Brittle Veg Tan

[Brian3202]

Hi,

I am new to this leatherworking so I apologise if this is a silly question. I have looked to see if something similar has been posted.

I am trying to make leather watch straps, out of 3mm veg tan. I have cut all the relevant pieces, skived them and dry fitted them.

I have then dyed them using fiebing's oxblood. Once dry the leather was extremely brittle, it actually snapped with a crack. I tried treating with neatsfoot to make it supple again, although the leather did soften slightly it was still a long way from being adequate.

Please help

[ENC]

Neatsfoot takes about 2 days sometimes 3 to do its thing. Also make sure you are using neatsfoot oil not compound. I have started using Angelus brand 101 oil. I put it on very lightly with a cheep paintbrush and then rub it around a little to even it out. It softens even the most brittle leathers I have used it on.

Ray

[Brian3202]

Ray,

Thank you. I only gave it the one day, impatient I'm afraid. I will try again and apply Neatsfoot, it is the oil I have and go back to it as you say a couple to 3 days later. Thanks for the response

[TheLoudOne]

I render beef fat and mix in neatsfoot oil and cod liver oil along with a little beeswax and let cool to a paste. I rub this in and using heat from a hair dryer melt it and rub between my hands. Supple in no time . You have to be careful with just neatsfoot oil. You can turn it to mush. Heat it also and rub between hands. It gets soft fast.

[cgleathercraft]

TheLoudOne - Care to walk us through the process of rendering beef fat? My wife's family butchers their own meat so a couple times a year I have no shortage of fat available.

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

I've rendered my own tallow as well. It's pretty easy really, no different than rendering lard. I get the fat that surrounds the kidneys, cut it into pieces, and heat it in large kettles either on the stovetop or in a crock pot. I can't remember how long, but heat until the fat is all melted and clear without letting it boil. Then drain, making sure to get only the clear, liquid fat and none of the solid particles (cracklings for those of you who remember your mothers or grandmothers rendering lard.) I then let it cool until hard, and refrigerate or freeze for long term storage, although if you've been very careful to get only pure, clean tallow when you drain, I think it might keep indefinitely without refrigeration. I remember it being pretty much an all day process (just like rendering lard was when I was a kid) but it's definitely something I'll do again when I run out of tallow.

That's how I do it anyway. I also would be interested to hear how anyone else does it. It makes very good stuffing for drier leathers that you wish to have some moisture/weather resistance. It has a nice waxy feel to it, really not greasy at all.

[TheLoudOne]

Sorry I'm just getting back to you on this. Big Sioux is exactly right. I get the fat from around the kidneys. It's a real dense fat. I cube it up and remove any membranes possible and toss it in a slow cooker on low. Stir occasionally and let it render down until you just have oil. I skim any membrane still floating and run the rest through a sieve bag or fruit bag for pressing grapes etc to filter the rest. In a separate pot I add roughly 10% cod liver oil, 30% of neatsfoot oil to 60% tallow and toss in a handful of beeswax pellets and let it all melt down and mix well. I actually did the 2/3rds to 1/3rd tallow to neatsfoot and it was to hard to use. I have also found mixing in jars or plastic containers set in a pot of water on the stove aids in keeping things cleaner. Basically a double cooker.

It's a curriers grease and anything that will be exposed to the weather I treet with this.