First Seat Surface Flaws

[750fchop]

Aloha;

I just finished my first seat, no tooling, I wanted to practice lacing. For the first time since Cub Scouts,

(40 years) I'm not unhappy. When I sealed it with Fiebing's Acrylic Resolene, some surface flaws popped up. Look like they were small scraches. Any sugestions for the next one?

thanks Eric

[randypants]

Aloha;

I just finished my first seat, no tooling, I wanted to practice lacing. For the first time since Cub Scouts,

(40 years) I'm not unhappy. When I sealed it with Fiebing's Acrylic Resolene, some surface flaws popped up. Look like they were small scraches. Any sugestions for the next one?

thanks Eric

it's not the finish, it's the leather. some of them look like fine scratches, which to me, just adds to the look, doesn't detract. some of them look like marks made by a stylus, or some other marking tool. did you case or wet the leather at all? if you did, then anything it touches leaves a mark.

next time, before dying and finishing, take the leather and hold it under a bright light and move it at different angles, looking closely, to see if you can see marks that can be covered up with a modeling spoon or some similar tool.

Randy

[bustedlifter]

What Randy said, those aren't flaws, they're character marks.

[750fchop]

I like the "character" lines, it's the dark line and the other mark that bothered me.

Looks like I was a litle careless laying it face down on the bench.

Eric

[Spinner]

I like the "character" lines, it's the dark line and the other mark that bothered me.

Looks like I was a litle careless laying it face down on the bench.

Eric

That's probably the case, happens to everyone at least once I'm sure. Try to get a roll of butcher paper or a box of packing paper and lay it down on the bench before putting a finished piece on it to ensure a clean surface. I started doing this after tooling and hand painting a piece only to place it on the bench to lace and it found a cut-off that had undry edge dye on it I missed when cleaning up.

[randypants]

I like the "character" lines, it's the dark line and the other mark that bothered me.

Looks like I was a litle careless laying it face down on the bench.

Eric

i do all my work, if i have to lay the leather grain side down, on carpet. do my cutting on it as well. just need to make sure it's vacuumed real well. if i'm sewing or lacing something, i do it in my lap. it helps to keep unwanted marks from happening, which i've had happen a lot.

randy

[bustedlifter]

I like the "character" lines, it's the dark line and the other mark that bothered me.

Looks like I was a litle careless laying it face down on the bench.

Eric

Charge extra for those. Seats look their best after they've been ridden on through all the elements and beat on a bit,imho.