Finishing

[srbonner]

Im am really new to leather work and am already tired of messing up projects with poor finishes. I could use any advice or a list of steps that could make my finishing better. I mainly build bible covers, portfolios, cases, and items like that. I want to get like a light saddle tan color. I dont want anything too brown or dark. I bought some of the antiquing from Tandy but it always seems to end up too dark even after applying two coats of their sheen for a resist. Any advice you care to offer would be welcomed. You can even laugh if you want to cause i probably deserve it. Thank You.

[particle]

What type of leather are you using? Herman Oak gets a beautiful reddish color just by oiling it with neetsfoot oil. Here's a holster I recently did with nothing but a liberal coat of neetsfoot oil applied and sealed with an acrylic finish. It was 5-6oz. Truthfully, I probably applied too much oil, but I wasn't really going for a stiff holster this time.

Here is another holster with 8-9oz Herman Oak. You can't always get the same coloring as this photo shows. But, I didn't put nearly as much oil on this one as I did the one above.

If you have access to an airbrush, you might try spraying your dyes. I can achieve pretty much the same color (or lighter) by spraying Fiebing's Saddle Tan with an airbrush. Here is a set that I airbrushed with Saddle Tan, lightly oiled, and antiqued the tooling after sealing.

You can also just trying neetsfoot oil and placing it in the sun for a while before applying your final finish coat.

When applying antique - make sure you don't let it sit on the surface too long. Do small sections if necessary. Lately I've been using 50/50 water and Angelus 600 for my finish coats. I brush it on liberally so it penetrates the leather very well, but I'm careful not to put so much finish on my sponge brush that I have pools of the finish everywhere. I do two coats like this. I don't really notice any darkening from the antique, aside from in the cracks and crevices where I want it darker.

[radar67]

I like the timber brown Eco Flo dye for my light brown colors. I mix it with water 50/50. If you dampen the leather with water first, the dye flows on smoother. Another way to keep the color light is to use an airbrush to apply it. If you want to antique the piece, let the dye dry for 24 hours, buff the crap out of it and apply Acrylic Resolene mixed 50/50 with water. Let it dry for 24 hours, buff, then apply your antique. Let that dry 24 hours and re coat with resolene.

There are many different techniques to use, but this is what works for me. I tried the satin sheen and it wasn't good at all for my needs.

[Northmount]

Im am really new to leather work and am already tired of messing up projects with poor finishes. I could use any advice or a list of steps that could make my finishing better. I mainly build bible covers, portfolios, cases, and items like that. I want to get like a light saddle tan color. I dont want anything too brown or dark. I bought some of the antiquing from Tandy but it always seems to end up too dark even after applying two coats of their sheen for a resist. Any advice you care to offer would be welcomed. You can even laugh if you want to cause i probably deserve it. Thank You.

I used their Gel Antique Saddle Tan. By the time I had an even color across the leather, it was more red than tan. Since then I learned a little about how to apply it. Take a look at George Hurst doing a demo with 3 different products. With the gel, he uses a damp sponge to remove excess coloring. So I did one a few days ago where I wanted really light saddle tan. Scrubed a lot off with the damp sponge and it turned out okay. I also tried a resist with Resolene. It was lighter but gave it a yellowish tone. Not too bad, but not what I was looking for.

Definitely pay attention to how long you leave the antique on the leather. The longer it is there, the deeper and darker the color. Take a few scraps and try out different ideas on them to see what works best for you. (And write it down for futur reference, label each sample you do, type of leather, type of antique and any other product info and how you treated it.)

Good luck, experiment, practice and keep learning.

CTG

[srbonner]

What type of leather are you using? Herman Oak gets a beautiful reddish color just by oiling it with neetsfoot oil. Here's a holster I recently did with nothing but a liberal coat of neetsfoot oil applied and sealed with an acrylic finish. It was 5-6oz. Truthfully, I probably applied too much oil, but I wasn't really going for a stiff holster this time.

Here is another holster with 8-9oz Herman Oak. You can't always get the same coloring as this photo shows. But, I didn't put nearly as much oil on this one as I did the one above.

If you have access to an airbrush, you might try spraying your dyes. I can achieve pretty much the same color (or lighter) by spraying Fiebing's Saddle Tan with an airbrush. Here is a set that I airbrushed with Saddle Tan, lightly oiled, and antiqued the tooling after sealing.

You can also just trying neetsfoot oil and placing it in the sun for a while before applying your final finish coat.

When applying antique - make sure you don't let it sit on the surface too long. Do small sections if necessary. Lately I've been using 50/50 water and Angelus 600 for my finish coats. I brush it on liberally so it penetrates the leather very well, but I'm careful not to put so much finish on my sponge brush that I have pools of the finish everywhere. I do two coats like this. I don't really notice any darkening from the antique, aside from in the cracks and crevices where I want it darker.

Thank you all for your advice. I now know what im doing wrong. @ particle ----- that pic of your middle holster is the exact colors im wanting.