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Hello wonderful community! I'm pretty new here and usually browse around as a guest. However I've got a situation on my hands that I can't seem to find a solution to. I'm currently making an Alien Facehugger mask that required some wet formed pieces. There are around 50-60 pieces to this particular mask. I had just finished beveling and sanding all these pieces(it took an ETERNITY). It was finally time to get to wetmolding and alllll was fine and dandy until a dark pattern started to appear.. on the single most important piece of the entire damn project... Just the one. I've found other posts where metal shavings have come into contact with wet projects and caused dark spots or others found mold on their leather. I can say with certainty that this isn't that. I've tried removing this discoloration with alcohol (which seemed to make it worse) and I've tried using odorless mineral spirits. All 50+ pieces were cleaned with minerals spirits prior to this because I was an idiot and used masking tape to hold down my patterns and try to reduce as much leather scrap waste as possible. I quickly found out that the tape leaves behind a residue that could only be removed with the mineral spirits at hand. That being said, I basically deglazed every piece so there shouldn't be any trace or and weird substance on the leather, right??? What caused this? Why did this happen to the ONE piece if they were all cut from the same hide? Thank you so much to anyone who took the time to read this and is willing to help out a fellow maker.

Hi There, This is my first experience working with Cordovan leather (bought it from cordovan.co) I was surprised by how easily this leather stains: I accidentally dropped a water drop and clean it rapidly with cloth and it create a mate stain. Before trying to clean the stain with other products, I replicate the stain in small remaining piece of cordovan leather: Replicating the water stain I put an small drop of water on the leather, rub it off with a clean cloth and the stain appeared instantly. Trying to clean the stain I tried to use Neatsfoot oil: didn’t worked, stain is still there. I tried to use Saphir Creme Universelle: didn’t worked, stain is still there it made the leather lost his shine. Could someone with more experience with this leather help me regain the shine of this leather? Thanks in advance

Hello, I posted a similar topic a few years ago and I'm hoping to re-ignite the subject. I've been trying different methods over the years and I still have not found a clear-cut (or even close) method of burnishing thinner (i'm using 4/5 oz) natural leather without the edges being darkened too much and without making a mess of the face of the piece (or the flesh side, for that matter). I really like the look of completely untouched natural leather, so I don't want to put any sort of conditioner/sheen on the face as they all darken the leather at least a shade. I want to keep the natural leather as white/pink as possible with minimal water/paste mess from burnishing. I'm also having somewhat of an issue with the flesh edge of the leather folding over some with the thinner leather. I might be burnishing too quickly after wetting the edge, I don't know. I am using a pro edge burnisher in my drill press which works very well. Methods I've tried: - Just water This solves the edge darkening problem and also solves the mess problem when applied extremely carefully with a dauber or your finger. However, it doesn't give a lasting extra slick finish. - Just liquid Saddle soap This gives a slick finish, but darkens the leather edge a lot and also seems to soak into the leather more, which means messy and uneven looking edges. - 50/50 liquid Saddle soap and water This darkens the edge a bit less (still more than i'd like) and soaks in a bit less, but isn't as slick as just straight up liquid saddle soap. - 50/50 liquid Saddle soap and water, then beeswax, then canvas burnishing. Creates a slick edge, but is very hard to keep clean, and darkens the edge quite a bit. - Gum Tragacanth Creates a good slick edge (one coat is good, two coats is better), but is really really hard to keep clean. Doesn't darken the edge as much as the straight liquid saddle soap, but still darker than I like. One thing I did discover recently is that applying gum trag to the edge with the edge of a toothpick works well for keeping it clean, but is very tedious. Should I maybe burnish the edge with just water first before burnishing with gum trag? would that help keep the trag from seeping onto the face? I guess I'm just hoping that some magician out there has come up with a magical method/product that is easy to apply/won't make a mess/won't darken the edge too much. Haha. I'm also having a hard time with applying beeswax as its hardness makes it difficult to apply a sufficient amount of wax to the edge. I was considering making a mixture of beeswax, olive oil, and eucalyptus oil to stave off mould. I've heard of a beeswax/neatsfoot solution, but would prefer to use olive oil in its place. Does anyone have any experience with a wax/olive oil blend? I prefer not to use any paraffin. Thanks again, Zayne

Hey all, I have been searching for a tried and true method of neutralizing vinegaroon, and most methods I have found seem to be kind of vague, leaving me with a couple of questions: What is the ratio of baking soda to water? Does water temp matter at this stage? How long to dip/leave the leather in the baking soda/water mixture (all I have read is "not too long". I have no idea what that means)? I read that you need to oil the leather after you have bathed the vinegaroon dipped leather in the baking soda/water mixture, and then washed with warm, clean water in order to "bring life" back into the leather. I seem to have read (I think on cascity) that better results might have been had when applying oil before the leather had completely dried. Does anyone have any experience with this? Also, I have made a black walnut dye, and the leather still has a strange smell after dried, would neutralizing using the same method be beneficial? Thank you for any input! Zayne

Hello, I have been doing leather for firemen for about 2 years now. I know what's best for the product i put out. However, I was asked recently to make a duck lanyard for a friend. This lanyard would be used for securing ducks after hunting. I can post a pic of one soon. My question is, what is the best leather to use for this project. I use Latigo for my firemen belts. I am wondering what is a good leather, that can be tooled, and will stand up to wetter. This lanyard would be getting wet and dry and wet and dry over and over again. Any advice on leather choice, conditioning, finishes, any recommendations would be very helpful. Thanks so much.

Hello, I have a dilemma. I am looking for a good brown to dark brown dye. I used fiebings pro oil dyes in the past with good results, but I do not like how toxic they are, and won't be using them. I looked into Tandy's Eco-Flo dyes, and in doing research, I found a leatherworker.net thread with a bunch of people talking about how they had ruined projects by the dye turning a greenish color, and I don't want to chance that. I actually spent a lot of time and effort brewing a batch of black walnut dye a few weeks ago, and I am not at all happy with the results. It takes WAY too many applications to get to dark brown, and WAY too much time (oiling, then waiting for it to dry, applying the dye, and waiting for it to dry, repeat). I have tried multiple ways of dying the leather with the black walnut dye, only to get disappointing results. Long story short, I would like a brown/dark brown low VOC leather dye that is not fiebings pro oil dye, or tandy Eco-Flo. Any suggestions? Thanks! Zayne