pics of 1st seat attempt

[Scary Leatherworks]

since I haven't covered a seat yet I thought I'd start with the passenger seat. it's 5-6 oz top and 4-5 sides. I initially tried to wet form the sides but the leather was to thick and probably my experience also played into my troubles. So as you can see I ended up cutting the corners and stitching them as well.

Why did the water stain the top like this? I wet the entitre piece (top and sides) prior to fitting to the seat.

Will stain cover the water marks?

Has anyone used the eco-flo water based dyes for seats?

I have the Fiebings Leather Balm with Atom wax to seal it.

Also added pic's of the carved seat top not quite finishe yet though

all comments and critiques are welcome.

Scott

Sco

[ClayB]

That really is a big water stain. I wonder if there could have been something in the seat foam that got soaked up by the water and caused the stain? It's hard to say if stain will cover that mark up or not. It's possible that it's going to show up to some extent through stain. I think spirit dye would probably be your best bet to try and cover it up, and the darker the color, the better luck you might have.

There are quite a few really good seat makers here, so you should get some good ideas on what to use for a finish on your seats.

I really like the carved pattern you did.

[Duke]

it could very well be that you have hard water, probably due to oxidization in the plumbing pipes in your house. thatwill cause water stains for sure. look at the quality of your water. and if anything, try distilled, or bottled water. I also would try to use a spirit dye, and dark to boot.good luck

[whinewine]

Murse:

I would definitely use a spirit dye. You don't want to take any chance of the colors running (a seat covers a very large area, compared to something like, say a coaster which can easily be sealed on all sides with neatlac). As far as colors, maybe a medium or dark brown or a mahogany ...

You might try rewetting the entire top again to try to even-out/minimize the stain, or try rewetting the center area out to the edges of the stain. What you're trying to is to make the stain less visible by taking down the contrast.

Good luck.

russ

[whinewine]

Murse, here's another idea- you may want to try to bleach the stained leather using oxalic acid... Tandy used to sell it years ago, but discontinued it. It can be found elsewhere (hardware stores, etc) under "wood bleach". Again, what you're attempting to do is minimize the stain & make it less noticeable.

russ

[Scary Leatherworks]

Thanks for the advise everyone. I believe duke is probably right about the hard water. was out in New Mexico last month with a water filter added to the tap with town water. now I'm home with a well and no water softener.

Just ordered spirit dye from Tandy today and I'll try to minimize the stain first.

Scott