What Kind Of Finish For Tooled Dog Collar?

[stingray4540]

Personally, I've always liked a wax/oil finish on leather. It keeps it waterproof, and leaves it feeling natural. But, it darkens the leather a lot, and I've only used it on stuff that wasn't dyed.

This dog collar is going to be my first tooling project that I plan to dye, so I don't want to alter the colors. However, being that it's going to be on a dog that will play with other dogs, get rained on, etc. I need to seal/protect it with something that will be flexible, waterproof, not rub/flake off, and not alter/smear the colors.

Am I limited to resolene and Tan Kote? I used resolene once and didn't really care for it. The dyes bled through it, and it really didn't seam to absorb into the leather much, like it would easily come off. I have some Lacquer for wood finishing that I read was a good finish for leather projects.

So, what do you guys suggest?! What are you holster and motorcycle seat makers using?

FYI: I'm using water based eco flo

[capnmeow]

tan knote will work just remember to burninsh the back and u will need about 2 or 3 coats of tan knote

[stingray4540]

tan knote will work just remember to burninsh the back and u will need about 2 or 3 coats of tan knote

Burnish the back? What do you mean?

P.S. Sorry about the text color on my original post. It appears you can't edit the first post in a thread? Bummer.

Edited February 1, 2012 by stingray4540

[capnmeow]

basiclly the back of a collar or bracelet cane get very rough on the flesh side after dying so to prevent that take a glass burnisher or us the fat end of a wood burnishing tool from tandy and add water then make the leather slick and compressed and do it till its shine and smooth

oh and another thing i would shy away from eco flow its nothing compared to fiebings

[stingray4540]

basiclly the back of a collar or bracelet cane get very rough on the flesh side after dying so to prevent that take a glass burnisher or us the fat end of a wood burnishing tool from tandy and add water then make the leather slick and compressed and do it till its shine and smooth

oh and another thing i would shy away from eco flow its nothing compared to fiebings

Oh, ok, I get what you're saying. I'm making it double layered, so there will be no flesh side.

What don't you like about the eco flo?

[capnmeow]

just i found fiebings to be better and just produce better results and a lot of others will say the same thing just look thur some of the forms

[js5972]

Eco Flo - no matter what you do, it will run if you get it wet. I've found Saddle-Lac to be the best sealer.