Finishing Leather.

[Chavez]

Hi again!

I'm finally getting better with my finishes thanks to everyone's advice on this forum.

For leather that hasn't been tooled, I either use mink oil & carnauba wax (for the most "natural" feel) or oil&wax 50-50 mix followed by some carnauba for items that are expected to have higher exposure to water.

Unfortunately, I cannot use the above methods for tooled leather due to wax getting stuck in swivel knife cuts. I would use a bit of resolene to increase water resistance of leather, but I still need to put a final coat over resolene and thats where I get stuck with carnauba or wax-oil mix that ruins tooling.

I'm soon going to order some more leathercraft supplies, so I'm looking at the following finishes to try, and I would really appreciate some advice on these products:

1) Leathersheen - my understanding is that this is a "weaker" resolene. Am I right? If that's the case, I don't think I need it...

2) Tan Kote - I understand this is a non-water resistant finish, so I don't see any point in using it instead of, say, carnauba, unless it is particularly great for tooled leather. Even then, I would prefer my tooled leather to have some water resistance. Am I missing something here?

3) Leather Balm with Atom Wax - read a lot of good things about it, so I'll give it a try. How good is it in terms of water resistance?

4) Mink Oil paste (regular or golden) - is this purely an aftercare conditioner that can be substituted with liquid mink oil + wax&buff?

5) Aussie Leather conditioner - as above. Do these two products get on well with tooled leather?

I know that the best thing to do is to buy them and try them, but I'm hoping that some of your advice will help me narrow my choices.

Thanks,

Chavez.

[Jimbob]

I do use Aussies leather conditioner on tooled and not tooled leather.....not had any problems yet.....seems if I use Aussies conditioner on any, tooled or not....it gets a almost orange darker tan when exposed to sun...(bike seats)

Ordered some Montana pine pitch past....will see what that is allabout...lots of people love this product...I will keep ya all posted...

Aloha

James

[Chavez]

Thanks!

I'll try some aussie then.

How do you finish your bike seats to keep th ewater away?

[Jimbob]

Thanks!

I'll try some aussie then.

How do you finish your bike seats to keep th ewater away?

Well, see thats when it gets tricky...haha....

Been using lots of different stuff, still experimenting.

BUT....seems like Aussie conditioner keeps water out sort'a

fair....tried some neat-lac on my own seat and it did make

spider webs/cracks....when flexed....now trying to rubb it on

instead of brushing it on.....whiping on works great

never thought it would ( sheepwool)

But several layers of conditioner and some wax/shoepolish

neutral, will surly do the trick....I love neat lac but need

to do more testing....seats get wet like boots, if the owner

knows how to take care of it the seat will last

very long!

Just my 2 cents....

kepp us posted, sure other people need info on that

too....!!

Aloha

James

[Chavez]

Thanks!

I'll try the conditioner method.

How often do you reapply it?

If I'm making something for myself, I don't mind having a very light finish that needs to be reapplied, but I'm starting work on a collar for my uncle's dog and it would be silly to tell him that he needs to buff the collar with wax after every walk in the rain (i.e. every walk cause its Scotland ).

I'm thinking light resolene + wax should be a good compromise between fully sealed and unfinished leather.

I've used kiwi shoepolish before, but it also seem to get into sviwel cuts.

[Jimbob]

Thanks!

I'll try the conditioner method.

How often do you reapply it?

If I'm making something for myself, I don't mind having a very light finish that needs to be reapplied, but I'm starting work on a collar for my uncle's dog and it would be silly to tell him that he needs to buff the collar with wax after every walk in the rain (i.e. every walk cause its Scotland ).

I'm thinking light resolene + wax should be a good compromise between fully sealed and unfinished leather.

I've used kiwi shoepolish before, but it also seem to get into sviwel cuts.

I tell my folks to reapply every 3-4 month or bring it in and I do cleaning with saddle soap and then reaplying Aussies...tried Montana pitch but is way to expensive...as final top coat a good layer of KIWI neutral shoe polish does well!!.....not having any problems with stuff getting into my tooling...!

Greetings

James