SUP

I agree that when one makes Vinegaroon, the pH will change as iron acetate forms. I also agree that the pH of tap water is never exactly 7. How can it be? It will have salts dissolved in it that will affect the pH. All of it is approximations, which works fine, really. It's a folk method, is it not? Used for generations, and working fine all through.. I prefer not to use a baking soda dip after vinegaroon though That will be far more basic than tap water. I do not think that that basic a solution is needed, even if the vinegaroon is made with 10%acetic acid. A few more minutes of running water to remove the vinegaroon, maybe. After all, Vinegar mixes in water and will be easily rinsed off and that is all that is needed. The chemical reaction is between the iron acetate and the tannins. Running water also helps if the leather has also been re-tanned with tea etc. Otherwise, loose iron tannates rub off or bleed if the leather gets damp. Like I said, running water works for me. I have used it Vinegeroon for leather caps and no complaints about smell from the wearers. To each his own, though.

Actually, pH does matter. Approximations will do though. Soaking in Baking soda might damage the leather. Just be careful you do not turn your leather too alkaline. Leather needs a pH of about 5, so a bit acidic. Household vinegar is 5%acetic acid and the pH of the vinegar is about 2.5. Rinsing the leather under running water, which will have a pH of about 7, should balance the pH out. You don't need a pH-meter to determine that. Too alkaline a pH can damage the leather just as much as too acidic a pH.

When dyeing with vinegaroon, I always rinse with running water immediately after I dip the leather in vinegaroon. That balances the pH and removes excess vinegar. To get rid of the smell, I just keep it in the open for a few days. It works for me when I use vinegar rinses on moldy leather.

@jrdunn You have seen the real ones. I grew up only knowing about them from the cartoons. So naturally, the real ones were different. Just saw them a couple of times while driving across the country. I'm sure they are as appealing as you say they are.

A leather scented soap might be just the thing for all those chrome tanned leathers which smell of anything but leather.

I should think that if you don't want to use any plastics of synthetic materials, wood is the way to go.

@fredk, Yes it could really be any type of canine species, isn't it? And, in spite of living in the US, I have not seem coyotes either. Like you, only from those cartoons. When I first saw road-runners though, I was so disappointed!

@toxo, Thank you. I plan to use them as much as possible. Maybe somewhere on the way, I will become reasonably good at tooling.

Fox it is then. I like how the person who made the stamp did not try to make the face symmetrical - gives it a charming, quizzical look. I know! Isn't it wonderful? I'm envious. To have the ability as well as the talent to make the stamps so well. They are really well made and the impressions are sharp and clear. Yes there are. A couple of unusual ones too, at least to me. I can't wait to use them... once it is less cold and I do not mind wet hands. Right now, I am busy shivering! Probably something similar. There are some large ones in this lot but some small ones too. I put the rubber bands to prevent them disappearing in that stand. On the large ones, to protect the carved ends when they are on the nail side. Those are really impressive - small and so well carved.

Up close, the animal is even more appealing. Coyote perhaps?

Here they are. The stand was included with them. This will go over several posts. Huh? Not getting uploaded, for some reason. Will try a while later.

It's cold in our area today. Cold enough that USPS says they cannot deliver due to dangerous weather conditions! So stuck at home but happy as, as I heard them say in Idaho, 'a pig in muck'. I love that phrase. So eloquent! Happy because I found a set of old hand made stamps - all carved onto nails of different sizes, including one that I cannot decide whether it is a coyote or a dog. In Evaporust right now. I'll put up pics as soon as I get them clean. really do not care whether they are old or vintage or from last year. Their value is in the fact that they are all hand-made. Someone made them, used them and took care of them and now I will do the same.

I started working on my sets of leather pieces and then realized that today and next week, the temperatures are going to be unusually low for this area and the leathers have not been exposed to such low temps. So I postponed my updates until after the temperatures rise to a reasonable level (for this area) next week. Let's see how they react to such temperatures. I will check on them when the temperatures are low as well.

I'm not sure I can do that. I got it on Amazon Vine and I am not sure I can expose its information until 6 months later. I will find out from Amazon.

No idea what this is. I think it is trying to be a replacement for Tokonole. I''ll try gum trag and see if it is the same.

@DieselTech I have no idea. I got it off Amazon Vine (who says no to 'free'?), and it shows no ingredients whatsoever. It smells chemically (is that even a word?) until I heat it. It is white, like Tokonole, only a bit less thick, not sticky or gummy. I have never used gum trag, so if that smells sweet, it could be. But this smell is sickly. Does gum trag smell sickly? The smell remained on my fingers until I washed it away with a stronger smelling soap! A non-scented soap did not work.

I just came across a burnishing gum that smells sweet whenever it gets warmed - so whenever it gets burnished, it releases the fragrance. When it cools, the smell disappears. I was wondering about what would happen if it were used on items that are exposed to the heat of summer outside - for example, if it is used on saddles and the saddles were used outside in the heat. There is no information about this happening anywhere in the product information section. Has anyone come across something like this anywhere else?

@bruce johnson, Wow! That is old. But the price is too steep at $150.00 I think. Especially as I have a surfeit of round knives! Let's see. If the price comes down, I might consider them, if someone else does not buy them first. Thank you for your input. It really helps.

Still using the above set for the ordinary kitchen knives - the ones I do not mind replacing. My Damascus knives? Especially the one that is truly layered and not painted or whatever is done to get those swirls? I do by hand. It takes time and is needed rarely, but too precious to risk on the roller. For ordinary kitchenware though, the rolling set that I have is great. And the price cannot be beat - 80%discount when I am being honest, 100% discount if I did not want to be!

You get tannins removers but if you want to remove the black color, it is iron tannate now, formed when the ferric acetate from the vinegaroon bonds to the tannins in the leather. I wonder if that bond can be broken. To get that bluish grey color, you could try adding very little iron to vinegar, a diluted vinegaroon, so to speak.

There were two knives on sale. I could only see the mark on one of them. I have attached a photograph here. The one on the left is too worn down, I think.

@bruce johnson, It was on sale earlier. I will check if it is still available so that I can get a photograph of it.

Working on my sets today. I have been very delayed this turn - health and other issues. But now I am able to get down to it. It's so cold here now, at least for those of us here who are more used to warm weather. Waiting for it to get a bit warmer in the day before venturing out to get the leather that is placed outside.

It matters not a whit where the leather is tanned. Good and bad leathers are found from all over the world. @hamim how are you going to convince leather purchasers that your leather is, in fact, of comparable quality to the leathers available here from all over the world? That will be the deciding factor, is it not? Not where it is sourced from. For all the naysayers, there will be others who have no problem buying from the East, provided the quality is guaranteed and consistent.

Yes. you can almost see the base of the letters. I've not bought it as yet. Not sure whether I want to. I was hoping that learning something about it would give me an idea whether it is worth buying.