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Thank you for that. it is good to get proper information from a knowledgeable person.

@BruceGibson. Round knives fan club!

Likewise, @BruceGibson.

@AlZilla Love the idea. Uttam will be very interested. He used to make electrical items with his father - radios and things from scratch - so will have the knowhow to use this idea. Thank you for that.

@Brooks125 for dying black, do you use dyes and then some treatment to prevent the dye running? That might prevent absorption of water. Have you tried vinegaroon? I have seen that when dyed with vinegaroon, I can still wet mold leather. Also, you can check if the thread has tannins in it. If not, it will not take the vinegaroon dye, and you can dye both together, else you can use @fredk's technique.

I just eyeball it - about 50%. And for dye, I use ordinary Fiebings Pro dye. I have no idea about edge kote.

I apply it with one of those pens with sponge at the tip that I fill with a diluted solution of Resolene. It allows a thin coat.

You could try applying Resolene over the edge coat. Dilute it with water because it can leave a white residue if it is too thick in any place. Two thin layers, with drying in between, would work. Resolene works better for preventing dye running than anything else for me.

Exactly! People were expected to have common sense and they did. These days, they have experts telling us everything - I mean, we have popcornologists and 'clutter consultants'.

@chuck123wapati japanning! Not heard that term for a while. Interesting recipes. Do we get the raw the ingredients these days? Need to find my magnifying glass to read them. @fredk that's a good idea. With so little paper being used, it is all probably being got rid of anyway. Not that the recipe books are not good. I mean, the ones I found from church groups and women's clubs have recipes like "Susan's apple pie" and "Maureen's ribs". The towns must have been so small with so few people at the time of publishing that the purchasers would know whose recipe each was! It's delightful!

That looks very interesting! What recipes, formulae and secret methods does it contain, if I might ask? I always look for such old books at estate sales and flea markets. Never found anything but old recipe books..

@chuck123wapati. That's nice! It is so satisfying to use things that have been around for a long time, knowing it will not be wasted.

Very beautiful. Those shades of blue are perfect.

@fredk I imagine goose grease was around all the time as a cooking medium as well as for aches and pains and bruises. I wonder how similar tools would hold up over time when kept preserved in the currently used waxes and oils. I like the idea of limited number of items, each with myriad uses. Wonderful, how enterprising humans are. There is another thread going on, about old time armorers and tool makers and how enterprising and inventive they were - necessity being the mother of invention.

@Littlef, yes. debates everywhere. Isn't that nice? That is how one learns, after all. As you say, I plan to use the paste wax for longer storage and oil for knives constantly in use. @dikmanyes, mineral oil is a petroleum product, but see, that is natural too, organic, isn't it? At least was, when learning organic chemistry! Strictly speaking, from plants and animals, only very long ago! If it is okay for baby skin, as the only ingredient of Johnson's baby oil other than fragrance, it should be fine for leather! I have no issues with it. Same with petroleum jelly - main ingredient of Aussie conditioner, I learnt! Yes, I do plan to mix mineral oil and beeswax. no paraffin wax though - don't much like it except as a hardener. LOL. That's okay @chuck123wapati. We all have our own way of thinking. The world would be a boring place if we all thought the same way . Stepford families! On my part, I like to pick and choose what I keep of the old and adapt of the new. I like to make things myself - from food items to things I use around the house. I make my own cleaning solution, leather conditioner and now, it appears, I will make my own blade protectant - not because I cannot get as good ones outside but because I like the sense of satisfaction from making my own. Like I said, to each his own. own

@chuck123wapati Very interesting. It seems to be a universal oil, useful for everything!

@dikman yes, so many ingredients to choose from! But luckily there are so many, what we at home call 'MBAs' online, people who like to share their knowledge. Search and I can get all the information I need. That is how I created my leather conditioner recipe. @fredk, with the beeswax, some carnauba wax maybe - supposed to prevent rust but not sure if this is true. And mineral oil in place of olive oil. I dislike olive oil. And some orange oil and lanolin for fragrance should work - that combination gives a pleasant fragrance and it is good for the leather too. No vegetable oil, so no need for any preservative. Let's see. I will experiment. That is fun. I kept a new Osbourne blade in a chrome-tanned sheath for one night and it got rust spots. Cleaned and oiled that blade. Now, I can definitively say, once and for all," Chrome tanned leather is not good for making leather sheaths. It causes the knives to rust".

@fredk, that is a good idea! Not just for the sheaths either. I make sheaths only to protect the knives, so plain veg tan will do. But other things where a peep of the inside will show a beautiful chrome tan and on the outside, the veg tan. And I am so glad to hear they can be wet molded together, with the proper thicknesses. I have a lovely old purse I found at an estate sale I plan to make in leather. The purse is wood covered with cloth and I want to make it with leather in place of the wood and no cloth. I was wondering how to do it but this way would work. Thank you for that tip.

@Sheilajeanne, that is very beautiful and so true.

@bruce johnson and @dikman. Yes there are so many brands and compositions. LOL I think it will be best if I use a paste wax for those I do not use all the time and mineral oi for when they are in continuous use. Only still to decide the paste wax to use - probably make it myself though - I enjoy that. Thank you for all your guidance, all.

@doubleh would that be like the wax you get from Montana Knife Company?

That is nice and a lot more individual than a generic compass in its metal casing. Very nice indeed.

@fredk I just used the food grade mineral oil as I had it at home. I will go look for the 3-in-one. A thinner oil is better. Thank you. I did not know that.

I have been searching online and several sites say waxes are best for knife blades while other recommend oils. I have been using food grade mineral oil on the blades on my knives. I am wondering whether waxes are better and I need to shift to using that? Could I get some advice on this please?

@Gezzer Going to follow that from now on. No more "let's see...". @fredk, I have not had an issue with a single knife sheath made with veg-tanned leather. So I suspect that here, or at least where I get all my leather from, the oil-tanned leather is in fact chrome-tanned leather with oil-finishing, and that chrome tanning evidently adversely affects knife steel.