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Hi: Some of the hides we get that are veg tan come in a bit opaque when new. When we want to clean up the image we have been hand buffing with canvas, but this takes a long time. Was wondering if anyone else had found a way to shorten this process? Thank you Chuck

Like the title says. Every project, every finish, always ends with "buff it to a shine." I remember something about people using a Dremel to buff, which would be great if I could find my old Dremel, but I wondered too if I could use something like this to get a good shine or if it would just tear off the finish. (People use them to shine up vintage Mustangs so it can't be that rough, can it?) There are terry cloth and fleece bonnets, and probably others. Thoughts? Comments? Success and/or horror stories?

Okay I know I have to buff the leather after dying, but it seems the dye never stops coming off. Am I doing something wrong? should I be using a machine? What should I use to do the buffing? Any input would help. Thanks

Ok, here's a leather 101 question for you. It's frequently said that we need to "buff till your arm's ready to fall off." But as a relative newby, I have to ask, aside from feeling like I need a new arm, what other indicators can I look for to help figure if I've buffed enough? Right now I'm dealing with a piece of tannery oil tanned that I've sprayed four coats of 1:1 water:resolene on. So the color is holding fine, no issues there. What else can I look for to tell me if I'm done buffing?

Hi all, I've been using some cotton cloths I had around the house to apply neatsfoot oil and Aussie Finish and generally buff my work. I haven't gotten there yet, but I know you can also use cloths to apply dye. So... I was wondering, what do you guys do when these cloths get dirty? Ditch them and start anew or does anybody toss them in the washer and if so, what are you using to clean them? Seems like kind of a waste to toss them, but I don't want to contaminate one project with something leftover from another. Also, I'm assuming you have different cloths for different products/types of products. How do you split them up? One per product or one per type of product (e.g., alcohol based dyes vs. finishes vs. oils)? Thanks!

I've added a couple of pictures of sheaths I really did shed some blood, sweat and tears working on yesterday. All y'all have been so good with advice -- I think these, especially the wider skinner sheath, have some of the best work I've done. Once I'd stitched and done the edge-burnishing, I swabbed on a good coat of Fiebring's USMC Black leather dye. I let it dry and then rubbed off the powdery residue. (I only get that with the USMC Black and not with brown dyes.) Then another coat of the black dye, and left them hanging overnight, well over 12 hours. Today I rubbed the paraffin into the edges and buffed that. I'm trying different finishes. I don't like the SuperSheen -- makes my leather look like plastic. I have Eco-Flo matte and satin finishes, and they've left streaks on sheaths before. I prefer a lower-gloss finish. Today I tried mink oil that was in the shop from someone else's work. Rubbed it on, let it dry for a couple of hours, rubbed the surface then put it on the buffing wheel, and that's when the black dye started coming off the leather. You can see the patchiness here in the pictures. So -- now what? My partner thought maybe the mink oil acted as a solvent on the dye, but the dye was dry. I know the thread I used yesterday was more heavily waxed than usual and I'm wondering if I transferred some by my fingers and made a resist -- but it didn't show up til I buffed the finish. I'm thinking of trying the homemade finish - got beeswax and vegetable oil to melt it into. The one I saw has vodka in and there's good reason not to keep drinkin' liquor around here -- I'm going to see what I can find about using rubbing alcohol instead.

I've added a couple of pictures of sheaths I really did shed some blood, sweat and tears working on yesterday. All y'all have been so good with advice -- I think these, especially the wider skinner sheath, have some of the best work I've done. Once I'd stitched and done the edge-burnishing, I swabbed on a good coat of Fiebring's USMC Black leather dye. I let it dry and then rubbed off the powdery residue. (I only get that with the USMC Black and not with brown dyes.) Then another coat of the black dye, and left them hanging overnight, well over 12 hours. Today I rubbed the paraffin into the edges and buffed that. I'm trying different finishes. I don't like the SuperSheen -- makes my leather look like plastic. I have Eco-Flo matte and satin finishes, and they've left streaks on sheaths before. I prefer a lower-gloss finish. Today I tried mink oil that was in the shop from someone else's work. Rubbed it on, let it dry for a couple of hours, rubbed the surface then put it on the buffing wheel, and that's when the black dye started coming off the leather. You can see the patchiness here in the pictures. So -- now what? My partner thought maybe the mink oil acted as a solvent on the dye, but the dye was dry. I know the thread I used yesterday was more heavily waxed than usual and I'm wondering if I transferred some by my fingers and made a resist -- but it didn't show up til I buffed the finish. I'm thinking of trying the homemade finish - got beeswax and vegetable oil to melt it into. The one I saw has vodka in and there's good reason not to keep drinkin' liquor around here -- I'm going to see what I can find about using rubbing alcohol instead.

Im making a little card wallet for my girlfriend, and ive oiled it with extra virgin olive oil , and have applied the dye , i used ox blood which is really nice but its very difficult to get a nice even coat . if you guys have any tips on dying to get an even coat speak your mind please BUT ! my main problem after an hour drying i started buffing with some white paper towel and it just keeps coming off , ! there doesnt seem to be any end to it coming off. Am i doing something wrong or do i just have to keep buffing ? Did i leave it long enough to dry ? and what is a good finish to put on a wallet ?

I always hear that you should buff leather after you dye it. However, I don't know exactly what that means. I use feibings pro oil dye. I am making belts currently but will be making other items in the future. I dye the inside of the belt, even when using black (yes, I know), because I don't like how it looks undyed. How does one "buff"? What stage do I buff? After the final resolene finish or right after I dye before I do anything else? And what is the best way to avoid sealing the leather on the flesh side to avoild bleeding? I have heard that using 50/50 resolene on top of gum trag is the way to go. Is that recommended? Thanks! Zayne

I use a very crumpled up piece of a heavy brown paper bag to give a hand finished look on wood. Does anybody do that with leather and if so what finish? -- Tex

Hi all, First post here after stalking about the forums a while, this place is great and has SO MUCH info! I haven't found anything that fits my question exactly though so thought I'd throw this up & see what you all think... I am looking to buff & burnish leather on handbags that are already sewn up, to get a more antiqued & hand finished look over the seams & edges in a shorter amount of time. I know... cutting corners, but time is money etc. etc. Saw this post on J.W. Hulme's blog http://blog.jwhulmec...uffing-leather/ that describes their process & I went and bought a Foredom flex shaft moto with a coarse muslin buff, carnauba wax & the heat gun to give it a try. Had mixed results on various qualities of veg leather, but wasn't really happy with the cotton muslin buff. It was a bit soft & I didn't think it was giving the needed friction. I've used a table top buffing wheel with various horse hair wheels that have good results but are too big for the small detail work I'm looking to do. So, has anyone here used a hand held motorized tool like this in their work? Where do you get your buffing wheels and what kind of fiber do you use? Any suggestions for other waxes or products to try on the leather surface? Thanks!

Has anyone used the new eco flo pro water stain in black yet? If so... what kind of buffing was required? How did you seal it? Did you have to put anything underneath it? And lastly, did it give you a nice black?? Sorry for all the questions,....just wanted to get right to the point.