finish that will give the "shine" and at least be water resistant

[JPH]

Hello:

Ok I got the edgeing pretty much under control and things are moving alonmg well on that...I wish to thank Art and Bill for the help with that subject so it it now onto finishes..

I am using 5 to 7 oz veg tanned leather, dying it with alcohol based annaline dyes, letting that dry, buffing off the "dust" and now what??

I have been using a mixture of beeswax, neetsfoot oil and ballistol, applied hot (melted) and then "baked in" at 200 degrees, rubbed out after the baking.

Now this leaves for a really nice, "soft" finish with a matte surface, but I want something with a bit more "shine" to it..I have tried the Tandy leather finish (that "sheen" stuff that looks like milk) but it didn;t do what I was looking for.

I need at least a finish that will give the "shine" and at least be water resistant.. Any ideas??

Thanks all....

JPH

[CitizenKate]

Just a thought... if you want a shiny finish from a natural oil and wax finish, how about the ol' military spit-shine method? I don't know the exact way to do it, but it has to do with a lot of buffing with a moistened buffer (cotton ball or cotton cloth?). Maybe someone who was in the military during the 40's, 50's, or 60's could explain it better. When it's done well, it's quite amazing. They don't do that anymore since patent leather came along...

Kate

[JPH]

Kate:

The "spit shine" that you mentioned takes about 1 to 2 hours to do right..I know that from experience (I recently retired from the NANG a year ago this August with 32 years service and I was a BIG suporter of "starch and spitshine" on my troops)...

I do sheaths by the dozens..an average run is between 24 and 36 at a time and well, it will simply take too long to do a shine like that on that many pieces.

I am looking for something that I can apply that will be a bit more lusterous and will at least be water resistant if someone gets caught out in the rain...

I was thinking about future floor wax...It works on boots OK..(the spit shine mentioned above was "sealed" with this stuff..at least us officers used it for that purpose) so maybe it would work on sheaths?? I can't see any reason why it wouldn't but it's not very "flexible" and it does "chip off" a bit....

JPH

[JPH]

Hello:

OK I think I got it figured out..

Now please let me know if I a doing something really dumb..here's what I am doing..

First, I maked the sheath, mostly these are welted, then sewn together and the edges and all are smoothed out on a belt grinder uding a well worn 80 grit belt..this keaves a really fuzzy edge.

Next I dye using my own dye mixes, let dry and then buff off the "dust" by hand. Now I use to aply my wax/oil mix hot and the bake it in, buff it off and letr it cool and they were done.

Now I chaged this a bit...instead after I do the dye, I edge it using the same beeswax/oil mix (but this time its "cold") using my burnishing wheels, this leaves a much smoother edge..then I hand rub in the same beeswax/oil mix, this is more of a paste when "solid".. I rub that in by hand (one or two applications works well) and it looks pretty good after that.. I then edge with edge coat, let that dry and after that apply a coat of that Tan-Kote, I then smooth/even that out with a soft cloth and when it dries it's done.

So is this OK to do it this way?? I mean the sheaths look 10 times better and much more "finished" than the way I was doing them before I started discussing this with you fine folks... Needles to say I am very happy and now after I get use to doing this for a while I will be moving on to something like adding contrasting overlays to dress these up a lit..

I am not all that embarrassed by my leather work any more..Granted it's nothing to write home about but still it is now 10 times better than it was...

THANK YOU to all who helped me with this..so now I get to figure out where to go from here....

JPH

Edited November 17, 2007 by JPH

[Art]

Hi Jim,

Well now to handle the volume.

Get in touch with one of the sales guys at Dyo Chemical. They make a line of leather finishes and can fill you in on your options. They can blend or duplicate and/or package most anything you want. You could also have something branded with the Atar or Salamander name that you could sell to customers. If you want something shiny, waterproof, flexible, and that breathes, ask for it. I use Pecard's for all my finishing that has to live in the weather, I don't go for the high shine thing so my experience is limited in that area. About the highest shine stuff I use is Tan Kote, RTC, or the Wax Finish from Bee Natural.

Art

Hello:

OK I think I got it figured out..

Now please let me know if I a doing something really dumb..here's what I am doing..

First, I maked the sheath, mostly these are welted, then sewn together and the edges and all are smoothed out on a belt grinder uding a well worn 80 grit belt..this keaves a really fuzzy edge.

Next I dye using my own dye mixes, let dry and then buff off the "dust" by hand. Now I use to aply my wax/oil mix hot and the bake it in, buff it off and letr it cool and they were done.

Now I chaged this a bit...instead after I do the dye, I edge it using the same beeswax/oil mix (but this time its "cold") using my burnishing wheels, this leaves a much smoother edge..then I hand rub in the same beeswax/oil mix, this is more of a paste when "solid".. I rub that in by hand (one or two applications works well) and it looks pretty good after that.. I then edge with edge coat, let that dry and after that apply a coat of that Tan-Kote, I then smooth/even that out with a soft cloth and when it dries it's done.

So is this OK to do it this way?? I mean the sheaths look 10 times better and much more "finished" than the way I was doing them before I started discussing this with you fine folks... Needles to say I am very happy and now after I get use to doing this for a while I will be moving on to something like adding contrasting overlays to dress these up a lit..

I am not all that embarrassed by my leather work any more..Granted it's nothing to write home about but still it is now 10 times better than it was...

THANK YOU to all who helped me with this..so now I get to figure out where to go from here....

JPH

[JPH]

Art

I am doing much better thanI was and I am no loger ashamed of what my leather work looks like..the hints that yorself and Bill gave really helped...THe burnishing and sealing the edges were the biggest help and after experimenting with several different finishes I have settled on that nutral tan kote...it gives me the right anont of "sheen" that I am looking for..

In the next few days i am finishing up another dozen or so blades which will need leather (one of which is a realy PITA to figure out a sheath for so watch out I will be asking for ideas on that one..) and once I get these next batch of sheaths done I will post a photo or three to show you what's transpired..

I wold like to publicly say THANK YOU to you and everyone else who have been so kind as to help out a ham handed hammerhead such as myself..

As it is my leatherwork is 10 times better than it was...

Jim