Finishing steps in your words............

[JohnBloch]

Yo, I know this thread is pretty dead, but I just wanted to ask where edges fit in if I am not using an edge-coat product. Is constructing the piece first more ideal? Aka, dying everything, constructing, and then edging? I'm just worried about using a sealer or finish before I do the edges.

Thanks.

Oh also Sylvia, I know your post is a year old, but I've just tried both, and as far as a consistent color, I've found that piling after dying works best, and is darker.

[wlg190861]

Can you air brush Neat-Lac ?

[terrypen]

I just found this thread because... well I have not been doing my pieces anything like this...

I have been dying with Angelus Dk Brown leather dye and then buffing and then using Tan-Kote or Resolene.

Tan-Kote seems to be very streaky after one coat, will it get better with the second? Should I dilute it?

[go2rebecca]

I am returning to a childhood love, leathercraft. I started when I was 11 or 12 and made lots of beautiful items. I have forgotten many things and am so happy for this forum, I learn so much that I never learned before or just plain forgot. I just made a wallet for my husband. I am about to antique it after having dyed the areas I wanted to and then sealed it, but never knew to oil my leather previous to sealing. Sure wish I had read this first. I can't wait to try the oil and see the difference on my next project.

[club49]

I hung it on my wall, thank you very much.

Jim

[taf1987]

Hi, All.

 

I've been able to glean a lot of great information here but still have some questions as I am approaching completion on my first carving piece:

a 10 oz. vegetable-tanned cowboy cuff.

 

Post-tooling, I am not dyeing the piece but will be:

-stitching along the border and gluing/stitching straps onto the piece

-adding snaps

-oiling with neatsfoot

-edging with gum traganth and applying edgekote

-finishing with resolene

 

Now, here is how I am inclined to proceed, and please correct/re-arrange the steps as is necessary:

1) -Clean the piece. There seems to be quite a bit of debris in some of the deeply tooled areas. What is the best method to handle this? My first thought is to use canned air for cleaning keyboards.

2) -Allowing the piece to dry from its "cased" state. How long should I allow for this?

3) -Oiling with neatsfoot oil. I've read that a few coats is ideal with a full day between coats. Any truth to sunlight helping the process?

4) -Punch holes for snaps and pierce leather with stitching irons.

5) -Scuff areas that will take glue to affix the straps to the cuff. (I have Seiwa leather glue from goodsjapan.com)

6) -Add glue and gently clamp together with stitches aligned.

7) -Add stitching.

8) -Add snaps.

9) -Apply black edgekote to edges and burnish.

10) -Apply gum traganth to edges and burnish.

11) -Apply resolene. From what I've read, I am inclined to dilute this even further than the touted 50:50 water/resolene solution and just add more coats of the stuff, lest I end up with a plastic-looking, gummed-up mess. How long should I wait between coats?

 

(I think) that's it! Many thanks in advance for anyone who replies. 

 

**I used a casing solution from another thread on the forum, and it is fantastic.

Bottled water, listerine, lexol, and baby shampoo. I did have to submerge my 10 oz leather for about two full minutes though -- Anything less did not allow for proper tooling. With this solution, I've been able to work on the cowboy cuff on-and-off for six months. When I'm done for the day, I just case it again with a sponge and quickly double-bag it in my refrigerator.

 

 

[AzShooter]

Glad someone revised this topic.  Just the information I was looking for.  It's a far cry doing a briefcase compared to finishing one of my holsters but perhaps I should use these same suggestions on all my projects.

Now I know I need more supplies.

[JLSleather]

On 2/15/2022 at 4:51 AM, AzShooter said:

doing a briefcase compared to finishing one of my holsters

 

These "cases" (full zipper) absolutely DO NOT get ant-streak of any kind.  I just put the color where it goes (combination of airbrush and red sable hair brushes) and tan-kote applied with the palm of the hand (no sheep wool hairs in the finish).

Don Gonzales tools leather very nicely, then - in my opinion - makes the MISTAKE of putting that ant-streak stuff on it.  Still looks nice, but not as  nice as it did before he pooped on it    That stuff reminds me of the sediment left behind after it rains and the puddles dry up... mud in the low spots

 

  

[ThisIsMyFirstRodeo]

Okay so this thread is so far dead that it’s fossilized, but I’m gonna dig it up again and hope for more insight…

So I am actively in the step of finishing the panels for a purse, so I’ll give the process I just used. Full disclosure: just as my handle suggests, I don’t necessarily know what I’m doing aside from following tips from others…

1) I clean/wash the panels with warm water and Dawn dish soap, and rinse well. The intended purpose is to draw out the oils to the surface and wash off. 
2) Once dry to touch, I gave a relatively light coat of NFO to replace the oils I removed, and let it sit overnight to even out in the fibers.

3) Cased the leather with water and let sit overnight. 
4) Scribed in my stitch lines and pricked out (not punched) where the stitches would lie. 
5) “re-cased” the panels with a spray bottle of water until the absorption slowed, and let sit for a few minutes until it looked kinda dry and was cool to touch, and tooled the panels. Sprayed again as needed, but only minimal. Once finished, I let it sit overnight. 
6) Dye process. I’ll leave the method I used out because it was experimental for a sunburst effect (not what happened). But, after dying, I buff off the excess dye sitting on the surface, and let sit overnight to fully absorb and even out. 
7) Gave it a light coat of Fiebing’s Pro Resist, mixed about 50/50 with water, and quickly wiped off (just to seal surface, not depressions).
😎 Applied a heavy coat of Fiebing’s antique paste (I use my finger so I can really work it down into the depressions), lightly buffing the excess off when I was done. 
9) Let dry for half an hour or so, and buffed on my wheel to a nice sheen. 

This brings us up to now. The edges of one panel don’t feel quite dry enough for my liking, so I’m killing time with dishes, giving my pup some loving, and writing this post. 
Once I’m happy with the edges feeling dry, I’m going to give another coat maybe 2 of the 50/50 Pro Resist, buff out, and finally punch my stitch line to assemble, burnish the edges with gum trag and/or spit, and finish. 
 

Once again, I don’t really know what I’m doing, it just seems to work for me. 
 

Still feels like my first rodeo,

— AZR