Finishing your leatherwork

[UKRay]

Has anyone got any tips on finishing off a piece of work? I don't just mean the leather finish, I'm talking about the way we need to clean up the back of the leather, tidy up loose ends of thread, give a final polish and prepare the item for sale. I am always keen to learn from someone else's experience!

How do you finish off your work? What do you do to make it look 'extra' attractive so it sells easily?

[abn]

Sometimes, I'll lightly buff the surface of a project with a piece of T-shirt... Just to remove any waxy fingerprints left during hand-stitching. If any lint or leather dust finds its way into the tooling, I remove that using an extra-soft toothbrush. Finally, I'll run an overstitch wheel over the stitching to press it down and make it look nice...

[UKRay]

I also do the T-shirt/duster thing but I now use a quick squirt of Lexol for good measure. It gives a nice clean appearance to things and, according to the blurb, feeds the leather at the same time which can't be all bad.

When making working harness I was taught to hammer all stitching flat so it doesn't get rubbed and worn and the habit persists. I think it looks neater but others don't agree and like to see decorative stitching sitting proud of the surface. I guess it is all down to preference and the way the item will be used. It would be interesting to hear how other people finish off their hand/machine stitching.

A friend suggested that before I put something out for sale I should use a tiny drop of superglue on the snipped off 'tag ends' of my machine stititching to make sure nothing comes unravelled. That seemed like a good idea - does anyone else do this or something similar?

[Randy Cornelius]

Those pesky thread ends can be cleaned up with a lighter or a small pointed soddering iron. Melts them so they don't come undone. Make sure your edges are rounded, burnished and sealed.

[PSBond]

A friend suggested that before I put something out for sale I should use a tiny drop of superglue on the snipped off 'tag ends' of my machine stititching to make sure nothing comes unravelled. That seemed like a good idea - does anyone else do this or something similar?

I do that on handstitched - backstitch a couple of holes (and both threads coming out of the back face of the item), then cut & add a drop of glue with a toothpick. Have to be careful not to use too much or it soaks into the leather & looks awful! Whether it is really needed on handstitched items, I'm not convinced - it's more of a security blanket than anything. Machine stitch on the other hand might benefit more from it?