My leather seems to be a paint stripper

[nbutterfield186]

I'm having an issue with my leather stripping paint off of metal. At first, I only had it happen with a measuring square so I figured it was just a crappy paint, but recently a friend placed his wallet down on one of those outdoor expanded metal tables and it came off with a stained imprint of the grate. Has anyone had a similar issue, and found a correlation between different finishes/leathers and protection from staining?

I'm using pretty bottom-end veg tan from Tandy (Oak-leaf and the like). The measuring square was used on only natural veg-tan, and the wallet was darkened with olive oil and otherwise unfinished. For other products I finish with Neat-Lac or beeswax.

Would include pictures, but can't figure it out. 

 

 

[LatigoAmigo]

5 hours ago, nbutterfield186 said:

Would include pictures, but can't figure it out. 

Won't get much of a response without some pics. Your photos have to be fairly small and in .jpg format.

Easiest way is to take the photos with your phone and email them to yourself. You will be prompted to select a size, select "small." This will provide you with images you should be able to post here without a problem. Sorry if that is not your problem. but is a common issue for new people on this site.

[fredk]

I think the two incidents have two different causes

[nbutterfield186]

Here is a picture of the wallet. Don't know why it wouldn't go up before. 

[chuck123wapati]

metal reacts with veg tan and stains it black. The metal was wet or the wallet was wet. Vinegaroon, a concoction of vinegar and metal has been used for ages to turn leather coal black.

[Northmount]

45 minutes ago, chuck123wapati said:

metal reacts with veg tan and stains it black.

Just a slight addition, it is iron that reacts with the tannins in vegtan.  Sometimes looks more blue than black, but is the same thing.  It may be able to be bleached out with oxalic acid or even lemon juice.

 

[tsunkasapa]

What they said. Wood reacts the same way. That's why you will see black streaks under the nails or screws on some fences.

Edited June 13, 2022 by tsunkasapa

[nbutterfield186]

Thank you all for the answers! I'll give lemon juice a try to see if that cleans it up for him. I also make a lot of leather journals for people, so this is very good to know. I can see a lot of sad people with stained journals after sitting down to write at an outdoor cafe.

To the other part of my question, will a quality finish prevent this? I could test myself, but I'd rather save the leather and live by the adage "a wise man learns from his own mistakes, a smart man learns from someone else's".

[327fed]

You know, I did a valet tray last week and got carried away with the mop and Glo sealer, 50 % with water. I put it on an old fridge rack to dry and got grill marks like a charted steak. I bet that was it.