Rifle sling finishing help

[KelsRose]

I am making a leather rifle sling for my boyfriend, and am quite new to leather crafting. He will most likely use for deer and hog hunts, occasional other hunts. When I am finished with the tooling and such, I am not quite sure what the best items to use are, in order for it to withstand blood, sweat, and mud. And probably tears when he doesn't get anything. Right now, I have Tan-Kote, Pro Resist, and Fiebing's medium brown antique finish. What would be the best order to use these? Or if you recommend using a different product, please share! Thanks!

[tsunkasapa]

I would use the Pro Resist, then the antique. After that you will want to put your final finish on. I'm not a fan of Tan Kote, but if you have it, use it. May we see a picture of the project?

[Hardrada]

Resolene seems to be a favoured finish for tooled projects. I'd not use Tan Kote. If you don't have or don't want to use resolene, I'd use Leather Balm with Atom Wax. Still, Resolene, if I remember correctly is an acrylic finish, and would probably seal the item better.

[Dwight]

Dye is a funny stuff . . . and it is a runny stuff.  

If and when you use it on leather . . . two things you can be sure of:  if it is not sealed with something like Resolene . . . it WILL BLEED . . . and if it is properly sealed . . . it won't.

You can rub a dyed piece of leather until the cows come home . . . and it will not bleed . . . then you get all hot and sweaty . . . transfer that sweat to the leather ( or just get some water on it ) and here comes the bleed.

If you want to darken it . . . after you have tooled it . . . lay it outside in the sun for a day . . . two days . . . three days . . . and I guarantee it will darken . . . you may get it exactly where you want it.  From there a light coat (on the hair side ONLY ) of neatsfoot oil . . . followed by a good rubbing of saddle soap and buffing . . . you will have a beautiful and useable sling.

I do  dye mine . . . then I put a light coat of resolene on them . . . and it works every bit as good . . . other than it will be somewhat stiffer.

May God bless,

Dwight

[KelsRose]

I haven't done any of the tooling yet, just put the outline. Thanks for all the advice! Sounds like there are quite a few options to do.

[308]

I've had some good results with the Sheps Neatslene Harness Oil for the slings I make.  It's available from Weaver and can be found on Amazon.

It comes in light and dark flavors.  The dark doesn't look good on natural veg-tan so go for the light stuff.

It will darken the color a bit like neatsfoot oil but the harness oil seems to have better water resistance than neatsfoot alone.

For extreme hunting slings, you might consider using Latigo if you don't need to do detailed tooling.