Wet Forming: How To Avoid Water Marks?

[braden]

hi guys,

i am looking for some advice/tips on how i can avoid getting what i assume are marks from dissolved minerals after wet forming, as shown in the image below.

in my process i am tooling and dying before wet forming and after the piece dries i am always seeing these markings in varying degrees.

in most cases after some buffing and application of a conditioner, or some neatsfoot oil, etc. the appearance is greatly reduced, often no longer really visible. but sometimes it's impossible to remove and obviously undesirable.

just wondering if anyone can confirm for sure it's a result of hard water or is it for some other reason?

thanks a lot,

braden

[TinkerTailor]

I could also be saline. Where i grew up in the prairies, we had really soft water but it had salt in it. The marks on that sheath remind me of the marks you get on leather shoes when you walk around in salty slush in the winter. Try to form some leather with distilled water and see what happens. Also, leather is stored in salt before it is tanned. Perhaps the salt content of your leather is abnormally high, as in it wasnt all removed during tanning.

[braden]

hey tinkertailor,

yes, could also be salt, good call. i was going to try with distilled water regardless, but just fishing to see if someone more experienced already knew the answer.

thanks. i'll definitely try the distilled water.

braden

[camano ridge]

Looks like hard water, I have had the same experience. Use distilled water like stated above, it is cheap.