ahh. The trials and tribulations of old age.... not. Been the same as long as I can remember.