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Anyone willing to help, I've just gotten into leather work the last year or so. My question is this: I want to carve a piece, vinegroon it, and then wet mold it. What order do you think I should do these three things? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Mike

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a good day. I am looking for some advice on some recent strap failures I've been having. I make firefighter suspenders out of 9-10oz veg tan. All of the recent failures I've had have been vinegrooned. Some of the suspenders are 1-2 years old. I am trying to make these so they will be more durable to what my guys are putting them through. Unfortunately they are putting them in hot, sweaty environments. I cut my straps from 9-10oz Herman oak. I only cut my straps from the back. They are cut from head to tail on the hide so I believe I'm cutting the correct way on the grain for a belt type piece. My vinegroon process is to submerge the pieces in the vinegroon for 2-3 min. Then move them to a baking soda water bath for about 15-30 sec. Then I rinse the pieces in warm water and let dry. I apply 1 light coat of pure Neatsfoot oil to them with a paint brush. I seal them with 50/50 mix of mop and glow and water, applied with a rag. Hopefully the pictures go through but here are my questions for the incredible wealth of knowledge on this site. Please Help. 1. Am I using the wrong type of leather? I have swatches from W&C should I use harness, eng bridle, latigo? I need something that will take a stamp and acrylic paint for what I do. 2. Is there something wrong with my Black dying process? I only offer my suspenders in brown (treated with Neatsfoot Oil) and Black (Vinegrooned) I really suck at using other dyes. 3. Do I need to increase the weight of my leather and use saddle skirting? 12-14oz? 4. should I finish my leather with something different that will last longer/ ad more water resistance? I know I am asking a lot out of the leather I am using. I have had 4 major failures out of approx 40 sets of suspenders. All failures are on the back part of the straps usually. I have had one belt failure (my own personal duty belt) failed at the hole for the belt buckle. All of the failures have been with Vinegrooned leather. Black suspenders are pretty popular and I need to be able to dye them or buy pre-dyed leather that won't bleed. Thank you in advance Ben

I made my first batch of Vinegroon....That stuff is awesome, BTW. I read that it takes two weeks, which I impatiently waited for. When I first mixed it though, I stuck a piece of leather in it just to see and it truned black, after an hour of "cooking". So, my question...I'm working on a fork bag now. I didn't have a pan large enough to dip the pieces of the bag in, so I brushed the roon on with a foam brush. It worked well, but didn't soak through to the flesh side(which I'm pleased with). I also brushed on the baking soda and water mixture, then rinsed it under the sink. I let it sit to dry. When I was going to put my maker's mark on it, I wet the leather in the area I wanted to stamp...It wouldn't asorb the water. Is there something in the vinegroon that has water resistance properties? There was no top coat of any kind. Which, leads to my second question. What type of top coat, if any do you guys recommend on the roon? I have put on a coat of neatsfoot, but I'm not positive about the top coat.