Protecting Non-Slicked Flesh Side

[mjensen]

I've taken on a small project for a friend of mine. It's a wallet-type case for fly fishing flies. He's a big fan of the "all natural leather" look and I would like to leave the inside of the case highly sanded but not slicked so it has that suede-like feel to it. Being that this will be used near the water and is likely to get dripped on etc, I would ideally like to try and protect the inside cover without having to slick it.

I'm relatively new to all this and am learning a ton of stuff on this site, but I haven't been able to stumble across anything like this. Would somebody mind educating me slightly?

Much appreciated,

Matt

P.S. I forgot to mention I currently have super-shene, Fiebing's resolene, and Fiebing's leather balm neutral on hand.

Edited January 22, 2014 by mjensen

[ikewineb]

Well, no one responded here... I've put super-shene on the flesh side before on bags and the like. It is going to change the look and feel of the flesh side. Try it on a scrap and see what you think. I would think anything that would do an adequate job of sealing will change to look and feel. If he likes the natural look, he may actually want the discoloration and used look that will happen overtime with untreated leather. I would suggest giving him the option.

[electrathon]

Leather and water, especially unsealed leather and water can m\\be very bad mixes. It is going to be hard to leave it natural without radically shortening its life.

[mjensen]

I ended up tossing this one. I stumbled across a flaw in my design and have since gone back to the drawing board. I'm in the middle of my next trial and am going to be covering the entire inside with a faux fur after having some issues with sheepskins being too thick. It's looking like it will turn out well. I'll post pictures once I'm finished.