Antique

[gringobill]

I've been working on several belts. Had one all tooled and ready to finish.

Did the usual drill: a little clean up with oxalic acid, let it dry, a light coat of olive oil and let that dry, then a light coat of Neat Lac as a resist.

Then here's were things got off track.

I normally use Sheridan Brown or mahogany antique and after wiping off and buffing let it sit 24 hrs, then a coat of Tan Kote. Normally with those colors the Tan Kote takes off quite a bit of the antique, in fact if I'm not careful it will take most of it off

This time to try something different I used Dark Brown antique. Turns out that was a bad idea. After doing the normal steps, wiping off excess with a paper towel then with woolskin scraps and buffing it sure did look dark. Pretty extreme. But I decided all was not lost, I figured I could take a lot more off with the Tan Kote. So 24 hrs later I apply the Tan Kote and it sure didn't seem to remove near as much of the dark brown as I'd hoped it would.

So my question here is how long are you folks who use this same finishing process, (Hidepounder, Leather 1214, others....) letting the antique dry before you apply your final finish coat, Tan Kote or Neat Lac.

Maybe the dark brown is just too harsh for this process?

I may try to post a pic of the belt. It doesn't look bad, it's just that the guy who ordered it didn't want a lot of color on his belt. I may have to make him another belt and try to sell this one to somebody else?

Thanks,

Bill

[RWB]

I've been working on several belts. Had one all tooled and ready to finish.

Did the usual drill: a little clean up with oxalic acid, let it dry, a light coat of olive oil and let that dry, then a light coat of Neat Lac as a resist.

Then here's were things got off track.

I normally use Sheridan Brown or mahogany antique and after wiping off and buffing let it sit 24 hrs, then a coat of Tan Kote. Normally with those colors the Tan Kote takes off quite a bit of the antique, in fact if I'm not careful it will take most of it off

This time to try something different I used Dark Brown antique. Turns out that was a bad idea. After doing the normal steps, wiping off excess with a paper towel then with woolskin scraps and buffing it sure did look dark. Pretty extreme. But I decided all was not lost, I figured I could take a lot more off with the Tan Kote. So 24 hrs later I apply the Tan Kote and it sure didn't seem to remove near as much of the dark brown as I'd hoped it would.

So my question here is how long are you folks who use this same finishing process, (Hidepounder, Leather 1214, others....) letting the antique dry before you apply your final finish coat, Tan Kote or Neat Lac.

Maybe the dark brown is just too harsh for this process?

I may try to post a pic of the belt. It doesn't look bad, it's just that the guy who ordered it didn't want a lot of color on his belt. I may have to make him another belt and try to sell this one to somebody else?

Thanks,

Bill

Bill,

It depends on how much of the antique you want to pick up. I typically use Neat-lac immediately after I wipe off my antique. If you scrub really hard in a circular motion you are obviously going to take up more than if the Neat-lac is applied lightly. A trick that I have learned is if you want more color then antique it twice. Apply the antique, wipe it off, Neat-lac, let it dry and do it again. There is no rule that says you can only do it once. For that matter there is no rule that says you can't apply two different colors of antique to the same project. For example mahogany antique over the top of black antique gives an incredible dark cherry color.

Another thing that is going to determine what kind of color you get is how much oil you apply. If its lightly oiled chances are your color is going to be light. Nothing is wrong with light color, but you will have a tendency to get more vibrant color with a slightly heavier oiling. But on the flip side of that coin to much oil is not good for the leather and it darken the color to much.

Play with it, that is the best advice I can give. Try different things.

Ross Brunk

[gringobill]

Bill,

It depends on how much of the antique you want to pick up. I typically use Neat-lac immediately after I wipe off my antique. If you scrub really hard in a circular motion you are obviously going to take up more than if the Neat-lac is applied lightly. A trick that I have learned is if you want more color then antique it twice. Apply the antique, wipe it off, Neat-lac, let it dry and do it again. There is no rule that says you can only do it once. For that matter there is no rule that says you can't apply two different colors of antique to the same project. For example mahogany antique over the top of black antique gives an incredible dark cherry color.

Another thing that is going to determine what kind of color you get is how much oil you apply. If its lightly oiled chances are your color is going to be light. Nothing is wrong with light color, but you will have a tendency to get more vibrant color with a slightly heavier oiling. But on the flip side of that coin to much oil is not good for the leather and it darken the color to much.

Play with it, that is the best advice I can give. Try different things.

Ross Brunk

Ross, thanks for the input. I guess I will just experiment and see what happens.

You've got some good lookin' tack on yer website!!!!

Bill

[CliffFendley]

I'm still experimenting with the antique gels. I just used the dark brown on this holster and belt and it turned out very dark also, to the point I was worried. What I did was spray it with bag kote and rubbed off until I got it closer to what I was looking for. I did not wait long and did it as soon as the antique was no longer tacky. I hit it with a rubbing of bag kote the next day and no more came off so I'd say you want to get it rubbed off pretty soon.

[TroyS]

I love the color!

[David]

I'm still experimenting with the antique gels. I just used the dark brown on this holster and belt and it turned out very dark also, to the point I was worried. What I did was spray it with bag kote and rubbed off until I got it closer to what I was looking for. I did not wait long and did it as soon as the antique was no longer tacky. I hit it with a rubbing of bag kote the next day and no more came off so I'd say you want to get it rubbed off pretty soon.

I love the color on this holster also but I would not use the eco flo gels on a project like this. They are just too fragile for a heavy use item. I know there's debate on this, but I'll never use the stuff again.

David

[CliffFendley]

When I first used it I had that concern, it does not penetrate as deep as other finishes but I've got it on a gun rig I've used for two years hunting and demonstrating at shows and it's holding up pretty well. The person that ordered that rig saw that one of mine when he ordered it, he's going to keep me updated on how the finish holds up.

[MADMAX22]

I think both of you may be right. I know David does mostly motorcycle seats which see a different type of abuse (I mean use). With the constant weight of someone sitting on them with 90% of the time levis rubbing against the finish with the thrown in vibration from the motorcycle along with the elements I could see how it could test finishes pretty well.

I think a gun belt and holster like that style has a little bit better chance of surviving with the finish. Not saying it wont see rough use and get tested just that its a different type of use and may benefit the use of the antique for your projects better then his.

It will be interesting to see how it holds up.