Finishing/Protecting Chrome Tan?

[MtlBiker]

I guess my assumption on when/how to protect leather was completely wrong and naive...  I'd thought that Chrome Tan leather didn't need any protection, but I just ran from my car to my office in the rain with one of the last purses I made and the bag got rained on.  Not a lot, but enough to instantly wet the leather and make it look spotty and ugly.  It has since dried out and it's fine, but I guess I need to put some finish on it.

I'd thought that veg tan, especially to protect the dye, needed protection and I've tried several products... Leather Balm with Atom Wax, Resolene (diluted), Satin Sheen, etc.  I've also bought some Aussie Leather Conditioner which just arrived with my last order and I haven't tried it on anything yet.

Is there a recommendation for what to use to protect chrome tan leather?  I don't want to make it harder, or make it lose the wonderful leather smell.  But I'd like it to be a little more resistant to getting water sprinkles making it look bad.  I've got several bags already finished, so it's important that I be able to apply any kind of product to finished bags rather than only to a flat piece that hasn't been stitched.

Thanks for your advice.

[fredk]

1. a beeswax/carnauba wax mix polish

3. my old favourite - thinned 'Mop and Glo' or similar

[MtlBiker]

8 minutes ago, fredk said:

1. a beeswax/carnauba wax mix polish

3. my old favourite - thinned 'Mop and Glo' or similar

Thanks Fred.  As I said in another thread awhile ago, it seems Mop and Glo isn't available here in Canada from any supplier other than Amazon (at crazy high cost).  All other suppliers who list the product state it's out of stock.

Would you consider using that Leather Balm with Atom Wax?

Is there a commercial product that is already a beeswax/carnauba mix polish or is that something you make yourself?

I guess the bottom line answer is that yes, you would need to put some kind of finish on chrome tan leather.  Which I didn't realize.

[tsunkasapa]

I use this product on a lot of my projects. One link is to Amazon Canada, the other is to Bee Natural's site, so you can see if you are being gouged. I don't keep up on the exchange rate.

Bee Natural Leather Finish, Equestrian Sports - Amazon Canada

Leather Finish - 8oz (beenaturalleathercare.com) 8oz

Leather Finish - 32oz (beenaturalleathercare.com) quart

[fredk]

1 hour ago, MtlBiker said:

Thanks Fred.  As I said in another thread awhile ago, it seems Mop and Glo isn't available here in Canada from any supplier other than Amazon (at crazy high cost).  All other suppliers who list the product state it's out of stock.

Check out 'Bona High Gloss Hardwood Floor Varnish' 32 oz bottle, C$19.99 at Lowes. Check that  it says on the instructions label things like 'dilute into a bucket of water'  'use a mop to apply'  'remove after 5 coats' 'remove with ammonia diluted in water'

There may be something much cheaper out there. I get a local version £1 for 750ml [25 oz] We gotta find you something

 

 

[MtlBiker]

1 hour ago, tsunkasapa said:

I use this product on a lot of my projects. One link is to Amazon Canada, the other is to Bee Natural's site, so you can see if you are being gouged. I don't keep up on the exchange rate.

Bee Natural Leather Finish, Equestrian Sports - Amazon Canada

Leather Finish - 8oz (beenaturalleathercare.com) 8oz

Leather Finish - 32oz (beenaturalleathercare.com) quart

Thanks for those links.  The description says to use it where a "gloss finish is desired".  Would be nice to have a small bit of it to make tests with.  (I guess that's what you've always got to do anyway... always test a product with the leather you want to use.)

Pricing for that in Canada, is way too high.  I don't mind paying for something I want, but sure don't if I feel I'm being taken advantage of.  Just FYI, the Canadian price (plus shipping which is $29.44) comes to $131.55.  The US price for the same size is $62.15.  So it's forty bucks more here in Canada, and you can buy a lot of finishes from Tandy Canada for that money.  So I don't think I'm going to be ordering it.  What I will do though is test the products I have with my leather tonight when I get home.  I don't really want to change the shine of the leather, nor do I want to lose the leather smell (which people really love).  It's just that I never realized I'd need to put something on my chrome tan leather.

