Motorcycle Seats, Impossible Finishes?

[TJFlora]

So i've been lookin' at all these great pics of motorcycle seats with really vivid colors and rich, even toned background finishes and i'm wondering what the hell could they be using. I'm starting to think that all this great stuff (antique paste, clear-lac, oil dye) that we can't get out here in Crapafornia is the culprit. I've been slaving away with eco-flo dyes and atiques and supersheen to try and get some of these wonderful finishes, but everything looks horrible! Example: I will tool a piece, oil it, wait overnight, dye it, wait overnight, then use two or three coats of supersheen (painted on with a brush, waiting 24hours in between coats) to the areas that i don't want effected by the background finish. Then after all that is said and done, I completely destroy everything by applying background finish. I figure the only way that a seat could have brilliant colors (or just plain sealed spots) and a rich even brown finish elswhere on the seat was that these people must have sealed the colors then rubbed/applied an antique or dye over the entire thing so as not to leave brush marks. Well, either I am using the wrong products or the laws of physics do not apply in my workshop. No matter how many coats of supersheen (which I have tested to seal the best out of block-out, satinsheen, tan-kote) I apply there is always some horrible marks left in the sealed areas by the background stain, antique, or finish.

What am I doing wrong? Is this because they are using antique paste and clear-lac instead of eco-flow antique gels and dyes? Are eco-flow products really that useless? It seems as though the eco-flow antique is particularly worthless. Can anyone help with this?

Edited November 27, 2010 by TJFlora

[terrymac]

Check out the "Biker and Motorcycle Gear" section in the Forum. There is a thread on Sealing Motorcycle seats, and it addresses some your questions, especially concerning the Eco Flo products. I gave up on them a long time ago.

Terry