Finishing Gone Wrong!

[kates]

Please help! I'm kind of desperate. It's 4 days until Christmas and I just finished tooling a beautiful leather strap for a present. I was so pleased with how it turned out......then I started the finish process and now it appears ruined. I first put one coat of Neatsfoot Oil, then one coat of Neatlac, then multiple coats of Eco-Flo Stain. The moment I started staining I knew something wasn't right. It appears like the Neatlac wasn't put on correctly as it won't allow the stain to penetrate in some areas and now the entire piece is really blotchy all over. I'm pretty sure I need to strip everything off and start over, but not sure how to do that. Unfortunately now I have a bunch of stain coats on the the leather trying to camouflage the blotchiness, but all it did was make parts of the leather really dark and the blotchy parts stayed the same lighter color (they can't absorb more stain from the Neatlac I think). It looks absolutely awful!! Please help! Will deglazer take off this many coats of stuff or do I need something more powerful?

[katsass]

Please help! I'm kind of desperate. It's 4 days until Christmas and I just finished tooling a beautiful leather strap for a present. I was so pleased with how it turned out......then I started the finish process and now it appears ruined. I first put one coat of Neatsfoot Oil, then one coat of Neatlac, then multiple coats of Eco-Flo Stain. The moment I started staining I knew something wasn't right. It appears like the Neatlac wasn't put on correctly as it won't allow the stain to penetrate in some areas and now the entire piece is really blotchy all over. I'm pretty sure I need to strip everything off and start over, but not sure how to do that. Unfortunately now I have a bunch of stain coats on the the leather trying to camouflage the blotchiness, but all it did was make parts of the leather really dark and the blotchy parts stayed the same lighter color (they can't absorb more stain from the Neatlac I think). It looks absolutely awful!! Please help! Will deglazer take off this many coats of stuff or do I need something more powerful?

FWIW from the old grump; I'm quite sure that it's toast, done through and through. The Neat-Lac is a FINAL finish, but used at times to block the penetration of dye from specific areas, or when using a highlighter. If additional dye penetrated it, it's there to stay. The deglazer may remove most or all of the Neat-Lac, but that dye is there and you can't remove it, to my knowledge. JMHO Mike

[Treed]

Please help! I'm kind of desperate. It's 4 days until Christmas and I just finished tooling a beautiful leather strap for a present. I was so pleased with how it turned out......then I started the finish process and now it appears ruined. I first put one coat of Neatsfoot Oil, then one coat of Neatlac, then multiple coats of Eco-Flo Stain. The moment I started staining I knew something wasn't right. It appears like the Neatlac wasn't put on correctly as it won't allow the stain to penetrate in some areas and now the entire piece is really blotchy all over. I'm pretty sure I need to strip everything off and start over, but not sure how to do that. Unfortunately now I have a bunch of stain coats on the the leather trying to camouflage the blotchiness, but all it did was make parts of the leather really dark and the blotchy parts stayed the same lighter color (they can't absorb more stain from the Neatlac I think). It looks absolutely awful!! Please help! Will deglazer take off this many coats of stuff or do I need something more powerful?

Its hard to say with out seeing the item.... can you post a picture

It sounds as if the Neatlac did its job.... you tool your project, oil, then if dyed do this or leave natural, Neatlac (let it completely dry), then antique stain, clean off stain.

Stain should be applied in one coat very liberal making sure that it gets down into the background, and crooks and crannies then is wiped and cleaned off the top area of the tooling. The biggest problem is that people leave the stain on to long and it penetrates the neatlac. Another problem is they rub to hard applying the stain and rub the neatlac off during the process allowing the stain to penetrate where it shouldn't. With out seeing the project I can't give you a work around for it..... best guess is go darker, removing what has penetrated the fibers can't be done...

Bobby R

[kates]

Well I don't like the idea at all that it's toast. There has to be some thing I can do. I have already tried to go darker, hoping to cover up the splotches. However the splotches were caused by the Neatlac I think and consequently the Neatlac won't allow the darker stain to color the leather darker (in some places). The darker stain just makes MOST of the leather darker and leaves the lighter splotches light making the blotchiness even more pronounced. That's why I was thinking I needed to completely removed the Neatlac, then I could start with a leather piece that would accept the stain fully.

I will try to get a picture uploaded.

Thanks for all the advise.

[Sylvia]

Well I don't like the idea at all that it's toast. There has to be some thing I can do. I have already tried to go darker, hoping to cover up the splotches. However the splotches were caused by the Neatlac I think and consequently the Neatlac won't allow the darker stain to color the leather darker (in some places). The darker stain just makes MOST of the leather darker and leaves the lighter splotches light making the blotchiness even more pronounced. That's why I was thinking I needed to completely removed the Neatlac, then I could start with a leather piece that would accept the stain fully.

I will try to get a picture uploaded.

Thanks for all the advise.

oooo ouch! Thank you for posting... now I know not to do that!

Can you try a little deglazer on a cotton swab on one of the splotches and see if it will remove enough so you can get some stain penetration? Maybe somewhere that the splotch is small-ish so that if it doesn't work well, it wont' be that big of a deal?

[bison]

I'm really sorry this happened to you. It is a tough spot to be in. I would try to remove the neat-lac before I did anything else. You can try deglazer, but I've used denatured alcohol in the past and had good luck with it. You can buy it at Lowes or Home Depot. Wipe it on with a clean soft cloth. and you should see the "sheen" coming off the leather. Wipe the WHOLE project, not just where you think you have NL. Once you think it's all off. let it dry well. Then go as dark as you can with the dye...I've used USMC black to do something similar. Mike may be right about it being toast, but as a last ditch effort, I'd try this. I hope it works for you. Good luck.

Dave

[terrymac]

Neatlac will not serve as an acceptable resist for EcoFlo products. I learned the hard way, and got some of the worst looking colors I have ever seen. I have used Neatlac as a finish after using some Ecoflo stains with good results, but I have since thrown all the Ecoflo stuff away and will only use Fiebings dyes and Antique Paste. Sorry for the mishap.

Terry