Live and learn.

I just realized I'm wrong about the pricing... that US$62.15 converts to $79.13 Canadian, so it's not as big a rip off as I first thought.

US$62.15 = $79.13 CDN

$131.55 CDN = US$103.32

 

Edited May 27, 2022 by MtlBiker
Duh, old age

[fredk]

If you have a gloss, add some talcum powder to it to make it matt

[MtlBiker]

3 minutes ago, fredk said:

Check out 'Bona High Gloss Hardwood Floor Varnish' 32 oz bottle, C$19.99 at Lowes. Check that  it says on the instructions label things like 'dilute into a bucket of water'  'use a mop to apply'  'remove after 5 coats' 'remove with ammonia diluted in water'

There may be something much cheaper out there. I get a local version £1 for 750ml [25 oz] We gotta find you something

 

 

I found that product at Rona hardware (there are no Lowes in the Province of Quebec... probably due to our stupid language laws).  You've used this stuff on leather just like Mop and Glo?  I'll pick up a bottle on my way home tonight and if it doesn't work well on my leather, I guess the money's not lost as I can use it on my floors!     You suggest diluting it 1:1?

 

[fredk]

My local version is called 'Astonish'. The instructions are exactly the same as 'Mop and Glo'. I used to use the M&G as it was years ago 'Future' then 'Pledge with Future Shine'. Then it went off the market and I found 'Astonish'. Astonish and the original 'Pledge....' was water thin and clear, now they are like diluted milk, but they dry perfectly clear. I've also discovered, I think, that the US  M&G is thicker than water and needs diluting down

Check the instructions on that BONA stuff. Especially if it says remove with ammonia. Thats a big clue. Actually you can remove it and thin it with alcohol. I've thinned Astonish with IPA for spraying. It doesn't really need thinning for spraying but the alcohol makes it dry really fast even though it dries fast anyways

Thin it down with water until its like brushing on water. I prefer to paint brush it on.

[MtlBiker]

4 hours ago, fredk said:

Check out 'Bona High Gloss Hardwood Floor Varnish' 32 oz bottle, C$19.99 at Lowes. Check that  it says on the instructions label things like 'dilute into a bucket of water'  'use a mop to apply'  'remove after 5 coats' 'remove with ammonia diluted in water'

There may be something much cheaper out there. I get a local version £1 for 750ml [25 oz] We gotta find you something

Turns out that here it's called Polish and not Varnish but it's probably the same thing.  But the instructions say nothing at all about removing it with ammonia.  In fact, there is no mention of removing the  product, only that the "Bona Microfiber Cleaning Pad" (recommended of course!) should be washed with water when finished.  There's no mention either of diluting the product with water.

In any case, I've got some.  I'm going to have a martini and dinner, and then I'll do some tests with it full strength and diluted 1:1.  I'm going to do the same with Resolene, just to see what it does with my chrome tan leather.  And I'll also do a full-strength test of Leather Balm with Atom Wax.

Results... tomorrow!

 

[MtlBiker]

Using my red chrome tan leather, I tested 6 finishes last night and this morning.  I wanted to see two things... whether or not the finish changed the appearance of the leather and what it did for water resistance.  I didn't want to end up with something more shiny than the leather was before applying the finish.

I tried: Resolene diluted 1:1, Satin Sheen, Aussie Leather Conditioner, Leather Balm with Atom Wax and Bona Floor Polish both full strength and diluted 1:1.

In terms of shine, the best product was Satin Sheen which didn't seem to change the natural shine of the leather.  The worst were the two tests with Bona.  Very shiny.  Better than the Bona was Resolene, followed by Leather Balm and then the Aussie.  I did buff all products with a microfiber cloth when they were dry.

Then I used a medicine dropper to drop a bead of water on each piece and after 2 minutes I blotted the water off.  The Aussie product was the worst, with little protection against the water.  Followed by the Bona 1:1.  The other 4 products ALL worked perfectly with no noticeable spot where the drop of water had been.

So, based on my little test, my favorite product is going to be Satin Sheen unless I want a bit more shine to the leather.

[fredk]

Excellent

Thanks for sharing your results