Soy Milk

[Heatherm]

I just want to share something I've discovered. I live in Thailand. I was visiting my favorite tannery Friday, they are my favorite because they do really nice veg tanned and oil dyed hides - no chrome tan, when I noticed their burnishing set up was exactly like mine. I commented on it because I made most of the parts myself doing "what seemed like it might work". It was nice to get validation that I had done something right! They owner showed me the belts he makes. The belts had amazing burnishing on the sides and back. I can't get near the same soft gloss and I am using the same leather/dye he is. How does he do it? Soy milk. Not the sweet stuff in a USA grocery store with lots added (the stuff that is almost drinkable) but pure soy milk. Tastes like watery tofu (you know, poop). I've tried it on leather and it works better than any product I've ever used before! Just put it on the leather and let it dry. The edges burnish fast and easy even with a hand burnisher. It is even better on the inside slicking down the rough leather in a couple strokes. I've tried it over dye on the top and it looks a little shinier that atom wax. It's a lot thinner so it was easy to apply with no streaks or bubbles like wax. I've done three layers so far and it doesn't gum up either. It just gets shinier. I've been using it on medium quality scraps and it makes them feel silky, pliable, and all around better quality.

I'm going to try it out a several diffent pieces. Since my shop is trying to be "natural" it makes more sense to use a soy product than the other finishes I've been using. Some of the things I make are worn against the skin so soy is a plus there, too.

Has anyone else heard of this?

[McJeep]

never heard of it before but gonna be watching this thread for sure

[Sylvia]

Hi Heather:

Sound interesting.... does the fellow make his own soy milk from soy beans? If so perhaps you can get a recipe or something. Clearly Vanilla Silk soy milk isn't going to cut it on leather here in the USA.

Also it would be nice to know how well this stuff wears. Maybe some pictures would be good too.

[HellfireJack]

You can make soy milk at home. Here are some instructions. Been pondering making my own tofu.

http://www.justhungr...part-1-soy-milk

I can't imagine that this is waterproof though, so widespread use as a top finish isn't likely. If it were your friend would have probably already been using it as such.

But could it replace gum of tragicanth? i.e. Can you die the edge through it? Does it work better than saddle soap as a burnishing agent? So many questions. hehe

Edited August 20, 2012 by HellfireJack

[Heatherm]

I'm going to be playing around with it for sure! I can't get Feibings here so I am looking for alternatives. I can find top coats and protectors, but I can't find Atom Wax. I like how wax gives pieces a mellow polish and smoothness. I make costume pieces for movies and people who dress up. My specialty is giving things a worn and "lived in" look. Wax has always been my favorite because it isn't too shiny or too matte and doesn't make the leather any stiffer. I've never found wax to be very waterproof, so I'm not expecting that from soy milk.

The tannery guy makes all the belts for the Thai police. He uses soy milk as a top coat to polish the belt leather. He has this crazy big armed burnisher that buffs a whole side in minutes. I was afraid to stand next to it. I'm bringing a camera next time! I have been making rapier belts out of his belt leather and haven't had any problems so far. Of course, I doubt my customers are standing out in a down pour wearing their swords.

He doesn't make the soy milk. You can buy it anywhere here. 7-11 a few doors down has it. It comes in a glass bottle like Coca-Cola. I've seen pallets of the stuff in shops that sell leather, now I understand what they use it for. I always wondered how an elderly couple could drink so much of it. In the states you might need to go to a health food shop to get the pure stuff.

It seems fantastic for burnishing. I've always used saddle soap and soy milk is much faster to slick an edge. Slicking the back is so much faster than saddle soap it's hard to believe. I'm about to go dye over it so I'll let you know how it goes. The first thing I found out this morning was that you can't leave an open bottle out. It congeals into what looks like tofu. I didn't investigate any further. My staff isn't certain if putting an open bottle in the refridgerator would keep it good overnight because they always drink the whole bottle when they buy it (ick). It only costs 30 cents a bottle so I think I'll toss unused portions! Most things here go bad faster than in the States because they don't use preservatives in everything. If they buy somehing, they eat it. They don't hoard it like I'm used to.

I'll take some pictures, too!

[simontuntelder]

I quite interested in trying this. I'm definitely hitting up a health food or whole food store in order to find some pure soy milk.

But I am a bit worried about the results of the milk expiring. In Denmark soy milk isn't that cheap...

What have your results been, since you last posted (old thread, ya' know)?

[Matt S]

Simon could you freeze small amounts e.g. in an ice cube tray? Then pop out a small chuck and thaw it in the microwave when you need to slick a project.

[billymac814]

If it goes bad just sitting out what happens to it when its on the leather? I have no experience with soy milk, just wondering.

If enough people started trying it and said it was way easier I may give it a go, otherwise I'm sticking to my current method which works well for me.

[simontuntelder]

I have my functioning methods as well. I just really curious about other and alternatively better methods, as I'm always striving for perfection.

I walked to a couple of stores today, and none of them had it in stock, however there are some more, that I'll check out, once I find the time and I'll try to report back, if I get any good results.

In Denmark we have a type of milk called Kærnemælk (if I remember correctly the translation is something like buttermilk) and shoemakers tell their customers to put it on their leather shoes in the winter in order to remove stains caused by salt, as streets are salted in Denmark during the winter. I never do it, but I've heard that it works.

[immiketoo]

Strangely interesting.